Local schools now plan to show Obama’s speech
Published: September 10, 2009
Updated: September 10, 2009
A day after President Barack Obama's televised remarks to students, area school officials yesterday were more supportive of his speech.
That was a contrast from the days leading up to Obama's address, when a national fervor led school districts nationwide -- and all but one of the largest districts in central Virginia -- either to ban the broadcast or restrict access to it.
"I'm glad we were one of the ones to show it," said Donald L. Coleman, a School Board member in Richmond, which broadcast the speech in all but one school, Albert Hill Middle, because scheduling difficulties kept it from airing there. "I thought it was motivating."
In Hanover, Henrico and Chesterfield counties, school officials now plan to make the speech available to students.
Felicia Cosby, Richmond schools spokeswoman, said the division received six phone calls from parents who were opposed to their children watching the address Tuesday, but fewer than 10 students citywide opted out of watching it. She also said students at Albert Hill would watch it today or tomorrow.
In Hanover County, Superintendent Stewart D. Roberson said at Tuesday night's School Board meeting that he found the speech "entirely appropriate" and hoped his building administrators would show it to their students.
Hanover schools spokeswoman Dale Theakston said yesterday that county schools would show the speech by next Tuesday and that each school would notify parents of its plans.
In Chesterfield County, Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome said he, too, found the speech to be "consistent with what I've been telling students for decades." Chesterfield schools taped the speech and left the decision about whether to show it to students up to principals, he said.
Jeff McGee, principal of Manchester Middle School in Chesterfield, said he planned to make it available to teachers. "Parents and students have the option of opting out," he said.
In Henrico County, schools that didn't show the speech Tuesday will continue to use the taped speech as it fits in with school schedules, spokesman Mychael Dickerson said. If parents don't want their children to watch the speech, they must let the school know, he said.
"We're going to be consistent," Dickerson said. "We want [schools] to decide how best to use it."
Margaret S. Meara, superintendent for Powhatan County schools, which didn't show the speech, said she saw the speech and it is appropriate to show to students.
"The staff taped the speech, and it will be shown in all schools on Friday, as originally planned," she said.
Petersburg students watched a tape of the speech yesterday, spokesman Cliff Davis said. He said the central office fielded few complaints about the decision to wait a day.
Marshall W. Trammell Jr., Chesterfield School Board chairman, said during a Tuesday night meeting that the decision to show the speech at a later date was made in the best instructional and operational interests of the students and schools.
"We did not wish to interfere with our staff's ability to repeat past opening-day successes by inserting the requirement of what was an unplanned and untimed assignment," he said. "Specifically, a live address scheduled to air at noon would have disrupted lunch schedules and thus academic schedules for several thousand students."
If a school chooses to show the speech, building administrators will honor parents' requests to provide alternative activities for students, Trammell said. Schools also will notify parents when the address will be aired, he said.
Arthur Almore, education chairman of the Chesterfield NAACP, said his branch trusts the president to address county students about their "obligations and their duty to take responsibility for their education."
"Given the power and trust the American people place in the office of the presidency, it is not necessary for the Chesterfield School Board to vet in advance the remarks of any president of the United States of America," Almore said in a written statement.
"This board should teach the students in this school division, not blind obedience, but respect for the office of the presidency and respect for this institution that we as Americans created."
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or
.
Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .
Staff writers Holly Prestidge and Katherine Calos contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
It is certainly not ludicrous to apply basic math principles to the spendathon that Mr. Obama has been on for the last nine months.
It would be ludicrous not to.
If you had actually paid attention or understood my comments you would have realized that the European friends I referred to, all live here.
Like me they adore America and fully appreciate all the great things this country provides to those who are willing to work hard and are ready to assimilate.
If you took your own suggested trip overseas you would see for yourself the atmosphere in Europe.
It is nothing new.
We rescued them from world wars 1 and 2, and people never forgive you for obliging them to feel beholden to you.
Those of us who were born elsewhere can appreciate America to the nth degree.
And we do.
You are welcome to take my opinions any way you wish.
Preferably not as seriously as you do your own.
Greta - that was after he left our country in shambles, Barack Obama has only been president for nine months and as I stated before it is ludicrous for you or anyone else to judge his performance so soon after the catastrophe he inherited from George Bush. As I have stated before while Mr Bush was leading our country down this road not one “Tea Party” not one town hall meeting or not one protest from our “esteemed elected officials” just full steam ahead taking away freedoms that we all will ultimately pay for one day. As for your so called friends in Europe I hardly think they would appreciate you describing them as “jealous of America and since you as you have stated was “born in Europe, your “jealous opinion” of the state of affairs of my country can hardly be taken seriously.
phyllis-Simply restating a sentence does not grant it any more belivability than the original did.
As a wise man once said we are all entitled to to our own opinions but we are not entitled to our own facts.
Barack Obama is not by any stretch of the imagination the most disrespected President in recent or late history.
It seems that the thought only goes as far back as George Bush and even that won’t wash.
George Bush was b ooed and hissed at at his State of the Union Message and no less than Harry Reid called him a liar from the floor of the Senate.
I was born in Europe and lived there for many years and travel back now and then. My friends are from all over Europe and also travel back frequently. We read the European papers on a daily basis so I think that would qualify me to make a fair judgement on whether or not Europeans are envious of us. It was so this morning when I read the papers.
And anyone who has been observing politics as long as I have knows that this current crisis did not start with George Bush. But it may very well end with Barack Obama.
He has taken the crisis and turned it into a catastrophe.
But perhaps you are right in one instance, if the Drmocrats had protested during Clinton and Bush years (the way the tea party people are now) instead of enjoying the party, we might have reversed the trend before we got to this sorry state of affairs.
Greta - As I stated before Barack Obama has suffered the most public disrespect from his country men than any other president. George Bush was allowed to do anything he wanted. Not one town meeting, not one protest of him speaking to school students, not one Senator calling him a liar in a presidential address and now making money from his disrespect of our President. As I stated before, we as a country are divided and a house divided CANNOT stand. As for Europeans being jealous of us I hardly think so. We as country have lost our political status and the esteem that we once held, not with just Europeans but with a host of other countries and that is a fact. For political reasons and oil our government has been in bed with the very people who attacked us. And if you want proof just take a visit over seas and you will find out the real sentiment of how other countries view America. As for the race card, what a shame it still is in play no matter how much people deny that it is and will be for some time to come. You may say you don’t care what others think, but at the end of day it matters, especially when so much is at stake. George Bush had eight years to create this current state of affairs, through lies, scare tactics and total disdain for freedom and not one town meeting held by anyone to protest anything he did. Even at that I still held respect for the office he held. If voters are remorseful it is of their own doing, because they have not the patience or ability to understand that it going to take a while to get out of this current situation and its going to take sacrifice. Nothing worth having is done overnight and it is ludicrous to think that our problems can be fixed in a short time. The race is not won to the quick and the swift but to those who endure to the end.
truthtellr-Was that the one written by Van Jones?
No wonder they retracted it.
They should have quit while they were ahead.
Reading a little history would inform anyone that this president is far from being the most “disrespected” president in the history of this country.
I do not wonder that Laura Bush addressed the problem on CNN. The irony, per usual was evidently missed.
Her husband has probably been one of the most vilified individuals in recent memory Which for some has to be very recent.
There are certain segments of the population, despite vehement protestations to the contrary that are obsessed with Mr. Obama’s color. Segments on both sides of the line.
Probably because the fact of his color is easier to concentrate on and grasp than the political agendas.
When in doubt always drop back and punt the black card.
Thank goodness there are also whole segments on both sides that don’t give
a rats tail end.
A little reading of world history both past and present would also reveal that we are by no means alone in our current disarray. And they are much better at it than we are having had good practice for centuries.
And if you notice they have ceased the pseudo praise and gone back to merely envying us which is what they have done longest and best.
The Europeans in particular. Misery loves cmpany and the Obamaesque bent we have temporarily adopted suited the general feeling of continental schadenfreude.
But as we are finding out with the voters remorse in full swing, it does not suit the majority of Americans at all.
And the “mocking” Europeans are fleeing their socialist programs and entitlements in droves.
One sentiment is correct however.
The office must be respected, if not the man.
This is most difficult unfortunately when the man is in the process of becoming the message.
Never in the history of this country has the office of the presidency of the United States has been so disrespected. Even Laura Bush addressed this point on CNN. The issue of race has to be injected, because I believe that if Barack Obama was not a person of color people would not be behaving so badly and what is most interesting is that he truly represents the majority of Americans. People dismiss the fact that his mother was a white women so as usually the climate of racism still injects that a drop of black means you are black. Our president really is not black or white. And don’t give me that nonsense that your ethnictiscity is determined by what ever color your father is. In that case that are whole lot of people passing as black or white. A lot of white people are in denial about their racism. Even though George Bush, the person who created most of the problems that exist in this country politically, no one ever tried to keep him from speaking to the students of America on even questioned what he was going to speak on. I find it difficult to listen and hear these people degrade our President with such abandonment and not see what implications it has for us as a country. I am sure the powers that be of other countries are taking note an d making mockery of what was once the most respected country in the free world. Our enemies are bidding their time because as we all know a house divided against itself cannot stand and we will have no one to blame but ourselves. The promise of America is on life support. Freedom has a new meaning now because it comes without respect. When we do not respect ourselves how can we expect anyone else to respect us. Never have we been at a more pivotal point in our country and its up to us whether we succeed or fail and the way the people of this country are acting we are headed toward failure. Oh! what could have been!
greta,
You didn’t see the original speech. This one was re-written after the uproar. It contained rhetoric like “Obama wants to save the planet, help him by placing a pillow over your parents’ face while sleeping”.
I don’t wonder that they are are curious as to why there was such an uproar about what ended up being a run of the mill speech full of banalities and cliches.
The same speech had been given by both Bush1 and ronald Reagan. For the same cynical reason.
“No they won’t. The kid’s could care less. Stop giving them so much credit. At best, you have some high schooler’s that will care, but most of them agree with their parents’ political views anyway.“
Says you… I have several classes full of young people who would take exception to that statement. The overwhelming majority of them (and their parents, it turns out) supported them being able to make up their minds for themselves. They don’t like it when they’re spoken of as mindless, apathetic slackers.
Before the hoopla, perhaps they wouldn’t have cared so much, but since some of you have made such a grand spectacle of your opposition they’re REALLY curious now. Those that watched it on their own are wondering what the big deal was about.
You want to get a teen to do something? Tell them they can’t.
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