Some teachers may show Obama speech

The Gloversville and Johnstown school districts haven't scheduled mass viewings of President Barack Obama's recent speech to the nation's schoolchildren, but some teachers may show it in their classrooms.

Local schools had not yet opened when the president gave his speech live Tuesday. People across the nation have had various reactions to the speech. Some opponents of Obama voiced fears the president intended to indoctrinate children.

In the speech, Obama gave a pep talk to students, saying, "Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer."

The president added, "The circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying."

Schools in the area opened Wednesday, the day after Obama's speech was broadcast on cable TV network C-SPAN, but the speech can still be viewed online.

Geoffrey Davis, superintendent of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Board of Cooperative Educational Services, said Thursday BOCES didn't get involved in whether the member districts wanted to show the president's address.

"I didn't provide any direction to the districts on the president's speech," Davis said. "They channeled it internally."

Davis said he viewed the speech on the Internet and found it "totally appropriate" for schoolchildren.

The administration of the Greater Johnstown School District decided earlier this week not to have elementary school teachers reshow the speech to their children in grades kindergarten through six, Superintendent Katherine A. Sullivan said Thursday.

She said her administration did decide to allow secondary teachers from grades seven through 12 to reshow the speech if it was "related" to their curriculum, such as part of a social studies or government class.

"There are teachers who may have felt it was related to the curriculum," she said.

But Sullivan said the district wants any teachers who show the speech in class to send a note home to the parents of their students telling them they can sign a waiver to not see the president's speech.

Sullivan said the decision in Johnstown not to show Obama's speech to elementary schoolchildren was made after consultations between the three elementary principals and district Director of Curriculum, Testing and Personnel Patricia Kilburn. She said one of the principals - whom she declined to identify - "received concerns" from either a parent or parents about reshowing the speech to city elementary children.

The city's elementary principals are William Crankshaw at Glebe Street Elementary School, Jeffrey Vivenzio at Pleasant Avenue Elementary School and R. Scott Ziomek at Warren Street Elementary School.

After hearing Kilburn's report, Sullivan said she made the decision not to show Obama's speech at the elementary level.

"Initially, I had no problem," Sullivan said. "Presidents have spoken to children before."

She said Knox Junior High School Principal Michael Satterlee and Johnstown High School Principal Michael Beatty were "making arrangements" last week to allow students who didn't want to see the speech at those schools to be placed in a different class setting.

But Sullivan said she wasn't sure Thursday or Friday morning if any secondary teachers planned on showing the Obama speech in class.

Greater Johnstown School District Board of Education President Robert Curtis said Thursday he didn't know the district was sending notes home to secondary students to opt out of watching Obama's speech.

He declined further comment until he learned more about the situation.

Gloversville Enlarged School District Superintendent Robert DeLilli said Thursday that since school wasn't in session Tuesday, "we really didn't have to deal with it."

He said his district was "neutral" on the speech, opting not to make it mandatory viewing, but allowing teachers to use it later in class from a "historical" perspective in their curriculums.

Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com

Member Comments

View Comments: | 1-20 | Post a comment

JeffreyR
09-14-09 7:58 AM »Report Abuse	"Republicans try to fill our children with hate" Stratford you really are a fool....
laker88
09-13-09 8:26 PM »Report Abuse	"much ado about nothing"
Hilltopper
09-13-09 8:24 PM »Report Abuse	If Obama was smart enough to get into Harvard Law, he would have gone to college no matter what.You have a choice, go to college and pay now, or don't go and pay the rest of your life.
stratford
09-13-09 8:02 PM »Report Abuse	Republicans try to fill our children with hate. It is nice the President talks of values. God bless obama.
GoGreen
09-13-09 6:53 PM »Report Abuse	At Wakefield High School, Obama was asked by a 9th grader how his life would have been differenct if his father was in his life, since he was raised by a single mother. Obama said he probably would have argued with him a lot since he was smart but arrogant. Another thing I think would have been different is his opportunity to attend college and law school. What two parent middle class working family can afford that! They qualify for absolutely no financial aid!
Hilltopper
09-13-09 5:05 PM »Report Abuse	Gee Al, I always thought the right wingers laid claim to values such as good behavior, hard work and accountability. Thank you for rightfully acknowledging that a speech calling for such values is, as you put it, "left wing ".
GoGreen
09-13-09 5:00 PM »Report Abuse	..almost 50/50 (don't know what happened there)
GoGreen
09-13-09 4:59 PM »Report Abuse	I think the schools, if they are cosidering showing the speech, should take note of the poll. It is a****st 50/50. So there are, in fact, some parents who do not want the speech shown to their children. That should be respected because they are the parents, or do they want to strip us of our parental rights too.
Adirondackal
09-13-09 4:57 PM »Report Abuse	The speech that actually was used was a watered down version of the original. He saw the handwriting on the wall and toned down his far left rhetoric.
TiredOfTax
09-13-09 1:43 PM »Report Abuse	There has to come a day when the race card is not played. Recently our President displayed his racism with his comments about the Cambridge police officer, it was not racism on the officers part, only Obama's. Now today Kaydont says only racists will not allow their children to watch a racist talk, who exactly is the racist? You need a class on racism, from someone other than a civil rights attorney, Obama's mindset. Lets move on to the real topic at hand, we just do not like the man or the policies he ins enacting. It is NOT about race, at least not on this side. Maybe Kaydont think but others may.
GoGreen
09-13-09 12:39 PM »Report Abuse	Ok - if there are individuals that are adamant about showing the speech to students, why don't the schools send home permissin slips announcing the speech will be played and parents can make the decision for their children.
MadAmerican
09-13-09 11:19 AM »Report Abuse	Ignorance is a subject this area ALWAYS receives an A. No wonder only 67% of JHS seniors graduated. Sullivan MOST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!
GoGreen
09-13-09 11:09 AM »Report Abuse	The speech is done and over with. Schools in our area were not in session when the live speech was delivered. How long are we going to drag this one out. Put it in the archives and move on.
lizzie
09-13-09 10:41 AM »Report Abuse	I'm at a loss as well as to what the big deal is, especially not showing it to elementary children. They often have to listen to speakers whose words are sometimes "over their heads." Even if every child doesn't understand all of it, they each take something from it. There's nothing wrong with that. Must have been a pretty influential parent, if that decision in Johnstown was based on a concern from one elementary parent. That's would be more of a concern to me than showing the speech.
Scarecrow57
09-13-09 10:05 AM »Report Abuse	I'm not an Obama fan, but his speech was politically neutral and contained no rhetoric about his ideology. There is nothing wrong with showing this speech. In fact it should be showed to encourage the kids to work hard and stay in school, this will lead to better test scores.
Musicel
09-13-09 9:52 AM »Report Abuse	There was nothing wrong with President Obama's speech. I think Sullivan is being overly cautious.
rachelrae33
09-13-09 9:35 AM »Report Abuse	I don't know why everyone was so worried about the president's speech. If you think about it, he probably would not have even given the speech if his approval ratings were still in the 60's. I firmly believe this speeach was just a show to boost his ratings for the fight for health care.
JoePhillip
09-13-09 7:41 AM »Report Abuse	The real reason? It's not gonna be on the test, nor is it in a subject (ELA, Math) whose results are reported and whose numbers determine a school's "success"; therefore, it is not important, as it will hinder test preparation.
Hilltopper
09-13-09 7:10 AM »Report Abuse	As long as we have a "two party system", this type of nonsense, bashing the other guy for political gain, will go on forever. Until we begin to recognize those issues that are right with the other side, and join to forward that agenda, we will be spinning our tires. That goes for republicans and democrats alike. 99.9% of the people knew that he speech would not be a chance to forward his health agenda, but pulling the plug on the speech is the "republican" thing to do. Finally, if hard work , good behavior, and accountability are not " 'related' to the curriculum ", it's time to revisit just what the overall purpose of the school is. You teach respect by showing respect, not by lip service.
kaydont
09-13-09 5:43 AM »Report Abuse	"The circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying." HOW DARE HE try to teach some accountability to the children!! Mothers hide your little delinquents poor, poor babies need to be protected! I bet if it were white Bush the racists in this county wouldn't be opting out!

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