As we have all heard for the last couple of dozen years, the religious rightwing has tried to place as many of its adherents on school boards as possible (the farm teams for higher office).  They have had mixed success, but the President's speech has given them a (minor) issue with which they can flex their muscles.  (less controversial than intelligent design/evolution).

So, I'm curious.  How is your school/school district/superintendent/whatever-the-governmental-unit dealing with this?  I'm sure that each of our schools have at least a few of the reactionary parents who are calling in today.

My district sent out an e-mail (and posted it on their website) last night.  As many of us do, they are "time-shifting" the speech, making it easy for parents to hold their students out, and agreeing not to use the "lesson plan".  (Given that the "lesson plan" contained that bone-headed language at first, I'm not too upset about that.)  It is about the middle-of-the-road response I expected.  Interestingly, neither the Superintendent nor the Board attached their names to it; the e-mail was from the "Community Relations Manager" and the website notice is unsigned.

I don't have time to survey other local districts myself (nor to make up the Cosmo-like quiz that I initially wanted to do on this), but I'm curious to know what my fellow TPM'ers are seeing.  Thanks.

Here's Kyrene School District's (suburban Phoenix-area, moderately-Republican) response:

The President of the United States is scheduled to address school children on Tuesday, September 8, at 12:00 pm EST, which means 9:00 am in Arizona. It is our understanding that the address will offer an opportunity for students to hear about the importance of educational goal setting and putting their best efforts forward in school. Technology allows us to be flexible with the time that we show this message. Kyrene will record the message and broadcast it to our middle school students in Academic Lab and to our Elementary students sometime during the last hour of the school day.

• As always, parental preference is respected and this will be honored if you contact your school.

• The Kyrene School District views this as an opportunity for students to hear a positive message that is aligned to the state guidelines in Character Education.

• Some components of the lesson plan have caused objections. Therefore, the lesson plans will not be used in the classroom.

• Our teachers will not be presenting this information in a political manner.

We encourage parents to speak with their children at home regarding the importance of goal setting and education in their lives.