Dear Editor,
I am sending you the letter we have written to the Superintendent of the Dorchester 2 School District concerning the District’s disallowing the live showing of President Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren. The second page contains signatures of people who support the letter. Many more would sign, but time is of the essence in getting this out. I hope you will print this letter to Superintendent Pye so that awareness will be raised that not everyone agrees with the District’s decision.
Thank you,
Susan Shapiro
Dear Superintendent Pye:
The decision of the Dorchester 2 School District not to air President Obama’s September 8 speech to the nation’s schoolchildren was disgraceful.
Millions of people voted to elect President Obama. Thousands of people pay taxes in Dorchester County. Two hundred phone callers persuaded the District to deny hundreds of students the opportunity to hear the President’s address.
The motivation for the District’s decision to exclude airing of the speech is thinly veiled behind the excuse of “inadequate technology.”
Inadequate technology is not the problem. Why, then, will teachers need permission from principals to show the address? Why must parents be notified of the showing so they can exclude their children? What has this to do with technology?
Other questions arise. What will happen if two hundred phone calls are received from people who don’t want science taught in schools? Will this subject be dropped from the curriculum?
Shouldn’t the educational process include learning to evaluate diverse ideas? Why weren’t students allowed to see the President’s address and form their own conclusions in a classroom setting? President Obama’s speech encouraged young people to overcome obstacles to their education. How can they overcome obstacles set up by the school district?
Is it any wonder that South Carolina ranks at the bottom in education? Will the district continue to be swayed by the pernicious whims of a few?
There are people who resent paying taxes for schools. We do not. Each citizen has a moral obligation to further the education of all children so they will be prepared for a productive life. School districts have the responsibility to provide students with a broad and balanced education, with a foundation in critical thinking, not just test taking.
Perhaps this issue should be taken up in more detail when the district demands more money in the budget. We can say “no,” too.
Arnold Shapiro
405 Murray Blvd.
Summerville
Susen Shapiro
405 Murray Blvd.
Summerville
Dorothy L. Brown
Factors Walk
Summerville
Patrick Labbe
Lebsl Court
Summerville
Martha Kline
Dorchester Road
Summerville
Linda Gray
Carrington Court
Summerville
Bob Ielfield
Sequoia Drive
Summerville
Marion Scott
Trotters Club Way
Summerville
Krystina Deren
Crooked Oak Road
Summerville
Harshad Vyas
Pointe of Oaks Road
Summerville
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Doug, surely you realize that the president is a role model for millions of school children? (Way more so than administrators!) And our current president is especially a role model to black students, who have the highest drop-out rates.
Posted by:
The speech was around twenty minutes, Doug. I think you have another agenda if you're honest with yourself. The President is our LEADER. He chose to address a portion of his constituents and was denied by a small minority. It's not about your professional psychiatric diagnosis.
Posted by:
He had nothing to say that the local school administrators haven't said in the past, and should have said again. His appearance was another attempt at grandstanding, which is what a narcissist does best. I read what he had to say, and to think that he actually believed that his remarks were important enough to waste untold hours of student's time nationwide is abhorrent! Narcissism is a mental illness!
Posted by: Doug Stewart
Millions of People did not vote for him also.... Sorry you did, but I did not. Still waiting on that change? I see it, but it is not good.
Posted by: R.C. Foster
John Galt: Surely you are not proposing that we abolish our public education system? You DO realize that today's students will be tomorrow's leaders? Cranky Yankee: When our schools have a pathetic 50-60% drop-out rate, it's pretty darn apparent they don't care about our children's education, either. MSW and Not A Socialist: Did you view the speech? The only agenda present in the speech, or the letter written above, is to encourage our children to work hard and dedicate themselves to their educations. To everyone: If any principal, teacher or school board member gave the exact same speech to students, parental reaction would have been zip, zero, nada. Would parental notification and permission have been required? OF COURSE NOT. Get real! It wasn't the speech, it was the speaker. The decision was politically-motivated at best and racist at worst.
Posted by:
Komrade Labbe is up to his old tricks again.
Posted by: G.Beck
And your point is? Kids would also prefer to eat junk food all day rather than broccoli.
Posted by:
Any six year old would much prefer to see Mr. Rogers than any politician any time.
Posted by: You know it's true
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Not listening to what the President has to say is STUPID. South Carolina is one of the 50 states of the United States. Choosing to be uniformed is IGNORANT. Objections were unfounded. 912-ers jumped to a hasty erroneous conclusion. Consideration should be given to hiring a new School Superintendent. Candidates should be sought out to replace current board members who are not in touch with TODAY.
Posted by: Do you think ignorance is bliss?
Stupid people travel in Packs! The list is the usual Ultral Liberal Socialist Suspects!
Posted by:
I hope the changes in include much more treatment for delusions, because you'd think it's an epidemic. I never knew this disease's principal method of transmission is electronic. The plan calls for allowing you to KEEP your current insurance plan if you prefer. That's not any sort of European model. Diagnosis:listening to too much Rush and Beck. And you would have "distinction of class?" Why should wealthy people have all the access to care? What happened to "all men are created equal?"
Posted by: An Apple a Day Won't Help
He wants to follow the German, French, British method of Socialized medicine, tax the wealthy and give to the ones who don't work, everyone is the same, no distinction of class, what do you expect from the Acorn supporter?
Posted by: Not a Socialist
I thought his speech was great. I really am disappointed with the Republicans and DD2. President Obama only encouraged children to become education. His speech is what I expected from him. We are living in a state with hateful people and they seem be Republicans.
Posted by:
As a citizen and a republican, I didn't agree with the school districts decision. Everytime President Bush and Reagan wanted to speak to school children, they did. No public outcry over indoctrination. Too bad the writers of that letter couldn't see the forrest for the tress. Why does it always go to the lowest common denominator?
Posted by:
Can't benefit from his message??? Did you read it yourself or just go by what others have told you? You cannot be serious.No wonder we're at the bottom in graduation with ideas like that.
Posted by:
"We see things not as they are but as we are." Can you really see socialism in his talk about staying in school? Or can you hear anything else after you hear Rush and his right wing tea party radicals? If you read something sinister into this President's simple heartfelt message our country is in worse shape than a financial crisis.
Posted by:
I am glad he didn't get to talk to our kids. He sounds more and more like a Socialist and for my money, while I know he is the elected President, I am not sure the school children benefit from his message.
Posted by: Not a Socialist
Do you really have a belief that differs from the message that was offered by the President for kids to try their best and stay in school???? What's wrong with this picture.
Posted by: Majority Parent
DD2 didn't leave it to the parents. They left it up to less than 1% and deprived the majority.A political decision. And an opportunity lost to inspire kids and provide a civics lesson on current events.And Joe Pye is still in hiding because he knows it was wrong.
Posted by:
How about dropping the slurs about communists and socialists? Just because people aren't members of your Republican Party, you brand them troublemakers and commies. I think it was just a few months back that your chairman tried his best to deny us all a choice for state senate by keeping a citizen from his legal right to run and give us a choice. That's a little closer to communism than people protesting a politically motivated decision that disrespected and demeaned the President of the United States.You don't have the market cornered on patriotism, friend.
Posted by:
The authors of the letter are bunch of communist/socialists. They are also Democratic splitters. They do not represent the Dorchester Democratic Party. They re the group that tried to cause hvoc in the party recently by calling a stalwart memeber names They are trouble makers!
Posted by:
You threaten to vote no to "potential" tax increases to improve our schools for our children and our future because the school district left the decision of television viewing to the PARENTS? You sure have me convinced about how open-minded and education driven you are.
Posted by: A Summerville Parent
To each of you that signed the "letter", have you stopped to think how YOU are being narrow minded and forcing YOUR beliefs on me and many others? The school district did make the absolute best decision - leave it up to the parents as is only appropriate. Do you people REALLY choose to trample MY right as a parent to review and approve what my child watches on television - regardless of the source? This speech should have been made in the early evening when PARENTS (not the school) could have watched and answered questions and held discussions with our children. That is where the current administration erred. An Independen thinker and voter.
Posted by: MSW
The conservatives of this county have gone way over the edge...don't think Mike Rose and his cronies didn't have any influence over DD2's decision to not air the President's educational address to American students. "W" nor John McCain could have delivered such an address, because they were both miserable failures as students. Both our President and his wife are exemplary models for educational success due to hard work and determination to succeed in less than ideal situations.
Posted by:
The speech will be heard by the children of parents who care enough for them to hear it. It is not the schools responsibility to teach your children to care about their education. That is your job. It is the schools responsibility to educate those who want to be educated. If you disagree, carry your liberal, government provides everything, behinds back to where you came from. I moved here to get away from your socialist agenda.
Posted by: Cranky Yankee
Is Joe Pye in Argentina???
Posted by:
>>>Each citizen has a moral obligation to further the education of all children so they will be prepared for a productive life.<<< Really? So you make babies then expect that others have a "moral obligation" -- a duty -- to educate the children you choose to bring into this world? I fear the sort of "morality" you are teaching your children. If you teach your children that others "owe" them, don't be surprised when your children become leeches or criminals, instead of productive, responsible people who respect the RIGHTS of others.
Posted by: Considering going "John Galt."
We are often too quick to pass a judgement. I understand why DD2 did not show it. One being the feasability to stop the classrooms and have "all" watch it. I wanted my kids to watch it at home with me. Perhaps having his speach after school hours would have been better planning on his staff's part. I was at work and could not watch it live. I have been able to watch it since and do not have any problem with it. We must be careful to show respect for the office even if we do not agree with the office holder some or most of the time.
Posted by: DD2 parent
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