Parents and lawmakers speak out against Obama's speech to students

[baci]

For many parents, this issue in my area is how we have been treated regarding our children. Whenever there is any kind of speaker, presentation, guest, special activity, and so on parents must give their consent via written form. It does not matter what it is or who it is. This was not done in this case.

Then, each school did not have clear information regarding this speech. Parents want to know what is going on in their child's classroom and they have a right. The school board in my county did not have this properly done and too much conflicting information in each school. It should be the same countywide and this throws up another red flag. You can't do that to parents no matter who is making the speech. The way parents see it - you do it this time and who knows what else you will do it with. As a parent, you send your children off to school and you lose control of your child while they are away from you. Parents did deserve information ahead of time and specific details which they did not receive. Call it whatever you want, but it was poor.

I know that I received a telephone call from my principal and was told the speech to the children would be one hour long, but it is up to each teacher if they choose to show the full length or not show it all. Funny, the released speech was nowhere near sixty minutes. That tells me something is not quite right. Was my school improperly informed or was the speech changed after all the craziness? It has made numerous parents wonder.

If you are going to do something like this it needs to be done properly from the beginning and it needs to have everything spelled out for parents. No matter what the message it was done improperly.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by baci

For many parents, this issue in my area is how we have been treated regarding our children. Whenever there is any kind of speaker, presentation, guest, special activity, and so on parents must give their consent via written form. It does not matter what it is or who it is. This was not done in this case.

Then, each school did not have clear information regarding this speech. Parents want to know what is going on in their child's classroom and they have a right. The school board in my county did not have this properly done and too much conflicting information in each school. It should be the same countywide and this throws up another red flag. You can't do that to parents no matter who is making the speech. The way parents see it - you do it this time and who knows what else you will do it with. As a parent, you send your children off to school and you lose control of your child while they are away from you. Parents did deserve information ahead of time and specific details which they did not receive. Call it whatever you want, but it was poor.

TXCN was saying that many school districts in TX were not gonna show the president's speech for this exact reason. I call bullshit. The fact that it was gonna be shown in school, meant that it was gonna have some kind of educational value. These parents probably don't give a damn about anything else, but because it was from a president they don't like, or b/c Obama is a Republican (or whatever the reason) they throw a shit fit about it. I personally don't think the parents deserved anything more than the information the rest of the public got. From my understanding (and I have many relatives in education) the school districts got the info, so if the parents wanted the information, they should have asked the school district. If the parents didn't have adequate information it was because they weren't seeking it out, or the school/school district failed......not the fault of the President.

It's pretty ridiculous that the President can't even give a speech to school children about staying in school without people complaining about it. Was there this much uproar when Bush Sr. gave his education speech? Why couldn't people actually wait until he gave his speech and then if they didn't agree, then bitch about it? It's a whole lot of hoopla over nothing. Like when you are waiting in line for a ride, and you are having panic attacks b/c you don't know what to expect, and once you finish that ride, you realize there wasn't anything to panic about.

I mean i'm not the biggest Obama fan either, but geezus people, it's a speech about staying in school and getting an education. People need to take chill pills and bitch about things that actually warrant some kind of concern.


(FYI, this wasn't directed at you specifically baci. I was gonna post about what TXCN said, but you posted something similar before, so I just quoted you)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by baci

For many parents, this issue in my area is how we have been treated regarding our children. Whenever there is any kind of speaker, presentation, guest, special activity, and so on parents must give their consent via written form. It does not matter what it is or who it is.

Definitely not the case in our schools. If it's a field trip or something really, and I mean really out of the ordinary, consent is required. Special programs, guests and speakers? I've never signed a consent for for that, nor do I expect or want to.

That said, sometimes if there is going to be something special or unusual that might make some parents uncomfortable (eg the president's speech or the special classes on puberty and the reproductive system), parents know in advance and can opt out. That's what happened with the speech today. I'm told no one opted out. (The kids at son's school also gave the president a standing ovation before and after the speech without being told to. Glad to see they know some manners.)

I know that I received a telephone call from my principal and was told the speech to the children would be one hour long, but it is up to each teacher if they choose to show the full length or not show it all. Funny, the released speech was nowhere near sixty minutes. That tells me something is not quite right. Was my school improperly informed or was the speech changed after all the craziness? It has made numerous parents wonder.

I seriously doubt anyone ever planned a 60-minute speech to high schoolers and middle schoolers. We were told it would be approximately one hour for the entire exercise -- time spent before the speech talking about what might be said, the speech itself, and time afterward talking about what was said and what wasn't said.