Nearly 60 students at Riverside Middle School in Watertown walked out of class Friday morning to protest the school board's decision to ban an instrumental piece connected to LGBTQ+ history from an upcoming spring concert. The w alkout came just days after hundreds of Watertown High School students staged their own protest Wednesday over the same issue.The middle school protest almost did not happen. As students prepared to leave class, the school announced a "cautionary lock and hold," asking students and staff to remain in classrooms due to a rumor that could impact student safety. Despite the announcement, nearly 60 of the school's roughly 700 students walked out, chanting "Let them play."LISTEN: Hear the music that sparked the controversy in Watertown as performed by the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble 'A Mother of a Revolution'Seventh-grade student Camila Siebenlist organized the walkout after seeing high school students protest on Wednesday."Maybe the school board will rethink their decisions. Like, 'oh there are all these kids in support of this piece, maybe we should just change our decision and let them play,'" Siebenlist said. Last Tuesday, the school board voted to ban the lyric-less instrumental piece, "A Mother of a Revolution," from the spring concert set for this coming Monday. The song honors Black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson and the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.Watch: Watertown middle schoolers walk out over school board's ban on LGBTQ-tied song Watertown middle schoolers walk out over school board's ban on LGBTQ-tied song"They put seven months in of effort just for five days before the concert its ripped away from them after so much work," Siebenlist said.Board members claim the piece violates the district's controversial issues policy."Seeing the headlines of the school board not making the correct decisions or making decisions that hurt other people is just really devastating to see," Siebenlist said.Camila's mother, Cassie Siebenlist, also weighed in on the board's handling of the situation. "I think the school board really dropped the ball on this and they really messed it up and they're bringing a lot of really bad attention to our town," Cassie Siebenlist said.TMJ4 has tried reaching out to the school board and administration for more than a week about the controversy. On Friday afternoon, Megan Lee approached Co-Interim Superintendent Sarah Oudenhoven directly."Megan: Sarah is there a reason you're not responding to my emails? You tell us to contact the school. Sarah: You do not have permission to put me on camera. Megan: It's a one-party state. Wisconsin is a one-party state," Oudenhoven said.The district has not responded to requests for comment about the decision to remove the song or the walkouts that took place this week.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error ...read more read less