Prince William County Public Schools Position on the President’s Speech to Students on September 8
Thursday, September 3, 2009As you may be aware from news media reports, the President has scheduled a Webcast message to students for noon on Tuesday, September 8. Many are asking about what will be happening in PWCS classrooms. There is no mandate or direction to principals or teachers from the PWCS administration to participate in this address from the President. Like many other similar information items we receive from the U.S. Department of Education, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), or other education-related organizations, they are passed along FYI as a potential instructional resource that teachers may choose to use if it is appropriate for their instruction and fits their lesson plans.
This position is consistent with the guidance of the VDOE. Schools that may have classes which choose to participate in the Webcast are encouraged to make reasonable accommodations for students whose parents may object to the viewing of the speech by their children during the school day. It is expected that the text of the speech will be posted on the White House Web site before it is given for parents and educators to review beforehand.
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Nice job, Dr. Walts, nice job. NOT! He certainly squirmed out of that one. Instead of explaining what was going on, and that the canned robo plans were not counter-revolutionary materials, he dumped the entire ball of wax squarely on the building principals and the teachers. Welcome back teachers, and bend over…we are going to get this over with first thing.
Dr. Walts should have made every attempt to assuage people’s fears. He could have reassured parents that any materials used would not be politically objectionable. He has that opportunity as superintendent of Prince William County Schools. Anyone who makes a quarter of a million a year could have done a lot better than this. Instead, the teachers and principals will be down in the trenches on the first day of school, when they should be setting the stage for the new year, putting out forest fires that should have been put out by the Instructor in Chief, Dr. Walts.
Having backbone should not be this painful. We are speaking of the President of the United States telling kids to do their homework, listen to their parents, teachers, bus drivers, and to be all they can be in the classroom and on the playground. Good grief.
