Parents ask to excuse kids from Obama speech Some object to Obama speech to students

Some Texas parents are asking school principals to excuse their children from listening to a speech that President Barack Obama will make to schools next week on the grounds that it smacks of political indoctrination.

Obama will deliver an address directly to students on the importance of education beginning at 11 a.m. (CST) Tuesday.

“The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote in an Aug. 26 letter to school principals.

Critics of the president are using the Internet to build opposition and encourage parents to request their children not be forced to listen.

“I think it's inappropriate because it smacks of political indoctrination of the worst kind,” said Brett Curtis, a parent of two children attending Pearland ISD schools. “It's not just a speech. It's a specific curriculum to go along with the speech directly from the president of the United States without review.”

Schools are getting a menu of classroom activities for students, according to the education secretary, designed by teachers “to help engage students and stimulate discussion on the importance of education in their lives.”

Curtis said he would instruct his children to boycott the speech as “a general protest. I know that's going on around the country.”

Most Houston-area school districts will let principals and teachers decide whether to show Obama's speech. Some district leaders raised concerns about interrupting already scheduled lessons, while others said students need to hear the president's expected message of personal responsibility for learning.

Some parents have threatened to keep their children home for the day.

“I just don't see how this would be an indoctrination technique,” said Alief school board president Sarah Wink­ler, who also is president-elect of the Texas Association of School Boards. “It sounds to me like these are all things we try to teach our kids. We want them to work hard and pay attention and do the best they can.”

The Alief district, like Lamar Consolidated, plans to record the speech for interested teachers to show later.

Parents can opt out

The Houston Independent School District has directed principals to give parents a heads-up if they are planning lessons around Obama's speech so parents can opt out their children. Other districts said they would excuse students, though not all plan to send home notes in advance.

“We're not stopping instruction for it,” said Clear Creek ISD spokeswoman Elaina Polsen, “but if it's in line with what's being taught either on Sept. 8th or down the road, teachers may use it.”

Pasadena school officials said they are working to ensure that all schools can access the online broadcast of Obama's speech if they want.

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush used a nationally televised speech to schoolchildren to push an anti-drug campaign.

“It is not uncommon for students to watch a presidential speech that is given during the school day,” said Debbie Ratcliffe, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency. “This situation is somewhat different in that this speech apparently will be directed to students. But each district can decide how best to handle it for their community.”

Children pulled out of school for the day will cost districts about $35 per child, as state funding for schools is based on daily attendance.

State Board of Education member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, said he objected to the federal Department of Education taking classroom time away from local schools. The speech may be innocuous, Bradley said, “but look at the follow-up activities.”

“Under Texas statute, parents have the right to review all instructional materials. They also have the right to opt out their kids from any program they might object to,” he said, citing sex education as an example.

State Board of Education member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, said parents have complained to her about the speech taking up valuable classroom instruction time.

One parent told her the president's speech “obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with Obama's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates,” and does not allow for healthy debate.

‘Wild-eyed paranoia'

President Obama's speech does have its defenders.

“It's hard to imagine anything more ridiculous than attacking the president of the United States for talking to students about the importance of getting a good education and being a good citizen,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which monitors public education in Texas.

“I wish our elected leaders were responsible enough to denounce this kind of wild-eyed paranoia,” Miller said. “But the problem is too many of them are actually feeding this kind of nonsense — like when the governor flirts with secessionists and State Board of Education members say the president sympathizes with terrorists.”

gscharrer@express-news.net

ericka.mellon@chron.com