Bedford County students won't watch Obama

Most Bedford County students will not watch President Barack Obama's televised back-to-school speech live on Tuesday.

In a statement issued late Friday to principals, administrators and the Times-Gazette, Bedford County School Superintendent Ed Gray cited the demands of the instructional schedule and the danger of politicizing the classroom.

Gray said teachers may record and review the speech and, if they feel it ties in with the curriculum, they may request to play it for students at a later date. He said some high school social studies classes may be allowed to watch the speech live.

Since the White House announced plans last week for Obama to speak directly to students about the need to work hard and stay in school, it has turned into a political tempest. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on a government-focused cable channel at 11 a.m. CDT.

Quick decision

Bedford County Schools began the school year last month but were out of session last week for the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration when details about the speech were made public.

Barry Cooper, who chairs Bedford County Board of Education, said Friday afternoon, "We are aware that this has stimulated a lot of discussion and has become somewhat controversial."

Cooper said Gray had been asked to decide how the schools should use the speech.

Later Friday, Gray, who had been out of town during the break, issued a statement to principals, students and the Times-Gazette stating that the federal No Child Left Behind act makes heavy instructional demands on local teachers.

"We stress bell-to-bell instruction, and we don't want to waste a single minute of instructional time," stated Gray.

"While it has been pointed out to me that some school systems watched the inauguration of President Obama," wrote Gray, "Bedford County schools were not in session that day. The inauguration is a historic event as opposed to this speech which could be viewed as political. We strive in our classrooms to be very neutral as far as politics is concerned."

Locals unaware

Before the release of Gray's statement, Central High School principal Don Embry told the Times-Gazette he wasn't aware of the speech until that day, as a result of the controversy.

Embry said he didn't know of any plans for his students to view the speech. He said it would be up to individual teachers to decide whether or how to incorporate the speech, but that he would support the rights of any parent who requested that their child not view the speech.

School Board member Amy Martin said she had received a call from a concerned parent who wanted to know if schools were planning to show the speech. This parent said she did not feel comfortable with her child watching it.

Martin related some parents are concerned because they don't know what specific information will actually be presented in the speech. Even though it's supposed to be about education, "you never know what's going to be said," Martin said, expressing concerns of parents.

Martin said Thursday was the first time she'd heard of the speech while attending a Tennessee School Board Association in Murfreesboro where the topic was discussed.

"(The speech) has spurred conversation," she said.

Linda Yockey, a county commission member who now teaches at SCHS and who once served as an advisor for the Young Democrat club at Cascade High School, said she was unfamiliar with the speech or the controversy until asked about it by a reporter.

Robert Ralston, principal at Community High School, also spoke to the Times-Gazette before the release of Gray's statement.

Ralston said a number of people have asked him if they were going to do anything at Community.

"I told them, 'I don't have enough knowledge (about the speech) or how it is going to be delivered to give you an answer.'"

Donna Phillips, a local mother who campaigned for Obama during the presidential election, said she had not heard from either her local Obama campaign associates or school officials as to what plans were for county schools regarding Tuesday's speech.

Sides square off

"I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school," presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success."

Obama's planned address to students has prompted a surprising push-back from some quarters over what the White House sees as an important but innocuous topic.

Some conservative critics say Obama is trying to promote a political agenda and overstepping his bounds, taking the federal government too far into public school business.

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a potential presidential contender in 2012, said Obama's speech is "uninvited" and that the president's move raises questions of content and motive.

Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."

The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."

"That was inartfully worded, and we corrected it," said White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom.

Choices made

In the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, the 54,000-student school district is not showing the 15- to 20-minute address but will make the video available later. Local Parent-Teacher Association council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is "cutting out the parent" by speaking to kids during school hours.

"Why can't a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?" Mendelsohn said. "Because that's what makes a powerful statement, when a parent is sitting there saying, 'This is what I dream for you. This is what I want you to achieve.'"

Many school districts have decided not to show Obama's speech partly in response to concerns from parents.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on Friday defended Obama's plan to address students.

"The bottom line is we need the president of the United States of America to use his bully pulpit to talk to kids about the importance of education and to help inspire kids," she said on "The John Gambling Show" on radio station WOR in New York.

Gibbs said former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush delivered similar speeches to students. He said Obama's speech will not be partisan but rather a chance for children to get "a little encouragement as they start the school year."

The White House plans to release the speech online Monday so parents can read it. Obama will deliver the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.