A 13-year-old student at Drake Middle School in Colorado says she was blocked from reading a slam poem she wrote for class after choosing a pro-life theme, and her mother took the issue public. The family recorded a video shared by Libs of TikTok that shows the student, her mother, and the poem in question, and the case has raised questions about classroom speech, parental rights, and how schools handle controversial topics. Jeffco Public Schools, which oversees Drake Middle School, has not yet issued a public response.
The student described the assignment and her choice of subject in clear terms. “My teacher assigned an assignment in class to write a slam poem about conflict in the world that we are passionate about,” she said, and she later explained why she picked the topic: “I chose life.”
According to the mother, she immediately reached out to the teacher when her daughter was denied the chance to present. “They said that because of the offensive material in the poem, that they were not going to allow her to present, and I pushed back on them because not only were they presenting a lot of political material themselves, but they were presenting it as truth,” she said, arguing the classroom already included political content framed as fact.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2056919525107355654
The mother says the school responded that her daughter’s poem was simply “too political,” and she pressed back. “To that, they said, ‘Sorry no, this is too political, we are not going to allow it’ and so here we are just telling our story,” she said, emphasizing that banning the piece felt inconsistent with what students were exposed to in class.
The student says the teacher initially told her she could not even stay in the classroom while other students presented, an extra layer that made the family feel singled out. “When I further asked my teacher about why I cannot present, she said that I would not be able to be even in the class while my fellow classmates are presenting their poems, and then I would have to sit outside, but when I further questioned her, she finally said that I could be in the class to listen,” the student said, describing how the school changed its stance only after questions were raised.
In a follow-up video posted by Libs of TikTok, the mother shared a personal history that explains why this topic matters deeply to the family. “I wouldn’t be here today if she lived in the climate that we live in now, because mostly people would say that she should have aborted me,” the mother said, recounting that her own mother got pregnant at 14 and chose to keep her.
The mother framed the poem and the decision to speak about life as part of a larger argument for hope and dignity. “This shows why this topic is so very important to us,” she added, “because there is hope in hard situations. There is purpose in pain. Good things come out of situations that seem bleak, and my family is proof of that.” That personal perspective is central to why the family believes the work should have been treated as student expression rather than banned content.
The student then read her poem on camera, and the recording that circulated included the full piece. At one point she says, “They never get to see the light of day before they are cast away. They did nothing wrong except exist and were dismissed. People say women need healthcare but never think how unfair — they kill babies for simply being there,” and the poem closes with, “A life is a life, no matter how small.”
For many parents and conservative observers, the case is not just about a single assignment but about how schools navigate sensitive issues and whether students can express sincerely held beliefs. Voices on the right, including public figures like Riley Gaines, have for months criticized campus and school climates they see as hostile to conservative viewpoints, and this middle school episode feeds into that broader concern.
The family says they went public because they feel local officials and the school system need to be accountable when student speech is limited. Officials at Drake Middle School and at Jeffco Public Schools have not made a statement in the materials the family released, and the parents say they will continue pressing for clarity on how curriculum and presentation rules are enforced.
