Fayette | News

Fayette students can opt out of Obama speech

Fri, 09/04/2009 - 10:41am
By: John Munford

President to address kids nationwide via TV Tuesday

A plan by President Barack Obama to address schoolchildren across the country Tuesday by television has upset some local parents, who then phoned and emailed the Fayette County public school system, officials said Friday.

Fayette students will not be required to watch the President's speech, and parents who don’t want their children to see the speech may send a note to teachers asking their children be excused from the TV viewing, said school system spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach.

Students whose parents opt them out of the speech will be taken to a different area of the school and given alternate work for the approximate 15-20 minutes the speech is expected to last, she said.

The White House has said it would post an advance copy of the president’s speech on its website, www.whitehouse.gov, sometime Monday, Berry-Dreisbach said.

The decision on whether to show the president’s speech during class is up to each individual school, Berry-Dreisbach said. The system is asking teachers who plan to show the speech during class to send notes home to make parents aware, she said.

Not all Fayette schools have the technology to watch the speech live, Berry-Dreisbach said.

According to a post on the president’s website, Obama plans during the speech to “urge students to take personal responsibility for their own education, to set goals, and to not only stay in school but make the most of it.”

The controversy stems from suggested lesson plans initially posted by the federal Department of Education that — among other things — suggested that students write letters about how they could "help" the president achieve his agenda.

Those lesson plans have now been edited to omit the controversial suggestions that critics said seemed to inject politics into a classroom setting.

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You're funny (and kinda
Submitted by miss m on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 7:48pm.

You're funny (and kinda ignorant as well) It's shame the president had to step up and play mommy and daddy and deliver speeches telling children to do their best in school while the real mommies and daddies were on the internet being silly.

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Then LOG OFF
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 10:01pm.

you moron. After all, just WHO is on the internet?

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Now Children
Submitted by PTC Observer on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 1:08pm.

can you spell propaganda?

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Laura Bush Has Praise For First Family
borntorun's picture
Submitted by borntorun on Mon, 09/07/2009 - 9:09pm.

Former first lady Laura Bush praised the performance of her husband's successor Monday, breaking with many Republicans in telling CNN that she thinks President Obama is doing a good job under tough circumstances.

Former first lady Laura Bush defended President Obama's decision to address the nation's schoolchildren. She also criticized Washington's sharp political divide during an interview covering a range of topics including her thoughts on first lady Michelle Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney, the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar, and life after eight tumultuous years in the White House.

Bush sat down with CNN on Monday during a United Nations meeting in Paris, France, where she was promoting global literacy, a cause she trumpeted during her husband's administration.

The typically reserved former first lady defended Obama's decision to deliver a back-to-school speech to students, putting her at odds with many conservatives afraid that the president will use the opportunity to advance his political agenda.

"I think he is [doing a good job]," Bush said when asked to assess Obama's job performance. "I think he has got a lot on his plate, and he has tackled a lot to start with, and that has probably made it more difficult."

Michelle Obama is also "doing great," she said, in part by turning the White House into a comfortable home for her family.

Referencing the uproar over Obama's address to schoolchildren, which will be aired nationwide Tuesday, Laura Bush said it's "really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States."

Bush didn't completely dismiss the concerns of some conservatives but noted that controversial Education Department plans recommending that students draft letters discussing what they can do to help Obama had been changed.

"I think there is a place for the president ... to talk to schoolchildren and encourage" them, she said. Parents should follow his example and "encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have."

Bush indicated that she didn't think it was fair for Obama to be labeled a "socialist" by critics and expressed her disappointment with the intensely polarized nature of contemporary American politics.


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