Richmond students among few in area to see Obama speech
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President Obama's National Address to Students...
President Obama's speech to students, as seen at Linwood Holton Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia. Video by Dean Hoffmeyer / Times-DispatchPublished: September 9, 2009
Updated: September 11, 2009
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MORE Read the full text of Obama's school speech. |
The message yesterday was simple, and the kids seemed to get it: President Barack Obama implored the nation's schoolchildren to take charge of their futures.
A group of about 30 students at Richmond's Linwood Holton Elementary School sat intently in the media center, their eyes glued to the pull-down screen at one end of a large room. They listened as Obama spoke of his upbringing and how he worked hard -- and took advantage of the occasional stroke of good luck -- to get to where he is.
If not for the overflowing crowd of politicians, educators and assorted others, it could have been any other innocent, feel-good message to kick off the school year.
But Obama's plan to talk to students live via broadcast from a Northern Virginia high school has drawn scorn since late last week. Many of the Richmond area's public-school systems -- minus the city of Richmond's -- either banned the broadcast or made it available only under strict guidelines.
Schools in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Powhatan and the cities of Colonial Heights and Petersburg didn't show the speech, while Henrico County required teachers to get permission from every parent and preview the speech if they wanted to show it.
At Arthur Ashe Elementary School in Henrico, Principal Dana Bost said her staff spent part of the morning calling parents of about 50 students to get permission to show the address in their classrooms.
Henrico Superintendent Patrick D. Russo announced last week that only students with parental permission could view the speech, so those who didn't have the OK were taken to an activity room during the noon broadcast, where they could eat their lunch or work on lessons.
In Hanover, Superintendent Stewart D. Roberson said that if the U.S. Department of Education had provided the speech to school officials and parents earlier than Labor Day, the issue might not have erupted as it did in the community.
"This thing has occurred so fast and furiously," Roberson said as he toured Elmont Elementary School during his traditional first-day-of-school tours.
"Hanover was not about refusing to air the presentation," he said. "The president deserves the pulpit. But it was clear with the strength of public conviction" that school officials needed to wait until after the first day of school to assess the best time to show it.
Roberson said at last night's School Board meeting that Obama's speech was "entirely appropriate" and his school division's goal now is to show the speech to as many students as possible.
About 30 people showed up at the Hanover School Board office around noon yesterday to complain that Roberson made a mistake, and that the district should show Obama's speech.
Hanover resident Phyllis Theroux said they met with Wade A. Valentino, assistant superintendent for policy and administration, and Jamelle Wilson, assistant superintendent of instructional leadership, for about a half-hour. "We sat and we had a very civil time of it," Theroux said.
She said someone noted that school officials can schedule in-school pep rallies and take students out of class, "but it's too difficult to grant that privilege to the president of the United States."
About 10 people also showed up at last night's Hanover School Board meeting to protest the decision not to show the speech yesterday.
"If you will listen to a small faction" on this issue, Ashland resident Barbara Olin told board members, "will you also listen to that faction . . . when it comes to numerous issues?"
Roberson said school officials got more than 1,000 calls and e-mails from parents on both sides of the issue.
"I don't believe that anyone [on the board] is pleased at all with where we felt we needed to land" on this issue, he said.
"We have always intended for the message to be played," he said, adding that the decision not to show it yesterday "wasn't about the man or the message."
Roberson said school officials who received the calls and e-mails "could not believe what we were receiving," referring to the controversy and tone of complaints.
In Henrico, Russo said he felt the division made the right call in allowing schools to show the broadcast after getting parental permission.
"Obviously it was a very positive reception by kids," he said after watching the speech with a class at Ashe. "We did as best we could" to balance first-day instruction and parents' wishes.
At the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies, which draws students from across central Virginia, U.S. government teacher Matt McGuire said the controversy made the speech relevant. "It's a tool to explore partisan divides," he said.
"People are more suspicious of the motives of our leaders," McGuire said. He compared the atmosphere of politics today to the "unbelievable, brutal" polarization of the 1850s before the Civil War.
Richmond held fast to its plan to allow principals to make the decision to air the speech. None balked.
Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon and Holton Elementary Principal David Hudson were rewarded with an audience that included U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke; Virginia first lady Anne Holton, who also is the daughter of the school's namesake, former Gov. Linwood Holton; Mayor Dwight C. Jones; U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott; and School Board member Donald L. Coleman, among others.
The event went off as planned, with students listening as Obama told them to take charge of their destinies.
"All of you have something to offer," he said. "You have a responsibility to yourself to find out what it is."
Fifth-grader Henry Haas took in the speech from his seat between Locke and Holton.
"He has high expectations for us," said Henry, who hopes to become a baseball player or an inventor. "He believes we can accomplish many great things."
Briannah Jones, a third-grader who sat on the other side of Holton, said: "It was inspiring. I should try my very best."
Fourth-grader Lucas Piedmonte, an aspiring newspaper reporter or animal-shelter worker, said the message was clear: "Education is important," he said.
After Obama's speech, Locke and Scott took turns telling the students that education is the most important thing, no matter what path you might chose.
Brandon appeared content as the crowd dispersed.
"I think we made the right decision," she said.
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Reader Reactions
The first speech had classroom activities that required children of wingnuts to wear pointy hats that say “My dad is a dunce.“
Honestly, there is no basis for your claims “that the speech was changed,“ but you’re holding onto that as the reason you have been acting so ridiculously.
All of us are wrong from time to time. This is YOUR time, but the fact that you just cant bring yourselves to admit it speaks volumes.
12step: I’d like to posit a theory that, after due consideration, makes enough sense to me to run by you.
After you set aside the issues of vast political differences and that very small percentage of folks who have race issues, I believe that the president has, from a marketing standpoint, been over-exposed/promoted. People have just seen and heard enough of him. Marketing books are filled with case studies of over saturation and the response people have. President Obama, in addition to being on the news every night, can also be found on a variety of magazine covers (Rolling Stone, Men’s Health, etc) and he’s made, on average, one prime time address per month, usually requiring networks to reschedule highly rated television programs.
If you couple that with an examination of our current circumstances related to the economy, jobs, political corruption and international events, people feel down, some feel hopeless and powerless. When offered the chance to have control of something in a world where they feel like they don’t have control of much of anything, they will assert themselves in contrarian ways. I once read in Men’s Health that if you’re stressed out, if you don’t know what to do about surrounding circumstances, it’s helpful to tackle things you do have control over. The magazine recommends chopping wood, cleaning the garage or other project that puts you completely in the driver’s seat with regards to technique and outcome.
Americans are a fickle, contrarian bunch. If someone insists that “you will” and you don’t really have to, you might push back and say, “I won’t” just because you can.
I think that the combination of having BHO in their faces constantly and the chance to control or assert some sort of personal power when given a choice may be a contributing factor to some folks’ aversion to watching him. That and some apathy.
Please keep in mind, this theory is premised on setting aside the folks who have deep political differences with the president.
I thought the president should be able to address the students and I think parents should allow their kids (not force them) to see him speak for a number of different reasons, no matter where you sit on the political spectrum because:
1. He is the President.
2. He wants to encourage schoolchildren.
3. If you don’t like him and consider him the enemy, finding out what he’s “up to” is a compelling enough reason to watch. You know, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.
4. It makes for great discussion material around the dinner table at night no matter where you sit politically.
There’s too many good reasons to watch the address compared to reasons to opt out. Look, I don’t trust BHO and I don’t like him, but, knowing what he’s doing, how he’s going to do it and where he’s coming from actually empowers me to respond appropriately, without looking like I’m spitting pea-green soup with my head spinning. I can only conclude that intentionally denying yourself and your kids the opportunity to keep up with events or accept some encouragement is to intentionally embrace ignorance for strictly emotional purposes.
In my opinion, Obama is a disaster. Which means he needs to be watched in order for those of us who dislike his policies to keep up with him or otherwise get ahead of the 8 ball. He is the president of the country after all. Yeah, if you opt your kid out, you sure showed Obama! But you also denied yourself an opportunity to keep things in perspective.
Yeah, Bones, whoever thought that you’d have to get a permission slip from your parents to hear the President of the United States speak.
Way to roll over for pressure, all because a few people are scared to field a few phone calls from the nuts-at-large.
A permission slip to hear the President speak.
It would be laughable if it wasn’t true.
I opted “in” to have my child taken out of the class room to see Obama speak.
After The People rose up and spoke out against a forced assembly of children for political purposes, the White House had to “legal” down the original speech and accompanying worksheet.
Obama was forced to America-up the speech as his people knew the American people were watching.
Had we remained obedient sheep, the unchanged live speech would have been much different.
My daughter is a middle school student in Hanover, and I just signed her “permission slip” to permit her to be addressed by the Chief Executive of the United States.
Hanover’s policy on this issue is really an “opt in” policy, not an “opt out” one. The burden falls to the parent to “prove” that it is ok for their child to have the President address them.
And I don’t think Mr. Roberson’s argument holds water, that if they had been provided the materials earlier, this might have all been prevented. On the one hand, he says that the problem was a logistical one, and had nothing to do with the man. But later he says that they reviewed it and found it “appropriate.“ So here he acknowledges that the President’s speech needed to be screened for appropriateness, which is just off the chart.
That a group of residents whose anger about President Obama so overrides basic respect for the Office of the Presidency, leading to the caving of the School Board and a policy that panders to them…well it’s just the most embarrassing thing I can imagine.
And it’s all being modeled in front of our children.
Hey vamama, were you paying attention? Bush’s tax cuts were bringing us
out of the recession that started under Clinton’s administration and then
a little thing called 9/11 happened and we recovered from that under
Bush’s tax cuts. Do you remember Reagan’s tax cuts that brought us out of
the recession that started under the Carter administration? During Bush’s
administration the media kept telling us how bad the economy was when
unemployment was around 5%. How’s that hope and change working out now
that unemployment is at 9.7% and Obama tells us it’s going over 10%?
I would check your facts if I were you.
Hey vamama, were you paying attention? Bush’s tax cuts were bringing us out of the recession that started under Clinton’s administration and then a little thing called 9/11 happened and we recovered from that under Bush’s tax cuts. Do you remember Reagan’s tax cuts that brought us out of the recession that started under the Carter administration? During Bush’s administration the media kept telling us how bad the economy was when unemployment was around 5%. How’s that hope and change working out now that unemployment is at 9.7% and Obama tells us it’s going over 10%?
Vamama: When you say:
“Watch out Republicans - if you cry wolf too many times, eventually no one will listen.“
You mean like saying that the auto bailout has to be passed so the automakers don’t go bankrupt but they do anyway? You mean like rushing a healthcare bill through immediately, but, it doesn’t go into effect until 2013 a year after Obama is out of office so he’s not accountable for the mess? You mean like passing a stimulus package on the basis that it will stop unemployment at 8% but now we’re at 9.7%? You mean like insisting on being nice to Chavez and Ahmedinejad so they’ll be nice to us, but they continue their ambitions?
Yeah, I know what kind of wolf you’re talking about.
pashorter - Yeah because Bush’s tax cuts made the economy so much better.
Did Reagan and Bush have their speech shown? Did they have to provide a transcript before hand?
Watch out Republicans - if you cry wolf too many times, eventually no one will listen.
If you want to call the stimulus package an effort to end the recession, then he has done something. The problem is it isn’t working. As Obama now admits the unemployment rate is going to go over 10%. It’s a proven fact, over and over again, the way to jump start the economy is to cut taxes and put the people’s money back in their hands. What’s Obama’s plan? Run up the debt, pass a health care bill that would really run up the debt and pass Cap and Tax so the people will have even less money to spend in the economy. He’s flying the economy into the ground not into the air. But as Rohm Emanuel says never let an emergency get away without making hay with it. Their trying their best to cram this healthcare bill down the throats of the American people and they don’t like it. They don’t trust him.
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