Controversy spreads before Obama’s school speech

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The controversy over President Barack Obama's plan to address the nation's schoolchildren Tuesday -- during a noon broadcast from an Arlington County high school -- picked up steam yesterday.

Chesterfield County school officials joined those in neighboring Powhatan County in deciding not to broadcast the speech. A School Board member in Dinwiddie County also voiced opposition to showing the speech.

"Though Chesterfield County Public Schools embraces the president's message on challenging students and is grateful for the support he has extended in the form of federal stimulus funding for public education, we do not wish to interfere with our staff's ability to repeat past opening-day successes," district officials said in a statement released yesterday.

In Powhatan, Superintendent Margaret S. Meara said the school system is "not fearful of the content" and will make the speech available later to give parents a chance to decide whether they want their children to watch it.

"We mean no disrespect to anyone but rather wish to extend our respect to parents, who we feel have the right to make choices for their children," Meara said.

The debate has reached across the country. Schools in Columbia, Mo., and Rochester, Mich., won't air the speech -- in the former because they can't afford the technology, officials say. Officials nationwide are grappling with how to appease parents who don't want their children to watch Obama or have access to the post-speech study materials provided by the federal government. In the speech, Obama will talk about succeeding in school.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer said he feared the speech would "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda" for "government-run health care, banks and automobile companies," according to a story in The Tampa Tribune.

Locally, the story generated more than three times as much interaction as anything else on the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Web site. Of the hundreds of reader responses posted on the site, the line seemed to break in terms of popularity of the president more than specific fears of his addressing schoolchildren.

Powhatan's decision to not show Obama's address on the first day of school didn't sit well with Rodney Christian, a county resident whose two children attend elementary school there.

"I'm flabbergasted," he said. "If the president wants to give a message to all students, why would you want to fight that?"

Dinwiddie School Board member Greg McCammon said he had heard a few complaints about the speech and that he opposed the idea of airing it.

"Dinwiddie County Public Schools should follow Powhatan's lead and not participate in any way, shape or form in the presidential address to schoolchildren," he said. "I don't believe that the address itself, or any of the . . . recommended assignments suggested by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, are part of an approved curriculum for Dinwiddie County."

The U.S. Department of Education, on the first page of its Web site, has links to lists of classroom activities suggested for before, during and after the speech and suggestions for teachers to incorporate the speech into future lessons.

"It just confounds me," said Donald L. Coleman, a member of the Richmond School Board and the father of a high school freshman. "He's the president. And as president, we should want to hear what he has to say."

But Coleman added that he understood the need for an opt-out policy. "Out of respect to parents, we need that," he said.

Midlothian resident Randy Lofland, a Republican-turned-Libertarian, said he wasn't crazy about the add-ons -- the post-speech lesson plans have been a point of contention -- but that it certainly wasn't something that should be banned.

He said he hoped his 16-year-old son watches Obama's speech Tuesday. "We talk about stuff like this," he said.

In most area school districts, students or their parents will have the option to opt out of speech-viewing.

In Goochland County, the school system has directed principals and staff that if they find the speech to be instructionally relevant, they can use it. But students whose parents object must be excused.

"We respect the office of the presidency, but at the same time we understand some parents may have issues with it," said Brad Franklin, a spokesman for the school system.

"I wouldn't say we've been flooded with complaints, but we've received calls both at the schools and central office," he said.

Shelly Schuetz, who has three children in Chesterfield schools, said she wants schools to broadcast Obama's address and for her children to be allowed to watch. She said she hopes his speech energizes students.

"I think it's a great idea for the president to address students and talking to them about education and student responsibility," she said. "As parents, we're always talking to our children about the importance of education, and hearing it from other individuals, and obviously coming from the president, it can have a lot of weight."

In Henrico County, Tiffani Davis said she had more pressing concerns than overriding the president.

"I let my kids have their own opinion on things," she said. "They're going to have that anyway. I don't have an opinion. I'm so busy -- I had no idea -- I'm making sure they're there and they're not truant. That's my priority."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .

Staff writers Katherine Calos, Wesley P. Hester, Juan Antonio Lizama and Jeremy Slayton contributed to this report.