My children will not be allowed to hear President Obama’s back to school address on Tuesday. We live in a working-to-middle class suburb northwest of Chicago, where many neighboring school districts have come under pressure from right wing parents who evidently don’t want their children to be subjected to a speech by this President.
I checked our school district’s website during the day, and was encouraged not to find any of the timid parental warnings that have been issued in some nearby districts. In the absence of any statement from our district, I sent an earnest, preemptive email to our Superintendent. I thanked him for not going the route of some of his weaker counterparts, and congratulated him for standing up for reason in a difficult time and not allowing political fringe elements to determine school policy. I wanted to assure him that if he stood up to them, he would not be alone, that there would be at least one member of the community standing with him.
As the news from around the country grew worse throughout the day, I took comfort in the silence from my children’s district; I spoke my peace, and our school district stayed out of the news. And then I received the Superintendent’s response.
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