Just wondering if the School Department intends to show Obama's speech to the students on September 8? If they are will the parents be notified in advance for something like this?
I stand by my original statement. If this was going to be just a pep talk to the nations school children, I don't think there would have been such a public outcry. It was the Dept of Ed's suggested assignments that raised red flags.
Another issue I have is that the US Department of Ed bypassed Superintendents and local governing authorities and sent letters directly to building principals. This may be perfectly legal and constitutional. But it makes me feel uneasy. A number of school districts, including our own, may have felt the same and decided the conduct by the White House was inappropriate given the high stakes political games on all sides. It is a much different climate today than it was even a few years ago.
Finally, even if only one parent complained, I think it is the responsibility of the Superintendent to take that complaint seriously and determine whether it is legitimate.
1) never in this conversation did I say that I was going to keep my child out of school or have him pulled out of class to miss the speech. At the time I emailed Mr. Madden requesting permission to be present in the classroom; the text of the speech was not being made available until after the fact. I also made it clear that my issues were more with the lesson plan than with the speech.
2) Parents have every right to question what their child is being taught or exposed to in the class room. Especially when what they are being exposed to has nothing to do with their curriculum, and is a topic that can lead to opinions being taught that are not in line with my own. Especially an elementart school student. High school school students are and entirely different matter
3) Nothing in the Presidents speech has anything to do with civics. He is giving a speech on the importance of staying in school. Anyone from celebrities and parents can give that speech at anytime. Nor was there any mention of the constitution, bill or rights, the different branches of government, Preidential powere. Or anything of the sort. The lesson plan was writing letters to the President telling him how the students could help him achieve HIS goals (btw...if it was a speech about staying in school and achieving your goals, what goals of his were they suppose to be writing about?) and taping HIS quotes about education on the wallss. Not his quotes along with past Presidents...just his.
Just wondering if the School Department intends to show Obama's speech to the students on September 8? If they are will the parents be notified in advance for something like this?
Wendy: This was Mike's original question. Where is the information that you felt the need to counteract?
I can only answer as a parent, because I have yet to be in a SC position where we have had a discussion on something like this, I sort of look at it like some of the health topics.
The health topics are covered under MGL: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/71-32a.htm
By law, the SC is required to allow parents to exempt their children.
Listening to the president speak is not covered under that provision. However, there is this:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/71-2.htm "Section 2. In all public elementary and high schools American history and civics, including the constitution of the United States, the declaration of independence and the bill of rights, and in all public high schools the constitution of the commonwealth and local history and government, shall be taught as required subjects for the purpose of promoting civic service and a greater knowledge thereof, and of fitting the pupils, morally and intellectually, for the duties of citizenship."
Please note the phrase "sort of" as in not literally. I was not trying to compare the two in any way other than stating that not all parents may be comfortable with what is discussed in health or by what a President says...yet the response to those situations and others to me is, I am the parent, if I feel additional guidance is needed then it is MY responsibility to provide it.
As for questions that you feel the SC should be asked I would remind everyone that my posts here are those of an individual and that I am in no way representing the views of our SC. The forum for that is during the open meetings.
Lastly, we are once again progressing to the sniping stage. We can have a debate without making it personal or throwing digs at each other.
Nope it is all good if you do not like it that's cool...just trying it out for a few days to see if people like the blog feature over the old style- I can return it at any time...so as Douglas Adams once wrote- don't panic!
It does look different but here is what it does-
It puts the latest topics that received a reply at the top of the list.
It puts those replies at the top (the reverse of the old style). so now you do not have to work your way through multiple pages to make a response- you just respond to the latest post.
It took me long enough to wean myself from the free flowing Seekonktalks unmoderated.
Dave - this may be too much of a change. I understand the frustration of looking for the last post - but I did find the 'View posts since last visit' link as well as little icon (looks like a dog-eared page) after the last posters name that sent me to the last post. I just backed up from there. Perhaps if there is a way to put text like 'LAST' instead of the icon it might help.
I see lots of format changes (some i like a lot, some not as much). I appreciate the need to keep a site 'fresh' but navigation is something you probably should not mess with once we get people on board.
I agree that the settings have issues- for instance even though I had reversed the order so that you saw the newest postsing first, when you used the latest post link it took you to the oldest post. So they have some kinks to work out. for now I put the viewing system back to the way it was. I am leaving the BLOG install for now as it does make for a cleaner read.
Seek let me know if this works better for you now.
It's better now that the posts are in order. I agree Mike. Having the original post on top reminds us what the subject was before we dig in. But I miss the convenience of the quote button.
Please keep the comments on or about the topic. If posters want to discuss differences in politics we have a national area for it and I only ask that we debate without making it personal.
I just think that the stakes are alot higher in education today than they were in the past. I think our new superintendent deserves a chance to lead the district. Whether you like this particuar decision or not, I think it is counter-productive for any parent to make this the hill they are willing to die on.
I have not seen any posts since the speech was given. I would be interested in know if the fears of those who worried about it being a polictal speaach were realized. Conversely for those who were in favor of it - would/was it worth having children miss a day of school to see it live instead of see it later on the computer?
I have not seen any posts since the speech was given. I would be interested in know if the fears of those who worried about it being a polictal speaach were realized. Conversely for those who were in favor of it - would/was it worth having children miss a day of school to see it live instead of see it later on the computer?
The speech was pretty innocuous, I have to say though that I really think most of it was way over the heads of an elementary school student. It would be interesting to know if any 1st graders went home and asked their parents what AIDS was.
Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:15 am seek2mend