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Do you think there are racial undtertones against him?
Whats your view on all this.
I think it's ******ed at the fact that they dont want to see a black president on public school tv, but if it was McCain, it woulda been gravy
.
Whats your view on all this.
I think it's ******ed at the fact that they dont want to see a black president on public school tv, but if it was McCain, it woulda been gravy
[h1]Schools weigh Obama speech[/h1] [h2]How to handle address up to principals[/h2] [h5]By Ryan Blackburn | [email protected] | Story updated at 12:26 am on 9/5/2009[/h5]
Northeast Georgia schools are letting principals decide whether to show President Obama's public address in schools Tuesday, but it's doubtful many will tune in for the occasion live.
In the Clarke County School District, the option to air the president's education address live will be reserved for social studies teachers at middle and high schools, Superintendent Philip Lanoue said Friday. Elementary school teachers will be able to show the video, but only after previewing the speech first to determine if it will fit in with the curriculum, he said.
"It's a historical piece, so the parameters we have set is that it's for our social studies classes for our high schools and middle schools," Lanoue said.
What was supposed to be a light-hearted, motivational back-to-school message has become a hot-button issue for school administrators, with conservatives and political pundits urging parents to keep their kids home if the teacher decides to show Obama's speech. But if the president's address can't be aired in school, his simple message to stay in school and work hard still is something all parents should be talking about with their children, Lanoue said.
"Certainly in terms of what he's talking about, my feeling is that that would be a great conversation for parents to have first," Lanoue said.
Superintendents in other districts, like Barrow and Jackson counties, also are leaving the decision up to school principals to decide to broadcast Obama's speech.
"We're giving it as an optional activity," said Barrow County Superintendent Ron Saunders. "We do say that if teachers chose to view the speech, they need to let parents know about it and if (students) do chose to not watch the speech, they need to be given an alternate activity."
Still, chances are, very few Barrow students will watch the speech unless teachers can get enough required permission slips returned from parents, and teachers can prove how they'll connect Obama's message with the state's curriculum, said Lisa Leighton, spokeswoman for the school district.
"I don't think were going to have too many takers right now the way it looks," Leighton said. "We've heard from nobody."
Administrators in consultation with faculty in Oglethorpe County Schools have decided not to play the speech at all, while teachers in Jackson, Commerce City and Jefferson City will preview Obama's message on C-SPAN before deciding whether it's worth using in class.
"After we watch it we'd be better prepared to discuss it," said Warren Tolbert, who teaches social studies at East Jackson Middle School. "We felt that would be the safe thing to do."
Children across the country have been invited to tune in to hear the president's message, but some parents this week besieged schools to specifically request their students not watch.
Conservative political pundits also have questioned the president's motives, saying the speech is akin to the federal government overstepping its bounds in public education.
Obama's address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon, a time when most students will be at lunch.
Obama isn't the only president who's directed a speech to school children.
In 1991, George H.W. Bush gave a similar speech about the need to study hard and stay away from drugs to broadcast live from a junior high school.
Bush also drew criticism from Democrats who said he had used the U.S. Department of Education for paid political advertising.
[h5]Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, September 05, 2009[/h5]