My request to allow my children to join other children who are being allowed to watch the President's Address to children re: education has just been denied and I'm furious! I'm keeping them home today in protest.
I live in a Rocklin, CA which is a very conservative area of California. (This area went for McCain 54% to 46$ so that pretty much says it all....). The Principal of my children's elementary school, Breen Elementary, punted the decision to air the Presidential Address up to the individual teacher. Neither my 8-year old daughter's teacher nor my 10-year old son's teacher is airing the address. There are some teachers who are airing the address (God love 'em) so I wrote an email to the Principal asking if he'd allow my children to go to a classroom that is showing the President's Address. He denied my request stating that he didn't think it was a good thing to have my children miss whatever lesson the teacher had planned for that time (my son has P.E., my daughter's teacher spends the first 20 minutes going over homework). I wrote back that I felt hearing the President of the United States give a speech on the importance of education was probably one of the best lessons that they could learn.
Below is my first email to the Principal asking him to allow my children to attend a classroom that was airing the address, his response, and my final response:
Mr. Thibideau:
I understand that you have decided to leave the decison of whether to air this President's educational Address up to the individual teachers. It is extremely important to me that both my children, Logan and Madison, be allowed to hear and see the President talk about such important issues as staying in school, setting educational goals, etc. I know that hearing such a speech will have a very positive impact on my children and I hate to see them miss this opportunity. Because the decision to air the President's address is being made by each individual teacher the opportunity to watch the Address could be denied to some while granted to others, this is not fair. I understand that neither of my childrens' teachers are planning on airing the President's Address. I'm requesting permission for my children to watch the President's address in a classroom that is showing the Address. The school has made accommodations for the children of those parents who don't want their child to watch the President speak so accomodations must be made for those parents who do want their children to hear the President speak.
I appreciate your prompt response to my request. Thank you so much .
His response:
Good Morning Ms. XXXXX,
Neither Logan nor Madison’s teachers have scheduled to watch the address. It is not district or school policy that teachers are required to show the address. Rather than moving Logan and Madison out of their regular classes and having them miss the lessons designed by their teachers this morning, I’d ask that they watch the presentation with you when you have an opportunity to do so.
Respectfully,
Chuck Thibideau
My last response:
Mr. Thibideau:
I have to say that I am disappointed that they will not be allowed to watch the address in another teachers class. It's a very sad day when a school does not air our U.S. President speaking about the importance of education. I know of other schools which have made the decision to watch the President's Address and I commend them for doing so. Yes, we can watch the address at home but it's not the same as watching an address about education in a school environment surrounded by teachers and other students. I must repeat the point that you are making accommodations for some parents and not for others. As for having them miss 18 minutes of their lesson this morning I'd argue that the lesson they would hear from the President of the U.S. is one of the most important lessons they could learn. Logan has P.E. in the morning so I think he can certainly skip this lesson.
Because of your decision I will be keeping Logan and Madison home from school today so that we can watch the President's address. --------------------------
Both my children are straight A students so they can afford to miss one day of school. I could just keep them out for the duration of the speech but I'm being a bit snarky because I'm angry. A few weeks ago the Principal sent home a notice to parents about how every unexecused abscense costs the school $42 per child (my kids have never had an unexcused abscense). So he just lost $84 because of 18 minutes he refused to give my children.
UPDATE: My husband just got home after dropping my older son off from middle school. He told me that at least half of the students aren't there. The middle school is showing the President's speech so I can only image that those students staying home are staying home because their parents don't want them to watch the speech. How idiotic.