On Tuesday at noon, President Obama will address the nation's schoolchildren and deliver a message that, on its face, should be non-objectionable to people at all points on the political spectrum; that students should work hard and stay in school. Unfortunately, in this age of Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, and Fox News, some people reacted by deluging their districts with calls and e-mails demanding that the speech not be shown. My district provides an interesting case study.
I live in the Dublin City School District, which includes the northwestern portion of Columbus, the city of Dublin, and large areas of unincorporated territory. My son just entered high school, and my daughter graduated this spring. Let me be clear that I am completely satisfied with the education my children have received throughout their careers.
In response to calls from conservatives, some disricts - including Dublin - decided to skip the speech. This provoked a response from other district residents, including myself. So, the district backpedaled a bit. According to the Columbus Dispatch...
The political heat on central Ohio schools intensified yesterday, as districts planning to take a pass on President Barack Obama's Tuesday speech to students heard from angry parents who want the address shown in school.
In Dublin, callers opposed to the address led Superintendent Dave Axner to announce on Thursday that schools would not participate.
But by yesterday, the tide was turning in favor of showing the speech, a spokesman said. Officials changed their minds -- sort of. The district will record Obama's speech and teachers can show the video at a later date if the video aligns with class material. Parents can opt to not have their children watch.
After further consideration, the district backpedaled even further. According to the district's web site...
Hello, this is David Axner, Superintendent of the Dublin City Schools. I am calling this morning to inform you of some new protocols for President Obama's live address to our students.
During the past two or three days we have received some very strong arguments on whether or not the President's' live broadcast should be part of school day.
As with any decision, we constantly assess the input of our school community and staff and how day to day operations are affected. There will be a live broadcast of the President’s address on Tuesday.
The live broadcast of the web address will be available in designated areas of each school. Students should bring a signed note from a parent to be excused from their regularly scheduled classroom activities to attend the live broadcast at noon.
Students who will not be viewing the speech will continue their normal school day.
For parents who are undecided, the White House has now made the decision to release the transcript of the speech on Monday.
The complete transcript of this telephone message is available at www.dublinschools.net.
Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
To be honest, I wouldn't want to be in the superintendent's shoes on this issue, because he will get an earful whatever he does. That said, it is imperative that the right not be allowed to dominate the discussion through sheer volume. If you want to call it working the refs, that's fine with me. I just sent the following message to the superintendent:
I am the father of a Dublin graduate and a current Dublin student. I am also one of the people who called in on Friday objecting to the district's decision to not show President Obama's speech to students.
I was outraged when the district decided to forgo the speech in response to demands from conservatives. To those of us on the other side of the aisle, it looked as if they told you to jump and your response was to ask how high. And the decision to record the speech for possible viewing later in the year came across as if you were throwing us a bone in the hope we would be quiet. Even if the speech was made available later in the year - and I doubt that it would have happened - the speech would have been old news by then.
It would have been fairer to show the speech to all students and require parents who did not want their children to hear the President's subversive pro-education message to provide an excuse. In any case, my son will be watching the speech, and I will be watching the district's response to future incidents of this type.