WISD students may or may not watch Obama's education address

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Editor's Note: This may be old news to some, but just in case the letter below from WISD Superintendent Dwain York spells out how the district will be handling today's national address on education from President Obama. The letter was released last week. Looks like students and/or their parents can opt in or out. York says that due to lunch scheduling conflicts the president's address will be taped and shown on Wednesday.

In a letter received last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated the following, “President Obama announced that on September 8 - the first day of school for many children across America - he will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education. The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also 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.”

I have received visits, calls, and emails about the speech with most of the questions pertaining to how the school district will address this situation.

We all have our own political viewpoints and attitudes and as parents we all want to be able to discuss our viewpoints with our children. As your superintendent, I do not feel it is the school district’s responsibility or place to emphasize one group’s philosophy and/or values over another. I do, however, feel it is the district’s responsibility to offer all our students the opportunity to listen or not listen to the President with parental/guardian approval.

I have received questions from parents on this issue, with as many parents opposed to allowing their child to participate as there were for requesting their child view the President’s address. Therefore, after meeting with my administrative team we will address the concern as follows:

WISD campuses will be allowed to participate in the President’s address; however, as with other controversial issues, I want to make sure we are protecting our parents’ rights by allowing them to exclude their children, if they choose. This letter provides you the opportunity to exclude your child by checking the appropriate box below, signing and returning this letter to the campus Principal office by Wednesday morning, September 9, 2009.

Logistically, the timing of the speech does provide a real problem for us to show the students a live feed on Tuesday, primarily because it was intended to be shown in a classroom under the supervision of our teachers, and the President is speaking at 12:00 p.m. (noon) our time. Because many of our students will be at lunch, we will record the speech and show it in our classrooms on Wednesday, September 9th. Again, for those parents who wish to exclude their children from the speech, the forms must be returned to your campus principal by Wednesday morning, September 9, 2009 in order to allow us time to make appropriate arrangements for students.

The President’s unprecedented approach has created unique issues for schools across the nation. I would like to hear your opinion as to how we have handled this. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to hearing from you about this matter.

Dwain York, WISD Superintendent