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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
9-10-2009 President Barack Obama addressed the students of the United States Tuesday morning – at least most of them.
Controversy boiled out of hearsay and speculation as to what the 44th president was to say in the address, and subsequently several school districts nationwide decided not to air the speech, including the Bishop elementary and high school districts.
The decision to air or not to air the speech has made many locals angry.
At a joint school district board meeting on Tuesday, Barry Simpson, who is in the first months of the newly created position of superintendent for both districts, said he took full responsibility for the decision and “did not intend to make a political message.” But, as Simpson looked out upon more than a dozen scowling faces, “I see now how that decision could be misconstrued.
“My goal was to empower parents by encouraging them to watch the speech themselves with their children. I meant no disrespect. I’m sorry to anyone I have offended,” Simpson said.
Simpson sent out recorded phone calls to all parents on Friday, explaining that due to a local outcry opposing the speech, it would not be offered at all to students. The “local outcry,” it was reported later, was the angry phone calls of five parents to Simpson’s home the Wednesday prior to the speech. Simpson added he received no calls in favor of the speech. He said he made his decision not to have Obama’s speech shown at that time.
One parent said after hearing Simpson’s rationale for the decision, he couldn’t believe that just five parents, out of an enrollment of more than 700 at the high school alone, could sway Simpson’s decision so easily.
Another parent said she was alarmed that in such a small community, “a small minority could use fear-mongering” to get its way.
Eric Richman, chair of the elementary district board, said he was “horrified” by Simpson’s call.
“It’s not the role of this board to censor a message from the president – no matter who the president is,” Richman said.
Richman added that personally he wouldn’t have gone along with Simpson’s decision, but hoped that in the future the board would be consulted on such matters. Kathy Zach of the elementary board called it a “missed opportunity.”
“This is a democracy,” Zach said. “We nor our kids should be scared of talking when we disagree.”
Fellow elementary school board member Linda Arnold said she was very disappointed with the decision, and with the fact that it was made so quickly, with no time to discuss it.
Trina Orrill, elementary board member, said she did not think it was a missed opportunity, nor did she “whole-heartedly disagree” with Simpson’s decision.
“The fact is, he (Obama) is very controversial right now,” Orrill explained, “and not everyone feels comfortable with their kids hearing a speech without knowing the content.”
The full text of the speech was not made available until Monday, the day before it was to be given.
Charlie Broten, parent of a former Bishop High student, rebutted by explaining about the “missed opportunity.”
Broten said, “This was an opportunity to rally the troops, it was intended to inspire students and have them take personal responsibility.”
The late hour at which the content of the speech was distributed was a problem, but so were the logistics of allowing every student access to the speech.
The details of assembling the entire student body, or enabling every classroom with cable would have taken at least a week to prepare, according to BUHS English teacher Angela Scott.
Lone Pine, Owens Valley and Round Valley school districts all aired the speech, and Big Pine schools would have shown the speech to students, if they had the proper equipment.
Though the text of the speech was not available until Monday, much of the controversy stemmed from a lesson plan sent by the Department of Education to accompany the address. This was the first time the department has ever sent a lesson packet that went with a presidential address.
These materials were re-written by the administration just days before the speech. One suggestion to write a letter to the president about what students can do for him was changed to, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”
The lesson plan has been called a grab by Obama to indoctrinate students to his political ideology.
Florida’s Republican party leader, Jim Greer, said he was, “absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.”
At the Minnesota State fair, Governor Tim Pawlenty, a possible 2012 GOP presidential contender, said Friday the classroom is no place to show a video address from Obama.
“At a minimum it’s disruptive. Number two, it’s uninvited. And number three, if people would like to hear his message they can, on a voluntary basis, go to YouTube or some other source and get it. I don’t think he needs to force it upon the nation’s schoolchildren,” Pawlenty told reporters.
High School board member Lynne Greer called it “an impossible situation” to make everyone happy.
“No matter what (Simpson) would have said, it would have been the wrong decision,” Greer said. “But he made a decision, and now he’s taking full responsibility, something I fully respect. It takes a big man to do that.”
And, yes, the decision irked many parents. One parent of a third grader said she has never attended a school board meeting before, but she was “very disturbed” by the message sent by not showing the speech. She said her child comes home with religious materials in her school packet without notice, but a speech from the president is censored.
A former teacher said, “Democracy can be a little messy, but the alternative is to shut things down. The school is sending a very bad message” with the decision.
Some parents said they took their kids out of school Tuesday so they could watch the speech “with the rest of the country.”
Parent Bill Stoll said he thought those wanting the speech aired at school were playing politics.
“You can watch it at home if you want, but now you want it played at school,” Stoll said, adding that he thought the daily encouragement of teachers and educators can have a more positive influence on children than a 15-minute speech from the president.
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