By DAVID ADAM
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
President Barack Obama wants to deliver an address to school-age children across the country on Tuesday to stress the importance of education.
The parents of some students in the Quincy School District, however, don't want their child to hear what the president has to say.
A letter from Education Secretary Arne Duncan posted Aug. 26 on the U.S. Department of Education Web site said that Obama will "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning."
The address will be broadcast live on the White House Web site at 11 a.m. CST Tuesday. White House officials said Obama’s speech would be the first by a sitting president to students about achievement since 1991, when George H.W. Bush spoke to the nation’s schoolchildren from Deal Junior High School in the District of Columbia.
The Quincy School District said it does not plan to show Obama’s speech live during class time. A statement released Thursday morning states a link to the webcast will be available on the district’s Web site. District employees will offer DVDs of the address for those interested in viewing it.
Quincy Superintendent Lonny Lemon said the district offices received about 40 telephone phone calls Wednesday afternoon, and he spoke with six callers.
“About half of them say, ‘I hope my student gets to watch it,’ and about half of them say, ‘My student better not have to watch that,’ ” Lemon said on Wednesday. “The district is in a predicament because of the timing of it. If this was shown at 7 o’clock at night, the family can make the decision, but we’re right square in the middle of this.”
Lemon said he contacted Melvin “Bud” Niekamp, president of the Quincy School Board, Wednesday afternoon about the situation. Niekamp said Wednesday night he would poll other members of the board. He gave his decision to Lemon Thursday morning.
Martin Cook, superintendent of Community Unit School District No. 3, said Central High School received calls from three parents on Wednesday requesting that their child not listen to the address.
Cook said the district is going to burn a CD or DVD for any student who wants to watch the address, but time will not be taken out of the school day to watch it live.
“As much as we’re being pushed with assessment and time on task, I don’t feel comfortable with this being a priority to sit and watch this when our time could be better spent,” he said. “By offering the CD, we believe this is a great opportunity for kids to sit down with their parents and listen to the president and discuss it afterwards.”
Neither Hannibal Superintendent Jill Janes nor Palmyra Superintendent Eric Churchwell have received calls from parents about the issue. Both said they would make alternate plans for students whose parents don’t want them to hear the address. Churchwell said Palmyra won’t interrupt the school day to show the address live but will record it for students to view later.
Duncan’s letter said Obama will call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.
The Education Department is encouraging teachers to create lesson plans around the speech, using materials provided on the department Web site, that urge students to learn about Obama and other presidents.
But already, some conservatives are crying foul.
Politico.com reports the chairman of the Florida Republican Party is condemning Obama’s speech as an attempt to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.” The site also says conservative author Michelle Malkin said the lesson plans have a “heavy activist bent.”
Larry Ehmen, chairman of the Adams County Republican Central Committee, said he wanted to know more about what Obama was going to say.
“If he truly says that we want you to study in school, do what you need to go to get your education and learn personal responsibility, then I don’t care who that message comes from,” Ehmen said. “But if he spews out some of the views he’s been acting on, then I wouldn’t want my child to hear what he has to say, either.”
Randy Reis, chairman of the Adams County Democratic Central Committee, doesn’t believe listening to Obama’s speech will hurt anyone.
“He’s our leader,” Reis said. “I hope he tells them things they need to know.”
Former Quincy mayor Chuck Scholz hopes that parents will let their children listen to Obama’s message “out of respect for the office” and because it would be learning opportunity.
“The message that unfortunately could be sent is one of partisanship and closed-mindedness if someone doesn’t allow their child to hear the president,” he said. “I doubt very seriously if it will be any ideological indoctrination.”
— dadam@whig.com/221-3376
