September 8, 2009

• This Country (sic) Is Sick

  This County  (sic) Is Sick

    

  Our county voted strongly for McCain last November, so none of this is very surprising.  One of the things wrong with this country (and county) is that Republicans began concentrating in the 1970s to take over the school boards.  What’s happening here is symptomatic of the problem.

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  Reaction Mixed to School

  District’s Decision on Obama Speech

  (Vero News, Sept. 7, 2009)

  By Lisa Zahner

  INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Indian River County School Superintendent Dr. Harry La Cava’s unilateral decision to not air a live speech by President Barack Obama on Tuesday has sent local political and community leaders off into their respective corners.

  According to a sample letter from a principal sent to the school’s teachers, the policy decision by La Cava was because “it is incumbent on the District to exercise reasonable control over the instructional and media materials that may be shown to students, and if shown, the content must be educationally relevant to the class in which it is shown.”

  La Cava stated that both the district and individual principals and assistant principals will dictate if and when the speech can be shown, and in which classes.

  The speech is intended to inspire students to stay in school, to commit themselves to education and to set goals. However, officials of the Florida Republican Party last week voiced concerns that Obama would use the venue to espouse his political agenda. At one point the Department of Education had offered as part of the teaching materials about the speech for students to consider writing letters to the president offering how they could help forward the president’s goal of students studying hard and staying in school.

  Some Obama opponents seized on that material, saying it proved the Obama White House had a political agenda. The Department of Education has since removed that part of the study guide and the President has said his speech will encourage kids to work hard and stay in school.

  La Cava has the full support of Tom Lockwood, 20-year chairman of the Indian River County Republican Executive Committee.

  “I don’t know all of the reasons, but I support that he is trying to remain neutral,” Lockwood said. “He’s not airing the speech because, by allowing it, he would be indicating a partisan preference.”

  Lockwood said La Cava is correct in being suspicious that the speech might have a “slant” toward initiatives being put forth by Democrats in Washington D.C. He said the speech should be reviewed by school officials to make sure it’s not intended to sway students to a political position.

  “We need to be very careful, the schools have been very careful to keep politics away from the students,” he said. “We feel that this is an opportunity for President Obama to push his causes.”

  In the north end of the county, Fellsmere Vice Mayor Joel Tyson, a staunch supporter of conservative issues, also agrees that LaCava was within his bounds to restrict students’ access to the speech before it’s vetted by district officials.

  “It seems to me that Obama is grasping at straws to get his agenda through,” Tyson said. “it’s not going to mean anything to the kids anyway, they don’t understand all this stuff, but you know the parents will watch it.”

  Tyson serves on the board of the North County Charter School, which he says does not have to follow La Cava’s policy. Tyson said he had not been approached by the school for an opinion on the matter and had no idea whether the charter school intends to air the speech.

  “If he’s encouraging the kids, then that’s his job and I don’t see a problem with it, he’s the guy we’re all supposed to look up to,” he said. “But if he’s using this speech as the bully pulpit for political reasons, there’s a time and a place for that and the schools are not the time or the place.”

  Tyson said he does recognize that former U.S. Presidents have had free access to speak to schoolchildren in public schools in the past.

  “That’s where President Bush was on 9-11 when he got the news,” Tyson said. “He was at a school.”

  Jon Pine, president of the progressive activist group Club Change, has a different take on the issue.

  “Basically what is going on here is the School Board, with the superintendent acting on their behalf, is playing politics with our children and that’s exactly what they’re accusing our President of,” Pine said. “Once again, someone from the Right makes an outlandish claim and it gets traction before anyone has the opportunity to go check out the validity of that claim.”

  Pine also recollected that President Bush was reading to children at a Sarasota school when he heard about the World Trade Center being hit on 9-11. Pine added that former presidents have not only spoken directly to students, but handed down policies such as Kennedy’s Presidential Council on Fitness.

  “When I was in school, we had this Presidential Council on Fitness where we were required to perform at a minimum level on various fitness tests,” Pine said. “That was an effort by the President to improve the physical fitness of our young people and this speech by President Obama is an effort to improve their intellectual fitness.”

  First Lady Nancy Reagan also led the “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign, which was the mantra of the nationwide school system in the 1980s.

  Pine said grassroots protests are bubbling up all over the county, whether it be parents keeping children home from school on Tuesday to view the speech on television, families protesting at the School Board meeting on Tuesday evening or a group of religious leaders taking a stand on the issue. As of Sunday morning, Club Change had not scheduled an official protest, but Democratic State Committeewoman Pam Director has signed up to speak at the School Board meeting.

  Freddie Woolfork, director of development and marketing for the Gifford Youth Activity Center, is vacationing in Orlando for the holiday, but heard about the issue. Should the 150 elementary through high school-age student who will come to the GYAC for after-school programs on Tuesday not be allowed to watch Obama’s speech at school, Woolfork said he would approach Executive Director Angelia Perry to get permission from the GYAC Board to show the speech after school. Woolfork said the GYAC students study public and historic figures across the political spectrum and allow the kids to make up their own minds.

  “If the speech is about education and staying in school, that’s exactly what we’re about,” Woolfork said. “He is the President and that position comes with it a certain credibility and dignity and he’s not about to do anything to take that away.”

  As a sitting President, Woolfork said Obama should be afforded the proper respect and should not have to be censored in his message to students.

  “Once the election is over, whether you voted for him or not, he is the President of the United States and we don’t always agree with everything that our Presidents say or do,” he said. “He’s not a Democratic President or a Republican President, he’s the American President. I can’t believe we’re debating over whether or not our schools should let the President of the United States speak to our students.”

  © 2009, Vero News.  All rights reserved.

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  The above article was found through a link in an email sent by a friend.  Here is another article, enclosed in her email, which contains statements made by another friend of mine, Claudia Jimenez, who is a member of the School Board.

  Email received Monday from Rachael Carson

  There were some terrific articles at www.veronews.com that I neglected to include in my other e-mails on the School Board issue.  Please go and visit the site, I will cut and paste one of the pieces below, LINK.  Here is a direct LINK to a second article.
   
   
   

  Indian River School Board members split over airing President’s address

  By Debbie Carson, Online Editor INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – Indian River County School Board members are split over Superintendent Dr. Harry La Cava’s decision to ban a live airing of President Barack Obama’s speech to schoolchildren on Tuesday in the county’s public schools. Of the four School Board members reached for comment Sunday, two firmly stand behind La Cava’s decision to not run the president’s address live. One opposed the decision, terming it a disservice to students and a sign of disrespect for the president. And the fourth said the issue has become a teachable moment for all. Board members Carol Johnson, Claudia Jimenez, Karen Disney-Brombach and Debbie MacKay offered their opinions to VeroNews.com and their positions do not represent the board as a whole. Attempts to reach School Board Member Matthew McCain were unsuccessful over the Labor Day weekend. School board Chairwoman Carol Johnson said that Dr. La Cava’s decision was in keeping with the district’s policies. “Policies are our rule of law,” Johnson said. Under the school board’s rules, Dr. La Cava has the authority to decide whether or not such addresses should be aired in the district’s classrooms. Dr. La Cava has said that such materials need to be reviewed first before a decision can be made. The White House has said that President Obama’s speech is designed to encourage school children to set goals, work hard and to stay in school. Johnson added that her cell phone died Saturday after fielding numerous phone calls from parents. She said the majority of the callers wanted to know what the consequences would be if they kept their students at home in an attempt to keep them from watching the presidential address. “Nothing is going to happen on Tuesday,” Johnson said. “Children need to be in school.” Dr. La Cava’s decision means only that the speech will not be aired live. The district will record and review the speech, and subsequently determine when and if the address will be played. School board member Claudia Jimenez disagrees that the decision was based strictly on school board policy. “This is the result of the tea party folks having their influence,” Jimenez said. “Of course, the district line is that this is apolitical and neutral. You’d have to be blind to the realities of the politics of this county to accept that and say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing political about this.’” “This is about basic respect for the office,” she later said, adding that she thinks the district’s decision sends an “inappropriate message to the children. It’s unfortunate.” “I wrote the superintendant and said, ‘Here I am an immigrant (from Colombia) who has lived in a country where I’ve seen people killed, where they can’t speak for fear of death. And I’m in a country where you have a democratically elected president and his speech to children about education is perceived as a threat? “That is as unpatriotic and un-American as you can be. How is that possible? This is my adopted country and it just boggles my mind that this is what it has come to, that if you don’t agree with the president, you have the right to censor him.” Jimenez moved to the U.S. in 1969 as a kindergartner. For a while, Jimenez considered pulling her daughters from school Tuesday to watch the address but has since decided not to. Instead, her high school junior and senior will watch a web-stream of the speech that evening at home. “They’re disappointed,” Jimenez said of her daughters, who had hoped to watch the address live at school. “We are educators,” she continued. “This is about education and conversation and critical thinking. And we are denying the kids the opportunity to view a speech and come to their own conclusions.” Johnson said it was necessary for education officials to review the content of the speech first before allowing school kids to hear the president. The White House will release the text of the speech on Monday. “We want our children to be able to use their critical thinking skills,” she said, but the speech must be relevant to the curriculum. And, without the ability to review it first, the district doesn’t know that would be the case. School board member Karen Disney-Brombach said that she agrees with Dr. La Cava’s decision because he did not say the students could not watch it — only that they could not watch it live. She explained that Dr. La Cava has said that history, government and civic classes may be able to view the address as it pertains to the classes’ lessons. “It’s not about what I think,” Disney-Brombach said when first asked about the issue. “It’s about policy.” She added that the district later could decide to review its policies and change them. Disney-Brombach also mentioned technological and logistical issues that would have made it difficult to air the president’s speech live. The speech is supposed to be on television during the lunch hour when many students are in the cafeteria. The schools would have had to rearrange the whole day in order for students to be in classrooms at that time. Also, not every classroom has cable access. School Board member Debbie MacKay said that the issue should serve as a teachable moment. “This is a real learning opportunity of how polarized government has become,” she said. MacKay also said that what is supposed to be an inspirational speech for children shouldn’t be this complicated. Some people – not all – “entrench ourselves in politics,” MacKay said, adding that people get wrapped up in what political party they are with and what their leaders tell them. “I wish we had more time for calm, meaningful discussion,” she said, noting that the school district wasn’t given much lead time before Tuesday’s speech, especially with the Labor Day holiday Monday. MacKay said that despite the “maelstrom” surrounding the decision, the board is bound by its policies. “We really are supposed to look at board rules,” she said. They should also think of the students and do what’s best for them, she added. “Questioning motives is destructive,” MacKay said. Instead, people should focus on the importance of education. “Let’s all join in on that message,” she said. “We should all be able to embrace that.”

   

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