Posted on 09/05/2009 8:12:53 PM PDT by Senator Goldwater
Dear CCPS Parents, Students, Staff and Community Members:
Earlier this week, we learned that President Obama was preparing to deliver a nationwide live speech to school children on Tuesday, September 8, 2009, at noon. The stated purpose of the speech is to encourage students to set and achieve challenging goals as well as take responsibility for their learning. The speech is expected to last approximately 15 minutes.
We have been assured that this is not a political activity and that the speech will not have political messages; however, we have not had the opportunity to view the speech.
Once we received information about the speech on September 2, 2009, CCPS staff began to investigate the logistics of showing this speech to over 16,500 students. Simultaneously, the event became a matter of controversy both in our community and across the nation.
It is our decision to make the speech available to our high school students during their one-hour lunch program if they are interested in viewing it. Students can choose from a variety of activities, and no one will be required to participate in the event.
Prior to Tuesday, high school students and parents may want to discuss not only their view of the event but also how it fits into the larger picture of public discourse in a democratic society.
Elementary and middle school students will not have the opportunity to view the speech on Tuesday at school for two reasons.
First of all, logistically it is impossible for us to stage the event for all children at the elementary and middle levels because many students are at lunch or in physical education, art, or recess during that time. In order to show the speech to all children, the school day at all 19 middle and elementary schools would have to be significantly altered, including lunch service.
Secondly, because of the short notice we received about the event, we are unable to put a reasonable process in place that would allow parents to opt their children out of the event. Following the President’s speech, a link to the video will be posted on the CCPS website so parents who choose to do so can view it with their children and have discussions about the message.
Furthermore, once teachers and principals have had the opportunity to view the speech, they may find that it would be an appropriate instructional resource to use in a particular lesson during the coming months.
A form requesting that a child be excused from such an activity will be sent home on Tuesday with elementary and middle school students.
In addition, CCPS staff will not be using the lesson plan materials provided by the United States Department of Education for any activity before, during, or after the President’s address.
Sincerely,
Jack Smith, Ph.D. Calvert County Superintendent of Schools
Yes, I found this quote revealing:
“We have been assured that this is not a political activity and that the speech will not have political messages; however, we have not had the opportunity to view the speech”
Basically he’s saying that they don’t trust any of the White House or DOE “assurances” that this isn’t a partisan speech.
George Bush on 9/11 reading to children...actually seated IN the classroom, only 100 days into his administration.
And for Obama...after 200+ days of his tenure most parents and schools don't even want his video in the classrooms of America! What a pathetic situation this Obama creature has created in our country when we can neither be proud of our president, nor want to hear him speak.
Bravo! Excellent observation. This has turned out so badly for Obama that I almost feel sorry for him. If it wasn't for that creepy lesson plan, put out by the Department of Education, I don't think it would have been as big a deal. If the Obama Presidency were a TV show like West Wing, this episide would be called "The Dear Leader."
First there are legal considerations.
Federal law expressly forbids the Secretary of Education or any officer from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system.” 20 U.S.C. § 3403.
Regular Joe clues to why not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR_GJviltL4&feature=related&pvnpos=5
(Lucky for him I couldn’t find the long version, when he starts preaching loudly afterwards and got all wee weed up).
Second, where some teachers will go with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDEAYgm0Dv8&feature=player_embedded
Let’s not forget the impression he had on adults... young, impressionable minds? Forgetaboutit. I know it sounds ridiculous, but kids are props to him.
This guy said he wouldn’t want his daughters punished with a baby, without thinking his oldest heard it and maybe asked herself if he wanted her and her sister... what would she think?
And of course City Year will fully participate... Nice surface program to help. David Gergen pushed to expand it as well as 70 other groups. Americorps, Progress Forward, etc.
Old vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDcL12DdxUs
Well, Rahm did say compulsory service would require jumping jacks...
Back to school:
The original package for elementary had What can I do for Obama, What does Obama want me to do, How can I help Obama, etc. (something like that); It read like a Chicago Catechism (not Baltimore obviously). Not what can I do for America, my country, my family, my teachers, my neighborhood, classmates, fellow citizens.
If I were a teacher I would be offended, as if they don’t tell their kids they can do it and be the best... and chuck your plans from starting out you’ve worked on. Changing the curriculum??? Next, you ALWAYS, especially if it’s not without parent participation, you didn’t get sent a letter on it ahead of time, no content... find out what it’s about first (see Planned Parenthood ‘Perfectly Normal’ series run in elementary, sans parents when they asked, no parents per request of PP and you don’t want to know the rest). Parents (though many may not), should be encouraging and on their kids. Sure it’s fab for the president to speak directly to them... but it’s something that should have been posted (nevermind the ‘stars’ Pledge ad was shown in schools and many parents didn’t know until afterward, i’m sure they didn’t show the McCain POW ad spot), or broadcast at primetime... as usual, for parents and kids to watch together.
The bottom line is... we all have instincts and have seen this man lie like nobody’s business (only to be told we saw or heard wrong; the ‘friends’ he has; his disregard for all except his ends with no problem of doing ‘anything’ to get there. Why is the speech not up yet? BTW, it’s one thing to speak to the kids and another to give lesson plans... especially when it didn’t go through the superintendent and school board (as Arne should’ve known). The government or the teachers are not the parents. They are there to educate, not indoctrinate. With Obama this is a control thing... as surely as if he held your kids hostage and you couldn’t do a thing about it. (sorry, that’s the mindset).
I know many teachers that want no part in this... i’m talking dem teachers; But their lips are sealed as are many black and hispanic parents throughout his run up to now when it could affect their child’s education, the way they could be singled out for not going as pariahs and not ‘going with the flow’, they’re having enough problems at the job with O’s and jobs are hard to come by now. Always trust your instincts. If your child is older and you’ve taught him to the best of your ability... it will be a test for them (or not), and you can hear the feedback.
My youngest already asked why doesn’t he ask what he should be doing for us and asking for students ideas; She wondered how he could act like he cared about kids when he doesn’t like babies. It’s a start I guess. I told her she wouldn’t be able to ask her eleven questions directly... but she printed out the facts for discussion if made to participate.
BTW, I witnessed him in action for years. You don’t want him talking to your kids. It has absolutely nothing to do with who has gone before, lost before, respect for the office, racism, none of that... these are our children.
And I can’t get into the pathology without a weeks time.
Funny, he didn’t worry about the slew of kids killed outside schools on the Southside, their dropout or failure rates... just kept pumping the dough to the teachers with no accountability and funneling the dough out to radical school causes as usual.
But hey, maybe they’re the only ones left besides the MSM and hardcore reds... that can’t see through him yet. Future voters.
..I almost feel sorry for him...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I certainly hope you FORGOT the /s/
My daughter is a TA (?) in Stafford County Virginia, and in response to MY question
“What is the system doing Tuesday?”
“Tuesday, What? It is the first day of school”
I reminded her of the ‘anointed’ one and his speech and threw in that I hope she wasn’t going to subject the ‘boys’ to that malarkey and she quickly responded “OH that!”
“Nothing really,1st day of school, hitting us right at lunch and in the middle of orientation....”
Sounds like a ‘stock answer’ for any inquiries....
And yet, 233 years ago there were thousands of men who subjected themselves to hell on earth -- starvation, exposure, battle, disease -- for years on end for the sake of giving us this country to begin with.
Battles are won with military force, which ultimately takes boots on the ground.
Societies are won with ideas, which also takes boots on the ground. I side with Horowitz -- if conservatives are willing to cede a huge chunk of the population to liberal activisim, then the die is already cast and it's only a matter of time -- we are already seeing the results.
Someone is going to be there to answer the child's basic question of "How do I make my life better?" It can be a left-wing activist saying, "Your society has oppressed you, and owes you, and this is how you work the system for your own good," or it can be a conservative activist, saying, "Your society provides these opportunities to you, and this is how you take advantage of them, and help yourself, and your family, and your nation."
OBTW -- yes, I'm already in the classroom. Walked away from a pretty good job 10 years ago after I listened to a local program talking about the number of single-parent kids and the lack of male influences in their lives. Haven't regretted it since.
It reminds me of things I have read about the nuts and bolts of the Nazi takeover in Germany.
One part of it involved weeding out educators who opposed Hitler. After the enactment of the Enabling Act, the Nazis began actively looking for people who had opposed the party and its leader. Teachers who had openly rejected the Nazis were rounded up, based on testimony of kids and colleagues (one teacher found himself unemployed and unable to find work, other than enlisting in the army, because he refused to post a picture of Hitler in his classroom).
And this was before the days of the internet and invitations to turn in people who were spreading 'false rumors'.
It's even worse (for Obama) then you have said. You are correct in saying in the 8 yrs of Bush there was never this much mistrust as there now is after just 8 months of Obama. But keep in mind that the Left had the entire MSM hawking their Bush bashing for the entire time while it is exactly the opposite today with this same MSM cheering his every word and even his every breath. Take a moment to think where the polls would be today if a Republican had won last year and since the inauguration everything would have unfolded as it has up til now. MY own guess is they would be in the mid to upper 20% range with the media blasting headlines at us every day about every downward move in the numbers.
This was immediately brought to mind:
"As ye sow, so shall ye reap"
I admit the sense of justice being served in this case is purely exquisite, albeit perhaps not so productive in the sense hatred rarely has a positive side.
Perhaps a lesson will be learned by the Left, but I doubt it. All they really have to sustain the is their hatred.
I believe the whole issue is trust. No one trusts this egotist to do anything non political anymore (like they shouldn’t have done so in the first place). With his poll numbers sinking to new lows every day, his days are numbered before his protectors in the MSM will have to thrown in the towel (MSNBC will hold out till he hits .000005% - all of whom work for MSNBC).
Education is **never*** politically neutral.
Fundamentally, education can **never** be religiously, politically, or culturally neutral. It is axiomatic.
Few conservatives seem to understand this axiom. I suppose that is why conservatives foolishly persist in believing government schools can be reformed if only they could control them.
Conservatives must abandon the government schools and never allow their children to be subjected to them. They must work to shut down all government schooling, and work to open private, tuition-free, conservative schools so that all children in the U.S. have access to a conservative and faith-based education.
The left thinks karma is something that happens to everyone else.
To give the appearance of cooperating. Furthermore, they can't deny anyone the opportunity to see it if they choose to.
What’s ‘’achieve’’ mean? Sho nuff?! Don’t apple to me
Keep in mind that Obama and his coterie of “”education” lefties [Ayers, Van Jones, etc] all drink from the same indoctrination kool-aid and consider this nation’s youth as their lab rats.
Republicans like Bush, while often misguided by their impulse to “fund” government curricula, aren’t trying to impose any philosphy onto children, other than you need education as a tool to help you succeed.
Russell Kirk said it best when defining what conservatism was all about: “the negation of secular ideologies” [nazism, communism, socialism, liberalism, environmentalism etc].
Whenever your child brings home a lesson from a public school, its always best to give it that smell test.
This is the left's crows coming home to roost. They politicized children during the campaign (and continue to do so). Hitler-youth type demonstrations, brainwashing sessions, parents sending their kids to school with instructions to essentially campaign for obama and call those who oppose him racist.
And now, they are shocked SHOCKED that right (as in correct) thinking people are suspicious they want to use the Office of the Presidency as a source of more brainwashing.
With lesson plans that say "what will you do to help president obama?" (win another election and finish his plan to destroy America), what do they expect?
This whole administration (and its commie supporters, the democratic party): dumber than dirt and disingenuous as the day is long.
Jack Smith bump.
We need more like him.
Jack Smith bump.
We need more like him.
Jack Smith was named Superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools on July 1, 2006.
Mr. Smith began his teaching career in Washington State in 1980. He taught high school English, speech, and drama and worked as a coach and club advisor in the Richland School District until becoming an assistant principal. After three years as an assistant principal, Mr. Smith was named principal of Hanford Secondary School in the same district.
In 1992 Mr. Smith was offered a position as a secondary principal at an international school in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Smith and his family moved to Tokyo where he and his wife, Gayle, worked for six years.
In the spring of 1998, the Smiths moved to Calvert County when Mr. Smith accepted a position as a middle school principal. In 2002 Mr. Smith was offered the position of Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction at the Central Office. When the current Superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Horsmon, was appointed in 2003, he offered Mr. Smith the position of Deputy Superintendent. He held that position until becoming Superintendent in 2006.
Jack Smith holds a Bachelors degree in English and Secondary Education from Eastern Washington University and a Masters degree in Public School Administration from that same institution. He earned his Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in 2009.
Jack and his wife Gayle live in St. Leonard and have 5 children. They have found Calvert County to be an ideal place to live and work.
As a school, we are not going to show it. We will tape it if subject area teachers like government classes wish to show it later. The classes that might watch it must have a curriculum connection to the content and notify the parents. Students will have an opportunity to opt out if they desire.
I'm OK with this response, he's not in any government classes so I suspect this won't cause any issues for us.
That’s similar to what they’ve done here — provide access or an opt out if need be.
This whole thing is a collossal c.f. for the obama administration.
What a bunch of rank amateurs.
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