The Orange County High School That Banned Rent Gets New Principal + New Settlement

There’s a new principal this fall at Newport Beach’s Corona del Mar High School, where a battle for students to lead a production of Rent unwound on this very blog after administrators deemed the musical too gay for school. Oh, and also new this fall: a settlement with the ACLU.

Gone is Fal Asrani, the principal who tried defending her actions in killing Rent with a history of anti-gay decisions. (After much back-and-forth, the show went on.)

In her place is Tim Bryan who, we imagine, loves gay musicals a little bit more. (No word on what type of severance Ms. Asrani received to stand down.)

But that’s not the only thing welcoming back students. This morning the ACLU of Southern California will announce it has reached a settlement with the school district. The lawsuit filed in March accused Corona Del Mar High and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District of permitting a homophobic environment to blossom at the school, which led to one girl being taunted with threats of rape by three male bullies. Details forthcoming, but we imagine there will be all sorts of new multi-culti training seminars at Corona for students and faculty.