Elliott Landon: “Fully supportive” of students hearing address. Dave Matlow/WN file photoStudents in Westport public schools will be able to see and hear President Obama’s address to the nation’s schoolchildren on Tuesday, according to Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon.
In an e-mail message to parents today, Landon said he was “pleased that the President of the United States will be taking time from his busy schedule to deliver this important message to our students.”
He said that administrators and teachers would integrate the speech in classroom instruction as they deem best.
The White House has said that the president’s address is intended to be an inspirational, pro-education message to all students at the beginning of the school year.
But some critics objected to the language of one of the elementary school lesson plans suggesting students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the President.”
This later was changed to: “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”
In his message, Landon noted that President George H. W. Bush had also addressed the nation’s schoolchildren while he was in office.
“I have instructed our building principals and classroom teachers at all school levels that I am fully supportive of having them integrate the message of the President of the United States into their lessons on Tuesday, or on any subsequent date,” Landon said.
“Toward this end, we will be televising President Obama’s speech, video streaming it, or recording it on DVDs for teacher use.
“I anticipate that our professional administrative and teaching staffs will incorporate the President’s presentation into classroom instruction in the best way possible to enhance this learning opportunity for our students.
“As the integration of the President’s speech into our instructional practice will constitute a vital learning experience for all our children, it is my expectation that any child in any class where the president’s speech is incorporated into instruction will be a part of that instructional activity.
“Being a part of an instructional activity means that the child can participate fully or elect not to participate fully while remaining in the classroom, as would be the case with virtually any instructional activity.”
In a message to Connecticut schools superintendents today, state Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan said some of Connecticut’s school districts have been receiving calls from parents and others about the speech.
He said many of the calls from parents “stem from cable news and conservative radio characterizations of the speech as ‘socialist’ or ‘Nazi-like propaganda’ suggesting that the President is ‘attempting mind control of your children.’”
McQuillan added: “This is truly unfortunate, inaccurate and clearly goes beyond the definition of responsible civil discourse.”
He said his department has reviewed materials relating to the president’s speech and can report “that the major themes of his address are consistent with messages delivered to the nation’s young people from previous Presidents – Republican and Democrat – focusing on the importance of staying in school, working hard, taking responsibility for your learning, graduating and going on to higher education.”
McQuillan said the department believes the issues being debated “are a local matter and the responsibility of local boards of education to decide what course of action to follow.”
The White House today dismissed the furor over Obama’s plan to deliver the speech as pointless. It plans to release the speech online Monday so parents can read it.
“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 said.
I have disagreed with Mr. Landon’s decisions on a number of occasions. This time however, I agree with him wholeheartedly. We must do all that we can to stimulate the desires of our children to learn. What better person to reinforce the efforts of our parents and our teachers to stress the importance of education in their lives than the President of the United States?
A. Beasley, M.D.
leave our kids alone. He is doing enough damage. Wake up americans and see how this community organizer is changing are country
Perhaps the larger question is whether the president should take a role in the classroom at all. While it is always good to encourage our children to achieve, it is not the president’s job to discuss that with them. He has his own set of constitutionally defined duties. The job of encouraging children to learn belongs to the family, particularly the parents. To an extent it is shared with teachers and coaches, but only as accepted and part-time surrogates with whom we are regularly, directly in touch.
Let the president do his job and parents do theirs. It matters not who the president is nor to what party he belongs. It matters that he is not the one responsible for raising our children and teaching them values. I have always wanted my children to look to their parents (or, as mentioned, at times to someone we personally know and with whom there ongoing communication, such as a teacher or coach) for support in their efforts to achieve. But the ultimate responsibility belongs to the parents. Our children can choose their own role models and we parents are free to suggest them, but the leader of our country does not belong in the classroom.
Nothing has made me prouder about being a Staples graduate than seeing the superintendent stand up for sanity. Almost every president since Roosevelt has addressed our school children either by radio or television or both without this kind of outcry. But led by the fear-mongers and slanderers and racists on the air, people have been infected with a bizarre notion about an educated, moderate president. Even the notion that he wants to encourage young people simply to stay in school, work hard for grades, and do well in their education has been greeted with unholy outcries.
In a world practically overcome by real problems, it seems too many folks literally cannot get a grip.
So a vote of thanks to Mr.Landon.
Jane Yolen
I don’t believe in Obama’s decision to “fundamentally change this nation”, nor do I want him to speak or lecture to my children. Before the white house back peddled and removed the “suggested assignments” Green’s Farms Elementary had already decided to proceed with the “speech”, if indeed it was to be an innocuous “pep” talk, fine. But there was more to it before the outrage made them tone it down. So please don’t pretend it’s just another benign pro-education talk.
Also, I don’t trust this president and his 30 something czars, many of whom are self-proclaimed communist, socialist or hold very extreme views. Not my opinion, just a fact and their own descriptions of themselves.
If our school board wants to teach a civics lesson, great teach that! Teach the constitution, and tell the children how this president is circumventing the constitution and the process of Senate confirmations. Teach how the Democrats are talking of using a “nuclear” option to vote in socialized medicine with 51 Senate votes instead of the 60 required. Teach how he came to power in the most corrupt political machine, Chicago politics, using terrorist, Bill Ayers, Black Liberation Theology and Rev. Wright, teach how many times he voted present while in the Senate to avoid any political opinions! Shall I go on?!
The above mentioned “lessons”, suggested that students before the president
Good question, interesting point. Here’s what I see as the main difference: the award is named after an office founded at the start of our history as a nation. In and of itself this office represents an ideal that merits respect and elicits emulation. It is the highest office in the land of a people who are fortunate enough to live with a government based on elected representation. The office is, and I believe should always be, separate from the person occupying it at any point in time.
Having the president himself (or, herself…..) directly address our children introduces the element of personality. This begins to diffuse the boundary between the office and the occupant. It also begins, albeit subtly, to place the president in a parental role vis a vis our children. (He becomes to them, unavoidably, another “authority” figure, however benign). Not to repeat earlier comments, but herein, I submit, lie some major differences between an award named after our highest office and the person in that office speaking directly to our children.
In 1983 amidst national concern for our educational system, President Ronald Reagan instituted the Presidential Academic Fitness program. That is the origin of the Presidential Academic Excellence Award.
President George W. Bush wanted to be known as the “Education President” and fostered many programs with No Child Left Behind.
I would be more concerned with a President who wants nothing to do with education than with one who wants to encourage children to start off the school year well.
Once again for the comprehensive challenged, it’s not about the fact that Obama wants to tell the kids to “be cool and stay in school”, hell even Fonzi did that!
The backlash comes from the following below, which included a suggested lesson plan and assignment. So please stop saying, “he only wants to give the children a talk on the importance of education, I think that’s so wonderful”. Originally it wasn’t “just a talk”, and I would like to know where our school superintendent and board of education stood before the white house relented to the huge outcry and deleted the aforementioned lessons and assignments.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan dispatched letters to principles nationwide boasting that
I guess the people who think the President doesn’t belong in the classroom would disagree with the long-standing practice of middle school students striving to receive the Presidential Academic Excellence Award?
‘WASHINGTON
Here is the text of the speech. Looking forward to discussing it with my children. And also looking forward to discussing with them why people that resort to labeling anything they disagree with as Socialist, Nazi, Fascist or Communist are probably people whose judgment you might want to question.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
Also, contrast Landon’s response to the response of New Canaan’s Superintendent. Yet another reason why I am glad I live in Westport
http://newcanaan.patch.com/articles/news-alert-himes-to-address-obamas-speech-to-students
Mr. Karrel, with all due respect, once again, it’s NOT about the speech! READ what I have said, and address the issue.
Raho—enough already. Put a cork in it.
I guess it was all right for labeling for the past 8 years.We do not want to say anything bad about the messiah. Maybe you or Dr landon can be a czar
for obama.Well not Dr landon,it wont be more than his $ 300,000.00 salary.
Mr. Yemma, I guess so much for my free speech!
And I guess it’s just “easier” for my critics to have me shut up, instead of addressing the issues I raised. Yeah…not need to debate, when you can have your opposition just shut up so you don’t have to articulate an opinion to counter my arguments.
I’m sure you would also love to have Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and every one else asking questions. It would make things real convenient for you, huh?
Well I’m not going to put a cork in it! In the last week, me and many others like me have made Obama blink! He has already backed down of his “single payer” and has said he would take it off the table, he already backed down on this so-called “speech”, the white house has REMOVED the associated materials, and Van Jones has resigned from people like me exposing his radical views; 1 czar down, 32 to go.
So contrary to your opinion of me, I’m making a difference, WE are making a difference! Another fan of mine above has even affectionately referred to me as a “community leader”, coming from a liberal, I consider that a high complement.
Note to editor: Please don’t delete any of these post, either from me or my many “fans”. I’m a big boy and relish healthy robust debate. Thank you in advance!
Mr. McCarthy, Did you read the above link to the Wall St. Journal that I posted?
For the record, Obama’s czar Van Jones proudly describes himself as a communist. Did you know that? Why not? Also for record your house majority leader Nancy Pelosi called town hall people Nazi’s, just as many liberals have done over the past 8 years of president Bush, I surely hope you told your children how wrong they were, you did right?
Again for the record, Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor as an advocate for “social justice”, Obama’s term not mine. So it seems Obama and his peeps like to refer to themselves as socialist and many of his czars have proclaimed themselves communists and socialists. Some of his advisers belong to the American Socialist Party. Did you know that? Why not? You should really make an effort to better inform yourself, I have, and I teach my children as well.
And as far as Fascist, well that’s a word that many banter around while very few know the exact definition. A book I highly recommend that does it’s best to help is “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg.
And why do you, like so many liberals, continue to say it’s only a speech?! I’ve said it before, it was about the “lesson plans” and “assignments” the education dept. sent along. PLEASE read my above post WITH links. IT’S NOT THE SPEECH!, It’s about Obama asking my children to help him with his social agenda that we do not believe in. Why would I want my child to help him?
And by the way I read the text of the speech, and to be honest, it’s very much over the heads of children under the 4th or 5th grade and certainly not intended for the children of this community. My kids have no idea what drop-outs are, or skipping class, etc., and it’s just plain boring!
It seems the Superintendent of New Canaan has given this whole thing a little more thought and decided what’s appropriate for the kids. If that town had a beach I’d move there tomorrow!
according to CBS “The most outspoken opponent to President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren no longer objects to the address.
Last week, Jim Greer issued a statement accusing the president of trying to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.” Now that he’s read what the president plans to say, the Florida GOP chairman says he’ll let his own kids watch.
“It’s a good speech,” Greer said. “It encourages kids to stay in school and the importance of education.”
Now about our local opponent-in-chief…
Keeping your kids out of school and taking them to Compo instead of having them listen to the President sounds like a wonderful idea. Ignorance is bliss, and we could all use more bliss. Why don’t you keep them out every time a viewpoint other than your own is mentioned? You could save the time you normally spend on this site bashing liberals to prepare for home schooling. Of course, I hope you and your friends really teach something on the beach, perhaps about responsibility and being willing to accept the consequences for one’s actions, like truancy. Thanks for encouraging others to demonstrate in the great tradition of civil disobedience. If only Ghandi had lived closer to Compo, imagine how many followers he might have had! I can hardly believe it, but I think you
Here’s a video that some schools played for children last week. Do you think this is a little much? I certainly do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQawLBC59g&feature=related
This is the edited version, you can get the whole 4:19 unedited version on youtube.
Dear Mr Raho,
You have every right to express your opinions. However, you are beginning to sound like a broken record. Suffice to say let
Mr. Bowles, once again it’s not about the speech! It’s about downplaying academic achievement in favor of left-wing radical activism in the public schools is rooted in old neighborhood pal and Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers
The only reason I continue to post is because regardless of how many times I have said, “it’s not about the speech…”. Those opposed to me, keep saying, “it’s only a speech”.
Not one, not one single one who opposes me, has even attempted to discuss the topic I raised, not one. After I have made painfully obvious to all, the only mature response I got was, “put a cork in it”.
This is the predictable response from most liberals; can’t argue or debate the issue, so, they just say, “shut up, already”.
I won’t continue this non-debate any further, since not one single critic who opposes me has made any attempt to counter what I have said. Not one.
By the way, my children had a wonderful day off today. We discussed the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the definition of propaganda and the greatness of Ronald Reagan. We even enjoyed a good ol’ American pie for desert after lunch!
And for those that will pretend that I’m such a bad parent for having my kids miss Obama’s “speech”, let me just remind you how much one parent was hailed last week for keeping his daughter out to see Obama. If it’s okay to keep the kid home to hear him, then it’s okay to keep mine home not to hear him. Video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g30WIvjYZBI
“
Come on mrs cardozo….Were you one of those liberals that protested every saturday on the bridge for 8 years,With signs of name calling and threats.Once again that was ok. But dont disagree with the messiah,the chosen one.I guess that was ok for the liberals to do. Were are all you saturday protesters.Did the troops come home.I do not see you anymore.I wonder why………………..
No, I was not one of the protesters, but I appreciate the work they did. I support the men and women who serve in our military and I don’t want their lives to be at risk for no reason. If you feel otherwise that is your right. But I value them and the work they do to protect our country.
I also value the people who protested. They didn’t ramble on about the past, or call people names, they stood quietly with signs that explained their point of view. Their protest was a part of the democratic process and I appreciate their service as well.
Excuse me, Ms. Cardozo, but do I hear you right? You say that the folks who protested on the bridge, didn’t call people names? Apparently you only saw what you wanted to see. I saw signs calling Bush Hitler and signs saying that Bush caused the death of our soldiers, so please tell me more about respecting the office of the president. I love the way you describe how liberals do such a wonderful job of teaching their children respect for the President, and how disrespectful “right-wingers” are to the President. And then to go on and claim, “But never did anyone I know disrespect the Office of the President the way the right-wingers have been doing since President Obama was elected.” Obviously you were in a coma for the last 8 years.
I welcome your input Mr. Goedde. Here is a link to all of the WestportNow articles about the protesters on the bridge: https://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/search/results/2603fdfa558990af351ebe080d78401a/.
I searched through them to no avail. Please find me a photograph of the signs calling Bush Hitler and the signs stating that Bush specifically (rather than his policies) caused the death of any soldiers.
Just the first pages when you google bush is hitler.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS326US327&q=bush+is+hitler
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS326US327&q=bush%20is%20hitler&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
I find it very interesting that “In his message, Landon noted that President George H. W. Bush had also addressed the nation
Sorry that you couldn’t find any proof, but in the future I will carry a camera with me at all times so that I can make Carol Cardozo a believer. So now please prove to me that you weren’t asleep during the last 8 years. Photos of you holding up a newspaper would be very helpful.
Mr Cardozo are you for real.You now what those signs said.Did you lose your eye sight for 8 years during your coma.
Maybe you can ask Obama if you could be a sign czar.What a great job for you……..Cardozo the liberal sign czar……………….
Jeff, when you address someone you should have the common courtesy of getting his or her gender right. You are calling Carol Cardozo Mr.!
Even every liberals favorite newspaper, NY Times, had to address the issue since it was such a common mantra among the Bush bashers: Is Bush Hitler…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinion/23iht-edbeam.1.8452549.html
So as common of a comparison as it was for 8 years, and as much hatred that was thrown at Bush, do some liberals really believe these events never happened? It is it denial, dishonesty or something else.
When you google “Bush is Hitler” you get over 8,500,000 sites and almost 3,000,000 images
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS326US327&q=bush+is+hitler
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS326US327&q=bush%20is%20hitler&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
Great job Joe, sorry for the mistake.Mrs Cardozo….
Raho, shouldn
Mr. Witz, If you must know, my wife put the little rascals to bed at 8:30 while I watched the presidents speech. I did run up stairs give them a quick kiss good night and told them “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant:
It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
Ronald Reagan.
By the way, I thought the last 15 minutes and especially the closing 5 minutes or so of Presidnt Obama’s speech were very good. But of course I watched it on Fox…
Comments have gotten way off topic and childish. This thread is closed.
Ms. Cardozo, the fact that you are surprised that there have been no photos on Westport Now of signs calling Bush Hitler or other derogatory names, leads me to believe that you think that a handful of photographs of over 200 Saturday protests clearly covers all the signs. I’m only telling you what I witnessed, and if you don’t want to take my word that those signs existed, fine, continue to live in your bubble. However if you seriously can say that you never heard any “name-calling or rumor-mongering” directed at G.W. Bush, I have to assume that either your bubble is infinitesimal or as I said before, you are just waking up from an 8 year coma.
I. sorry Mr. Goedde, but I never saw any signs calling Bush “Hitler.” If it was a common as you are claiming it was, you ought to be able to come up with at least one photo. Please provide supporting documentation. As far as I can tell, and I did really try to find proof, they never existed.
Made up facts are not valid arguments.