Read Emails To Superintendent About Obama Speech

September 7, 2009

President Barack Obama’s planned speech to American schoolchildren has generated numerous phone calls and emails to Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and school board members. Excerpts of  some of those emails are below, released under Florida’s public records laws:

  • “I am very disheartened to learn that President Obama’s address will not be shown in our public schools. Whether one agrees politically with President Obama or not he is still the democratically elected President of the United States of America. Both Presidents Bush addressed school children and I am sure that their addresses were watched by our school children. I am embarrassed by the districts partisan views and lack of respect for the office of the Presidency. I voted for you, Mr. Thomas, I will not make that mistake again.”
  • “It is my opinion that I should have sole discretion as to whether my children hear this closed circuit speech from President Obama. I did not vote for him and am leery of anything he may say…. If parents are NOT given the choice, I feel this is an infringement upon my rights and my children’s rights.”
  • “We are concerned that his speech is going to be geared more toward his political agenda rather than a “Pep Talk” to encourage our children. We are very involved in our children’s education and do not feel that it is his place to dictate what our children listen to or study when it is mainly for his benefit.”
  • “I am a registered Republican, and as such, certainly don’t agree with most of what passes as leadership from the current administration, but we should respect the office of the Presidency. The example that you are setting for the children is short sighted. I’m beginning to think we are in a district where students struggle because the leadership is less than adequate. To think that a 20 minute speech would take away from my children’s education is absurd. You are a little too full of yourself!”
  • “Many children greatly admire President Obama and hearing him speak directly to them could literally change the course of their lives.”
  • “The disrespect that the supperintendent is showing you is terrible. Do you have the title, but not the power? If a 20 minute speech is going to derail the school year, we need to pull the plug on public education in Escambia County.”
  • “I would like to be notified by my child’s education system of any political brainwashing … I would like to know what Mr. Obama will deliver prior to allowing the message to be broadcast to my children.”

Paul Fetsko, associate superintendent for curriculum, sent the following email to all principals in the county:

Principals, we have had a number of telephone calls regarding the forthcoming television address scheduled for September 8th by President Obama. Specifically asking if we are going to cancel instructional activities to require viewing by our students. The answer is no. The districts’ recommendation to you is to permit the viewing by students who are in classes that have a direct academic connection to this event such as Civics, American Government, possibly SGA. Please remember that teachers must submit the media form to you prior the airing of this event. That form is available from media services and it documents the link between the program and the class objective(s). If teachers are unable to do this in advance the IT department will record the program so teachers may preview the content to determine if there are instructional ties to classroom objectives. Then teachers can play the program in it’s entirety or segments which correlate to the topic for that class. Again, you should not interrupt the instructional momentum at your site to view the speech if it is not directly aligned with the instructional calendars currently in place at your school. If you should have questions please contact this office or your level director for clarification.
Paul Fetsko

Comments on this article are closed. All comments about Obama’s speech should be made on the story here.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News