Big uproar emanating from the La Mesa-Spring Valley area, apparently. Today's San Diego Union-Tribune writes about how two school board trustees have now publicly apologized for voting not to air Obama's pep talk live to students in their district (they instead recorded the speech for later viewing), and a group of angry parents plans to confront the board at its next meeting. One board member (Penny Halgren), reacting to a parent's accusation that the decision was racist (sigh...will use of the race card never end?) actually broke down in tears during an interview.
One can't help but wonder if this reaction is "organized." To have a school board buckle under the tirade of indignant parents whose children were deprived of the opportunity to hear the president's speech the second it was delivered is pretty impressive. Nice PR for our poor, maligned president who only wanted to inspire and motivate school children. Yet I still maintain it's the president who's to blame for all this fallout. School boards across the nation were having to deal with the question of how to "require" (or not) their teachers to interrupt regularly-planned scheduling and carve out a spot in their curriculum for the president's message and accompanying lesson plans. There was very little time to analyze, evaluate, and decide. I agree with Trustee Rick Winet who stands by his vote, arguing that "public school curriculum is supposed to be reviewed and approved at the local level."
The parents need to calm down, and the school board needs to stand by its decision. The mistake is the Obama administration's, not the school board's.
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