My daughter attends a neighboring district which may at a later time allow Obama's speech in schools but didn't because of the stink made by some parents. The following is an interesting situation for the AISD to have gotten themselves in::roll:
Arlington ISD - NO to Obama speech, but YES to a trip to Cowboys Stadium to watch Bush. Snark Time.
by JWAdvocate
Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 08:01:19 PM PDT
After sharing this story with a friend, he said it was ridiculous, but "par for the course." While I agree, I think it is sad that school districts are now playing political games with students' participation in civics.
An exercise in snark, where plain disgust simply will not do.
JWAdvocate's diary :: ::
The Arlington ISD refused to air Obama's education speech in classrooms. (Sidenote, apparently during mock voting, AISD students voted for Obama 3-to-1.)
The AISD then plans to bus about 500 fifth-grade students to Cowboys Stadium to hear speeches from, amongst others, George W. Bush.
What's the difference? Why should k-12 students have to make their own way to listen to President Obama's speech, while AISD sends kids to hear President Bush speak at Cowboys Stadium?
(snark)
The distinction is clear, folks.
** The Obama speech was televised. Way too difficult to have students watch things on television during class! That never happens!
** Wait. Nevermind. Okay, but the Obama speech would have clearly been less exciting than going to see Bush speak at Cowboys Stadium! Nothing like shoring up some star-power to get students feeling more positive about everyone's favorite President! But seriously, this is different because the Bush event will have multiple speakers. Via USA Today:
District spokeswoman Veronica Sopher said the two events are different.
"The distinction is it?s a field trip that parents have to grant permission for students to attend," she said.
(Because AISD couldn't have done this with the Obama speech, and/or provided alternative instruction. Not possible. Wait, Fort Worth ISD did that? You bastards!)
"With parental permission, the selected classes will attend a field trip at the Cowboys Stadium, where they will hear from several different speakers."
That is why this is completely different. Because Troy Aikman is going to be there.
** Okay, not buying that one? What about all the effort necessary to show this kind of stuff? Do you know how hard it'd be to play it to all students? Talk about low returns. It's not like anyone else is doing it. Wait. Fort Worth ISD did that? You bastards!
Anyway, with the Bush speech, it's totally easy! All AISD has to do is bus 500 fifth-graders to and from an NFL stadium, making sure they don't get lost in locker rooms or have asthma attacks. Just as long as no one asks how it's being paid for, it'd be clear sailing!
Look, folks. AISD Superintendent Jerry McCullough said officials didn?t want didn't interfere with instruction already planned for that Tuesday (via Star-Telegram.) Do you know how much of a distraction Obama's speech could have been, if it were about what we thought it was originally going to be about (but turned out not to be about at all? SOCIALIST INDOCTRINATION?) Besides, the trip to Cowboys Stadium is going to be chock-full of educational instruction. Clear. Difference.
** Besides, it's clear that the majority of North Texas parents don't agree with having their kids indoctrinated. Five percent of parents at the Fort Worth ISD opted out. Five! (And so what if the majority of AISD students voted for the guy! They don't know what they want. AISD knows.)
(And they are totally not fascists.)
(end snark)
The compromise, summarized in this statement from the AISD, would be in allowing students to leave school to watch the speech then promptly return back to the classroom at the speech's conclusion. (So yeah, kids, if you want to watch the speech, go watch it somewhere else on your own time. Just make sure you get back here afterward. Can't drive? Can't find a ride? Too damn bad.) One of the sites opening it's doors to the students to watch the speech was the Cornerstone Baptist Church. From FW Weekly:
"He said things that we, parents, teachers, ministers, have been saying for years: Stay in school, respect your teachers, listen to your parents, take responsibility. Well, praise the Lord, it makes all the difference in the world for those words to come from the president of the United States."
The speaker was Vera McKissic, wife of Cornerstone Baptist Church minister Dwight McKissic, explaining why the church opened its doors to Arlington public school students so that they could hear Barack Obama?s speech to the nation?s schoolchildren on Tuesday, after the Arlington district opted to close its doors (and its students? eyes and ears) to the historic broadcast. "We knew we had to do something when we heard that the school was banning the speech," Vera said. (In an agreement negotiated with the pastor, the AISD gave excused passes to students who wanted to watch the speech at Cornerstone.)
So churches had to negotiate with AISD to even allow students to get excused to watch?
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Every aspect of this stinks, no matter what angle you look at it. Double standards abound. The Obama speech viewed as a distracting departure from lessons and instruction. But not a trip to Cowboys Stadium to hear George and Laura, and some former Cowboys speak about the same thing.
AISD's rationale for differing treatment due to permission slips is bull****. Eloquent? No. But sometimes you have to call things what they are. It is clear, looking at how only 5% of over 1,300 students at Fort Worth ISD, that the majority of parents and students had great interest in watching the speech. To say that this is different because AISD utilized permission slips implies that permission slips could not have been utilized in allowing students to watch the speech in class, or participate in alternative instruction.
In making seeing the Obama speech far more cumbersome for students and parents, while spending taxpayer money to bus children to see Bush you, AISD, are sending negative messages, both real and reasonably perceived, about how you believe our President should be viewed and perceived by the youth, a true demonstration of how, in the name of preventing indoctrination, a school district can omit students access to the Presidential address of a President you happen not to like.
