Published: September 10, 2009 12:31 pm      

Schools say "Nobama" in classrooms

Many students across the country will watch President Barack Obama’s back-to-school message today while at school. However, the majority of Cooke County students will have to wait until after school to watch the president’s address at home with their parents.

In a letter addressed to Gainesville Independent School District parents and staff, Superintendent Bill Gravitt wrote, “The United States Department of Education sent a letter to all school districts on Aug. 25 announcing a presidential address to school children on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009.

The topic of this public broadcast is the importance of education. To clarify questions and concerns about this presidential address, Gainesville ISD notes the following: this even is not component of the Gainesville ISD curriculum and is therefore not a mandatory activity, viewing the broadcast is not a planned classroom activity for Sept. 8 and like many historical event, Gainesville ISD will have this video available for students and teachers via the digital video library.”

In an interview with the Register, Gravitt said GISD simply does not have the technology to air the message to every campus within the district.

“We don’t have live TV on every campus and I don’t think it would be appropriate or fair to show the address on some campuses and not others,” said Gravitt.

According to the White House’s official website, President Obama’s goal for the message is to “talk directly to students across the country on the importance of taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed.”

The message will be streamed live via the website at noon. However, interested teachers and parents can view the president’s prepared message prior to the actual broadcast.

According to his prepared message, President Obama will be speaking from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. During the message, Obama has prepared to share a few anecdotes from his own childhood, including being raised by a single mother. The bulk of his message, however, will focus on students’ responsibility to their education.

“Every single one of you has something you’re good at,” reads President Barack Obama’s prepared message. “Every single one of you has something to offer and you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide...and no matter what you want to do with your life — I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it...”

While Era (www.eraisd.net), Muenster (www.muensterisd.net) and Valley View ISDs (www.vvisd.net) will not make it mandatory for students to view the message, all school districts will make the broadcast available to view via the schools’ website.

In a brief message posted to parents and staff on Era ISD’s official website, any teachers who choose to view the speech in their classrooms are told they may do so as “part of (the school’s) instructional process” however parents can “opt-out” from having their children view the message if they “desire.”

Both Muenster ISD Superintendent John Kaufman and Valley View ISD Superintendent William Stokes said it made more sense to just let students and parents view the message online, since broadcasting it during school would prove problematic.

“Realistically, it’s falling right during lunch periods so we would have had to make arrangements to allow for the message to be viewed,” said Stokes.

“For us it was just a schematical choice,” added Kaufman. “Trying to get everything set up to view it would have been a logistical nightmare for us in such a short period of time, so we thought it would be best just to post it on our website so students could watch it with their family or whatever they would like to do.”

While St. Mary’s Catholic School will not post the president’s message on the school website, Principal Carol Hermes said students can visit the White House website to view it with their parents.

Parents will also be allowed to take students out of school, if they wish, to view the president’s message, added Hermes.

“We’re going to let that be an individual decision,” she said.

While Lindsay ISD teachers were given the OK to allow students to watch the message, so long as it was a part of the day’s lesson planning, Superintendent Dennis Holt said he has not received any requests from teachers to view the message. The president’s message will not be available through the school district’s website, but Holt said he would help assist parents get a copy of the message if needed.

To view President Barack Obama’s address to students or read his prepared message, visit www.whitehouse.gov.