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Will county's students get to hear Obama's back-to-school address?
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What some local schools are doing
A look at responses to a Beaufort Gazette request for information about how Beaufort County public schools will handle President Barack Obama's speech to students planned for Tuesday. (Note: The Gazette attempted to reach each Beaufort County School District school by phone or e-mail Thursday. Those not listed did not respond.)
Elementary schools
Beaufort: Principal refused comment by phone.
Lady's Island: Message will be taped and reviewed to see if the presentation is appropriate for elementary school students, according to principal Terry Dingle.
Whale Branch: Will show the address, but students can opt out, according to the school district.
Middle Schools
Lady's Island Middle: Will not show the presentation, according to principal Terry Bennett.
Whale Branch: Will show the address in classrooms with Promethium boards, but students can opt out, according to the school district.
High schools
Beaufort: Viewing will be at the discretion of the teacher, according to principal Dan Durbin. Students will receive a letter to their parents this morning, offering an opportunity to opt out.
A look at responses to an Island Packet request for information about how Beaufort County public schools will handle President Barack Obama's speech to students planned for Tuesday. (Note: The Packet attempted to reach each Beaufort County School District school by phone or e-mail Thursday. Those not listed did not respond.)
Elementary schools
Hilton Head International Baccalaureate: Will tape and if deemed appropriate, it will be shown to fourth- and fifth-graders; students can opt out, according to the school district.
M.C. Riley Elementary: Had made no plans to show the program as of Thursday afternoon, according to an assistant principal.
Okatie: Will tape and if deemed appropriate, it will be shown to fourth- and fifth-graders; students can opt out, according to the school district.
Red Cedar: Fourth- and fifth-graders will be shown the presentation, but can opt out with a parent's permission, according to the principal.
Middle Schools
Hilton Head Island: Phone message for principal not returned.
High schools
Beaufort-Jasper Career Education Center: No decision has been made about if and when the presentation will be shown to students.
Bluffton: Will show the speech live when practical to do so and will tape for possible later viewing; but students can opt out, according to the school district.
Hilton Head Island: Students who have a social studies class at noon will watch the presentation, according to principal Amanda O'Nan. Arrangements will be made for those who do not want to watch Obama's speech.
The U.S. Department of Education is suggesting classroom activities in conjunction with President Barack Obama's planned Internet and C-SPAN address Tuesday, which he hopes will reach all public school children. Full, downloadable copies of the department's suggestions are available by finding this story at islandpacket.com or beaufortgazette.com. Here is a sampling of the questions and activities they contain:
Questions
• If you were the president, what would you tell students?
• What specific job is he asking me to do?
• What would you like to tell the president?
• What ideas do we associate with the words "responsibility," "persistence" and "goals?"
• What is the thesis of the speech?
Activities
• Students can write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals.
• As part of the U.S. Department of Education's "I Am What I Learn" video contest, students can respond to the president's challenge by creating videos, up to two minutes in length, describing the steps they will take to improve their education and the role education will play in fulfilling their dreams.
Other Obama presentations
On the same day he is to make an Internet address to the nation's students, President Barack Obama will appear in a back-to-school television special with singer Kelly Clarkson and basketball star LeBron James.
Obama is appearing in a 30-minute documentary that will air at 8 p.m. Tuesday on BET, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV and Nickelodeon, all of them Viacom networks.
In the program, the president says education is the key to people living out their dreams.
Obama also appeared in a video entitled "I Pledge," produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions before his inauguration. It included audio clips of Obama giving a speech and celebrities pledging to do things like smiling more, volunteering and turning off the lights before leaving a room.
The video proved controversial in at least one school -- the principal of an elementary school in Farmington, Utah, apologized Wednesday after getting complaints that the video, shown at an assembly last week, included celebrities pledging to advance stem cell research and buy hybrid vehicles.
Wire reports
President Barack Obama's back-to-school address to students next week is raising a furor in some districts around the state and country.
However, several Beaufort County School District principals said Thursday they not only haven't heard complaints, they haven't heard about Obama's plan to deliver a live speech Tuesday about persisting and succeeding in the classroom.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette attempted to contact each Beaufort County principal by phone or e-mail on Thursday.
"I've got to be honest -- I'm one of those who didn't know this was taking place until you told me," said Jeremy Dinkins, the new head of the Beaufort-Jasper Career Education Center.
The district's community services coordinator, Carol Bruno McMillan, said principals will determine if and how the speech will be presented to students. The only district-wide policy, McMillan said, is that wherever the speech is shown, "alternative activities" will be provided for students whose parents do not want them to see it.
Obama, who has said he hopes every public-school student in the country watches his presentation, will speak live at noon Tuesday for 15 to 20 minutes in a broadcast over C-SPAN and the White House Web site. The president plans to "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning," according to the U.S. Department of Education's Web site.
But critics are wary Obama might deliver a politicized speech to an impressionable and captive audience. Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck called it "the indoctrination of your children," and Michelle Malkin's column was titled: "Obama's classroom campaign: No junior lobbyist left behind."
School districts in Horry and York counties were among those statewide that fielded numerous complaints from parents Thursday, according to The (Rock Hill) Herald and The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News.
But in Beaufort, McMillan said Thursday morning she didn't think the district had received any comments or complaints. And of the 14 principals who responded to questions about the speech, only a single complaint was reported.
A few principals, including Dinkins, had not decided if the speech will be shown to students.
Lady's Island Elementary School principal Terry Dingle said by e-mail the school would tape the message and determine if it is appropriate for elementary school students. If so, it will be shown if it doesn't run too long -- "I don't want it to supplant classroom instruction," he wrote.
Hilton Head Island High School principal Amanda O'Nan said the address will be shown in any social studies classes taking place at the same time as Obama's speech. However, there are no plans to show it to a wider audience at the school, and social studies students who don't want to see the message can opt out. The school had a similar opt-out plan for the president's inaugural speech this past January, O'Nan said.
"There is a potential value for students to watch this," McMillan said. She added that Sean Alford, chief of instructional services, told her the address can be a "wonderful conduit to enriching education" and doesn't think Obama's speech will be partisan.
Nonetheless, "some parents might not agree," McMillan said. She urged parents who don't want their children to view the address to let their schools know as soon as possible.
Several attempts to reach Alford for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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