Even before the White House decided on Friday afternoon to release the text of President Obama's speech later today on education in advance, even more school districts nationwide persisted in succumbing to the pressure from Republican politicians and conservative parents alike. This includes Henrico County Public Schools, one of the school districts in my local area. Henrico County Public Schools added a statement on its web site on Friday afternoon which declared that President Obama's speech could be shown live as long as the teachers first contacted the parents. In other words, teachers would be required to contact the parent(s) for each student (1) at the last minute, (2) over the course of a long holiday weekend and (3) before the first day of classes. Regardless of the level of support a teacher may show to President Obama and his speech, he/she should not be expected to contact each student on their last free weekend before the start of the school year. (Which is exactly why this cowardly district announced this policy when they did.)
Those same critics of President Obama's speech also continued their lies regarding the list of suggested classroom activities provided to schools last week. They do so by claiming the outline for pre-kindergarten to sixth grade students instructs those children to read books on President Obama prior to the speech. This is completely untrue. What the document does, in fact, recommend is that "Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about Presidents and Barack Obama". As you can see, not only does the suggestion specifically mention teachers but it also speaks to reading books about Presidents as a whole.
Those same critics of President Obama's speech also continued their lies regarding the list of suggested classroom activities provided to schools last week. They do so by claiming the outline for pre-kindergarten to sixth grade students instructs those children to read books on President Obama prior to the speech. This is completely untrue. What the document does, in fact, recommend is that "Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about Presidents and Barack Obama". As you can see, not only does the suggestion specifically mention teachers but it also speaks to reading books about Presidents as a whole.
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