Schools: Student viewing of Obama speech optional

President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation’s students on Tuesday will be optional viewing in Lynchburg and surrounding counties, school officials said Thursday.

In general, students can opt out of viewing the speech if they wish, and teachers can decide whether to let it be seen if the noon broadcast occurs during their class period.

Parents around Virginia and the nation started questioning school officials about the broadcast after conservative columnists and talk-radio hosts called the speech an attempt to indoctrinate children with a socialist agenda.

Obama plans to speak directly to school-age children in a broadcast from an Arlington school Tuesday, encouraging them to take responsibility for their education and stay in school.

The U.S. Department of Education also posted suggested lesson plans on its Web site for elementary and high school grades.

A few parents called the Virginia Department of Education, and some were more concerned about the suggested activities than the speech itself, department spokesman Charles Pyle said.

Other callers felt that students should watch the speech, Pyle said.

Lynchburg parent Caroline Moore said she researched the suggested activities on the federal agency’s Web site, and other sites including one by syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin.

“What struck me was that these questions were not about how can you help your country as students, or how you can help others. The questions were about how you can help me, Obama,” Moore said.

“Sometimes you have to wonder about indoctrination,” Moore said. “It does make me wonder what his agenda really is.”

Moore said she was acting as an individual parent and not part of an organized group.

John Lawrence, chairman of the Lynchburg Democratic Committee, said he hadn’t kept up with the school-speech controversy, but he offered his viewpoint anyway.

The president, Lawrence said, “is going to talk to kids about working hard. What’s wrong with that?”

“The Republican message, supposedly, is that we all need to pull our own weight. That’s exactly what Obama is saying, that you’ve got to do it yourself,” Lawrence said.

Carter Elliott, Democratic chairman in Campbell County, said he thought it was “nice that Obama is reaching out to youngsters.”

“I just think it’s great that a president actually wants to talk to youngsters,” Elliott said.

“Whether the president is Obama or Bush, they are our president. This president is speaking to the children and it makes them feel like they are important, which they are,” Elliott said.

Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association, said, “It is my understanding that President Obama would like to address the children of America for the purpose of encouraging them to do their best, work hard and value education, and to make this the best possible year.

“How that is political, or how it can be controversial, just stumps me,” Boitnott said.

The nation’s conservative columnists and talk-radio personalities cast the speech as brainwashing. Glenn Beck called it “the indoctrination of your children.”

Malkin’s column was titled, “Obama’s classroom campaign: No junior lobbyist left behind.”

Lynchburg-area school districts announced the following policies on Thursday for the 10 to-15-minute speech, which will air at noon on the White House Web site and C-SPAN:

-- Lynchburg City Schools: The speech will be available for viewing; however, teachers are not required to show it. Teachers may include the speech as part of their instructional day if time allows.

Teachers are free to hold discussions regarding the speech after its conclusion, but there will be no required assignments connected to it.

Parents may opt out of having their children watch the speech, and the school will make reasonable accommodations for those students.

-- Amherst County Schools: The president’s address will be available for viewing; however, teachers are not required to show it. Teachers may incorporate the address into their instructional program if time and schedules permit.

While teachers are free to conduct follow-up activities and discussions regarding the address, there should be none required.

Amherst principals were asked to make plans to accommodate parents who opted out of having their children view the presidential address.

-- Bedford County Schools: All schools are aware of the presidential address, said Ryan Edwards, spokesman. “However, we are not making this a requirement for any of our schools. We do anticipate that a majority, if not all, will show the message in some way.”

“We are not requiring any teachers to use the accompanying lesson plans. However, we have not discouraged this, either,” Edwards said.

At Jefferson Forest High School, teachers will put the broadcast on their Web pages for students and parents to see.

“Parents will be able to respond to their child’s teacher if they would like to opt their child out of the program, and those students would be taken to the library for an alternative assignment,” Edwards said.

-- Campbell County Schools: Superintendent Robert Johnson told principals: “We have previewed the proposed agenda/speech outline and conclude it is a message from the president in his role as the president of the United States.

“We do not plan to make the address mandatory, as decisions on whether to view the address is a matter for principals and teachers to decide after assessing the appropriateness and available time in their daily schedules.

“Principals should make plans and reasonable accommodations for those students wishing not to view the address,” Johnson said.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this story.