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Presidential address causes national stir PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Aaron Cedeño   
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 07:00

As the phone calls rolled in from concerned parents at Broadmoor Elementary School prior to President Barack Obama’s Sept. 8 address to students across the country, principal Chris McLean found himself a little flabbergasted by his front row seat to the controversy.

The reason for McLean’s surprise was simple. The President’s message of encouragement to students to work hard in school and value their education is one that echoes through the halls of Broadmoor every day.

“It’s the same thing I tell all of the students here all the time,” he explained. “I was surprised that it was that big of an issue, but I think a lot of people get riled up with politics pretty well.”
Like every school district in the United States, Louisburg USD 416 had a decision to make prior to Sept. 8: Show the President’s speech, or don’t.

In the week leading up to the address, the issue had become one of intense scrutiny and debate in the media, after verbiage from the White House’s accompanying lesson plans included a request for students to write a letter, in which they detailed how they might “help the President.” Critics worried Obama would use the opportunity to illicit sympathy for the Democratic party and recent hot-button issues, including health care reform, from America’s youth.


Though the White House eventually changed the wording of its lesson plans and downplayed the criticisms, parents everywhere wanted to know how their children’s schools would handle the speech – speaking their own mind on the matter in the process.

Sharon Zoellner, superintendent of schools in Louisburg, said the district offices didn’t receive but one or two phone calls, but the schools themselves received many more.

After a nationally-distributed notification letter from the White House failed to reach Louisburg schools, Zoellner said they were caught slightly off-guard by how quickly the issue came to a head. Without time to review the content – a district policy for all media viewed in school classrooms – and without the resources to ensure each student’s ability to view the broadcast live, the school district opted not to tune in on Tuesday morning.

“We made the decision Thursday (Sept. 3) to just not show it live,” Zoellner said. “Not that we weren’t going to show it, but that we weren’t going to show it live.”

Each teacher retained the ability to show the speech at their discretion later in the school year, as it fit with the curriculum, Zoellner noted. The President’s message was one she felt was important for their students to hear.

Brian Biermann, principal of Louisburg Middle School, said his school received a number of phone calls, most of them of the opinion that the school district should not show the speech.
In his mind, the controversy surrounding the address had been blown out of proportion, which led to misconceptions about its intent.

“I definitely think it was maybe misconstrued some,” Biermann said. “I don’t think the intent at all was to indoctrinate students with Democratic ideals, or push the health reform.”
Unfortunately, Zoellner added, it seems this presidency has a way of carrying controversy in its wake.

“I would sense that this presidency has been historical in nature from the get-go,” she said. “And there’s probably going to be a lot more interesting things happening as he finishes his term in office.”
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