MD Public School's 1st Grader's Taught to Sing Praise

Red Maryland ^ | 9/29/09 | Brian Griffiths

[fightinbluhen51]

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Obama Worship comes to Howard County

Well, it looks like the worship of his holiness Barack Obama has infected Longfellow Elementary in Howard County. See this email below, and get ready to be disgusted. Because no President, Republican or Democrat, should be glorified like this.

* * * * *

From: (Removed)

Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 1:30 PM To: (Removed) Subject: Song

Hi everyone, below is the email that our son’s Assistant Principal sent us to let us know the wording of the Obama song that our son told us his class was instructed to sing last week…the teacher is part of the first grade team of teachers and is really nice, but this is not what we want our son doing at school or anywhere!

Any advice?

Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:33 AM To: (Removed)

Subject: Song

Hello Mr. (REMOVED),

The words to the song are below.

Thank you!

Laurel Marsh

Obama,

President Obama,

President Obama,

President Obama,

President Obama--He says

Yes we can!

President Obama--We say

Yes we can!

President Obama--I say

Yes I can!

President Obama--He says

Yes we can!

Barack Obama--Oh yes he rates,

The first Black President in the United States!

He's smart and he's--so so good!

He'll lead this country as he should!

He wants us all to work together,

To make this country even better!

Prez' Obama says--"Yes We Can!"

Make the US better--hand in hand!

Obama,

President Obama,

President Obama,

President Obama

President!

-------------------------------------------------

Laurel Marsh

Assistant Principal

Longfellow Elementary

410-313-6879

[Eva]

No, this is for real. I called the school and was directed to their information officer, Patti Caplan, 1 410 313 6680. She says that the song was written by a teacher with her first grade class, last year.

Give her a call and ask her about it.

[RockinRight]

I’m thinking of writing some 80s-style metal songs against Obama.

[Eva]

It’s not a rumor. She told me that the song was written in class by a teacher and her students last year. She says that the song was meant as encouragement to keep kids in school. I said that I don’t see that in the words, that it doesn’t say anything at all about working hard and staying in school, that all it says is Obama is “good” and that is a value judgement that may or may not be true.

[Eva]

link?

[newfreep]

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/10/06/indoctrination-watch-obama-praise-hymn-of-the-day/

[fightinbluhen51]

Well, apparently, they are back peddeling. Link On our last post about the lyrics of a song that was reportedly taught to student at Longfellow Elementary School in Howard County, we received the following comment from someone named Lisa: The scary part, this story, I CAN ASSURE YOU, was never verified. IT’S NOT TRUE. It’s sad to see so many people jumping on a bandwagon of criticism. Anyone who is disgraced by this should be even more disgraced by the fact that they believe everything they read. Give the school and the administration some credit. Based on the email address and the Howard County Public Schools IP address of the commenter, we’re fairly certain that the comment was left by Lisa Ciarapica, an assistant principal at Swansfield Elementary School. We will be sending an email to Public Information at Howard County Public Schools to see if they have any official response to the Obama song story. Contact information for their public information office is publicinfo@hcpss.org or 410-313-6682. We will run any response from the school system unedited and uncut in a later post. The story has since been picked up by Michelle Malkin after originally being mentioned by Brian Griffiths and Sean & Frank. In our initial post earlier we just included the song’s lyrics. However, both Griffiths in his post and Sean & Frank (via a Word document) had this complete email that consists of an email that appears to be from a parent mentioning the situation along with forwarding a response that is allegedly from the Assistant Principal at Longfellow Elementary: And it continues from my original post on this thread. Hopefully the formatting will work properly, I wish FR would move to v-bulletin, as I know a lot of lurkers that don't post here because of the archaic board style.

[Eva]

Lisa, whoever she is, is lying. I spoke to the information director of the school and she told me that the song was written in class by a teacher and her students. She refused to reveal the name of the teacher, however. I asked why she wouldn’t tell me the name, if it was because the woman was ashamed of what she had done. Patti Caplan assured me that the teacher was not at all ashamed. She said that it was part of some program that the school ran last year, a tech program of some kind. I didn’t get the exact assignment. Anyway, it happened.

[Eva]

That is not the correct telephone number for the Information director at the school. The correct number is 1 410 313 6680. The woman’s name is Patti Caplan. When I called the number that you posted in the article, I got the receptionist/secretary/aid. When I told her what I wanted, she laughed and said that they were directing all calls about the song to their information director. I told Patti that I thought the song was nothing less than political indoctrination, a real obscenity.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Mmm mmm mmm
Barack Hussein Obama!
He says we need to lend a hand
To buy our guns before he bans!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Could you repeat that, please?

[the OlLine Rebel]

You know, it FIGURES it would be in Kolumbia, Howard Co., Maryland.

(This is a school I’ve known of all my life.)

[the OlLine Rebel]

Another good idea to head off indoctrination may be to avoid placing them in any “pre-school” nonsense.

When they get’em from the 1st (and you know who really has a deadly grip on day care/pre-school), it’s probably about impossible to counter the brainwashing.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I doubt it.

This is how sick our society all by itself has become.

People THEMSELVES are so profligate in wanting to grovel to some all-knowing, all-beneficent “god”, that they themselves come up willingly with putrid hymns like this.

[the OlLine Rebel]

“Anyone who is disgraced by this should be even more disgraced by the fact that they believe everything they read.”

It’s a disgrace that a person supposed to be “educated” doesn’t know what word to use in this context.

[LongElegantLegs]

Good for you (and your children)!

[fightinbluhen51]

PING, update: UPDATE LINK "We received the following statement this morning from Patti Caplan, public information officer of the Howard County Public School System:" Letter on the link

[Bob Hyneman]

CONFIRMED IN WRITING Subject Re: internet rumor pls comment From "Carol H. Caldwell" Date Wednesday, October 7, 2009 8:48 am To bob*******@optonline.net Return-path bob*******@optonline.net writes: >>My name is Bob *******. >>I have encountered an Internet rumor that students in the Longfellow Elementary >>school are being taught to sing a song praising President Obama. >>Please let me know if there is any truth to the rumor. >>http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-.../2355967/posts >>http://redmaryland.blogspot.com/2009...rd-county.html >>Yours very truly, >>~Bob ******* Mr. *******, “Yes I Can” Song – Longfellow Elementary School Background: Last week, all LES first graders were shown a videotape of President Obama’s speech to students as part of the school’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Program (PBIS) focus on being safe, responsible and respectful. As the classes were gathering in one of the first grade classrooms, the teacher was playing a CD of a song she and her students composed last year for a technology competition (lyrics attached). She also played the song as the students were leaving. One parent called and emailed the school with the complaint that students were being forced to “glorify and worship” President Obama. The school administration responded to this parent and provided him with a copy of the lyrics, which he posted on a blog. • The objective of this lesson was to motivate students with a positive message to be respectful, stay in school, work hard and do their best. • The lesson supports the work the school is doing as part of PBIS. • There was no intention or attempt to glorify or worship the President. • The children did sing along to the chorus of the song, which repeats “Yes I Can” and “Yes We Can.” Repetition of this nature is a common element in songs for children of this age. • The focus of the lesson was on the children and positive behavior, not the President. • Educators often use positive role models in their lessons, including Presidents of the United States, and this practice is supported by the Howard County Public School System. The Howard County Public School System does not require nor encourage teachers to include references to President Obama in their lessons, nor does it discourage the use of such references. Carol Caldwell Public Information 410.313.6682 Carol_Caldwell@hcpss.org fax 410.313.6774