I read in a Huffington Post report today, that the entire population of a school was bussed into a McCain campaign rally. Is this legal? Wouldn't you have to do the same to an opposition rally? Using our school system to support a particular candidate seems wrong to me.
Apparently, they were padding the crowd....
The main thrust of the piece was about how McCain expected Joe The Plumber to be at the rally and how awkward it was when he called out for with no response:
The most cringe-worthy political moment of the day, so far, came when Sen. John McCain called out for his new buddy Joe the Plumber to stand up at a rally in Ohio, only to be greeted with confused silence.
But the more telling piece of the story, as reported by MSNBC, was that, of the crowd of 6,000, over 4,000 were bused in local schools (it's thrown into the last paragraph as an aside):
A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.
An entire school district? Seriously, if I were a parent in that district, I'd be incensed. How dare they take my child to a McCain rally, given the vile stuff we've been seeing there lately? I wouldn't my child exposed to the racism and jingoism there.
Moreover, is this a legal use of public funds? Isn't it politicizing the use of our education dollars? This simply can't be right.
UPDATE: h/t KariQ for a link to the local paper that explained how the school system decided to use the opportunity of a presidential campaign event in their midst as a civics lesson.
Hans Zipfel, government teacher at Defiance High School, prefaced the rally with prompts of what the students were to look for while there. "That included Secret Service agents, security measures, crowd reaction to the speakers and their comments, participant's reaction to the crowded environment itself, participant's reaction to the security measures taken, etc.," said Zipfel.
"Also, we informed them of what potentially transpires in other less democratic countries where people amass politically," he explained. "Assemblies such as the one the students were a part of would be dispersed with rocks, gas, clubs, or strafed bullets if it was antithetical to the powers-that-be. We wanted to express how truly blessed we are to live in this country with the freedoms our predecessors provided and that we strive to maintain. We especially focused on the First Amendment's free speech clause and the right to peaceably assemble. We then will discuss all these various components of the event when we reconvene on Friday."
What did Zipfel hope the students learned from this experience?
"Regardless of the students' political preferences," he said, "we hope that they learned through witness, just how involved, exhaustive and zealous the political process can be. We want them to know just what a serious endeavor the stewardship of our active democracy is. We also wanted them to be made aware that democracy must be maintained through their constant exposure to pertinent knowledge and its beneficiaries' active participation, through not only the ballot box, but through association and activism as well."
Seems quite honorable to me and I'm glad to have that cleared up.
UPDATE 2: Well, according to the Defiance, Ohio School District Bylaws not legal to have a political rally on school property during school hours.
One of the primary purposes of the school is to create an environment that will permit students to grow and develop. To be of maximum effect, this environment must extend to both the formal academic program as well as to the many extra-curricular activities sponsored by the school. Because of the ages of the students and the significance of the task, it is important that this environment be protected from interference by external, sometimes coercive or disruptive, forces and influences that do not substantially contribute to the learning process.
Nonschool related activities, including political activities, do not contribute to a positive learning climate and may be disruptive, divisive and distracting. Therefore, such activities are not appropriate within the school setting. It is the Board of Education's intention to regulate such activities on all Board owned or used property, within all school buildings, and at all school sponsored activities.
Apparently, this is common in school districts. The McCain campaign had been forced to move another rally in Virginia when school board members and parents complained about school property being used for a political rally. So, it's not as though they weren't aware that this could be a problem.
Update 3: This statement is in the Administrator Ethics sectionn of the bylaws:
1200 - ADMINISTRATOR ETHICS
The proper performance of school business and administration of an effective educational program requires the services of individuals of integrity, high ideals, and human understanding. To maintain and promote these essentials, the Board of Education expects all administrators to maintain high standards in their working relationships, provide professional leadership in the District and community, and in the performance of their duties, to:
A. recognize basic dignities of all individuals with whom they interact in the performance of duties;
...
H. refrain from using his/her position or public property, or permitting another person to use an employee's position or public property for partisan political or religious purposes. (This will in no way limit constitutionally or legally protected rights as a citizen.)