President Obama today presents his second annual speech to the nation's school children welcoming them back to school. This year's presidential address is apparently generating far less controversy than last year's speech. Last year, the presidential address generated strong protests by both parents who wanted their children to hear Obama's remarks and those who didn't.
An informal survey of Central Ohio school districts indicates most are showing the president's remarks to their students. A city school district spokeswoman says Columbus Public administrators showed this year's speech just as they did last year.
Westerville school officials sent a letter to parents giving them the choice to opt out...but encouraging them to allow students to view the speech since the president was likely to encourage students to work hard and strive for academic excellence as he did last year.
In the Dublin and Olentangy School Districts, parents were informed by letter or e-mail that their children could opt out of watching the speech if parents objected. In the Olentangy distict, a spokeswoman said children opting out of watching the president's speech would be provided "a similar opportunity". She said an alternative activity was left up to the administrators of individual schools. Neither district had specific numbers of students who opted out of the speech.
A spokeswoman for the Grandview Heights City Schools said in that district it's up to individual teachers to show the president's speech as a teaching tool when it best fit the curriculum.