Bay City Tribune

When President Barack Obama delivers a national address to American school children during class time at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8, Matagorda County students may or may not be participating.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education, Obama will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school.

"The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning," according to the release.

The speech will take about 15 to 20 minutes of instructional time and may be accompanied by classroom activities created by the U.S. Department of Educations teachers-in-residence.

According to Dr. Julius Cano, Region 3 Education Service Center director, the Texas Education Agency has indicated that the decision to show the presidents address to students will be left to the local school district.

As a result, Matagorda and Van Vleck school districts have chosen not to show the broadcast to students live in school.

Bay City, Palacios and Tidehaven will allow some students to view the broadcast speech.

Keith Brown, Bay City ISD superintendent, said the decision will be left to the individual teacher.

"(Bay City ISD) will not require our teachers to show the speech in class," said Brown.

"If individual teachers want to show the speech for educational purposes, we will allow them to do so."

The district, with the exception of one campus, Bay City Intermediate School, did not require the teachers to send parent notes home advising if their student would be watching the broadcast.

"Concerned parents should contact the individual campus that their child attends to see if the speech is being viewed in their child's class," said Brown.

It will be the parent's responsibility to advise the teacher if they don't want their student to participate in the broadcast.

"I have been inundated with phone calls, e-mail and face-to-face questions since around 8 a.m. (Thursday, Sept. 3) morning," said Brown.

"This has been the most controversial issue we have faced at BCISD in my time as superintendent."

Brown said he has received a constant stream of phone calls with about 90-percent of them in reference to the president's speech.

"The phone call volume has been about three times the normal amount over the past few days," he said.

Palacios ISD will also leave the decision up to each teacher whether they will use the broadcast as part of their curriculum that day or not.

Palacios teachers sent notes out to parents advising if they would be viewing the broadcast and allowing each family the opportunity to opt out, said Vicki Adams, Palacios ISD superintendent.

Adams said the district will be taping the speech and making it available for teachers to use throughout the year as they see fit.

Pre-kindergarteners through third graders will not view the live broadcast due to the conflict with their lunch period.

Dr. Suzanne Wesson, Tidehaven ISD superintendent, said her district will show the live broadcast to students in grades three through 12.

Parent letters were sent home and parents would be given an opportunity to opt out of the broadcast for their child.

"If a parent wants their child to not view it then they will be given a new activity in a different classroom," said Wesson.

Wesson said that she had not received a notable amount of parental feedback on the issue by Friday morning.

Cynthia Clary, Van Vleck ISD superintendent, said they will record the broadcast, archive it on their Web site and make it available for parents to choose whether or not they want to view it with their student after school hours.

"We have received a lot of input from parents and patrons both supportive and not supportive," said Clary.

Clary said their decision was made "in an effort to satisfy both sets of parents opinions."

By Friday morning, she said, she had received phone calls, emails or face-to-face interactions with about 15-percent of the total student body parents.

"The goal is to make sure parents have input in what their parents are exposed to," said Clary.

Laura Shay, Matagorda ISD superintendent, said the district will not show the broadcast, mainly because they don't have the cable or satellite connections to offer it.