Charlotte Catholic school officials chose to skip Obama’s speech
September 11th, 2009 by Mary C. Curtis in News
For a moment, let’s get back to President Obama’s first speech of the week, the one on Tuesday to schoolchildren, encouraging them to study hard and take responsibility for their own lives. I couldn’t understand all the fuss, I wrote in a column for PoliticsDaily.com.
And indeed, in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, most students listened without incident as Obama told them: “What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you.” Many were inspired. Unless you attend a parochial school, that is.
Linda L. Cherry, the superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Charlotte, sent out a letter to parents (dated Sept. 4) that said: “Because we do not, as a rule, show live TV to our students and due to the short notice in realigning our schedules for that day, we will not be airing the program in our schools.” (An image of the letter is embedded under this post. You can also download the letter in PDF form.)
I spoke with one parent with two children in Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools who was OK with the decision. She said she was skeptical of anything Obama was going to say to students because “if you look at his record, he’s for abortion and against school vouchers.” However, she said that, after looking at the transcript, she thought “it was a motivating and uplifting speech,” and she would let her children watch. Another parent I talked to was quite upset that the system did not show the president’s speech in the school.
David Hains, director of communications for the diocese, said the president’s message was not something directed to students in Charlotte’s Catholic schools because they are successful already. As Cherry’s letter said: “We have a 99.9 percent graduation rate and over 99 percent of our graduates go on to 2 or 4-year college programs.”
Because of this, Obama’s speech “wasn’t really on point,” Hains said. He said he was not involved with the system at the time of addresses by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush to schoolchildren and did not know how they were handled. Cherry has not returned my call and e-mail.
In the 2008 presidential election, Catholics, by a small margin, voted for Barack Obama. Catholic groups that emphasize issues of social justice criticized the alliance of some Catholics with conservative Christian groups over the issue of abortion when there is disagreement in other areas, from the war to capital punishment.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:50 am
It is a sad day in America when hysterical right wing zombies think they have to review an address from the President to see if it’s suitable for their children to see.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I know about ‘gated communities’, now we have ‘gated schools’. Wonder if Jesus had a gate?
September 11th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Knowing Obama’s past it is actually a wise decision to preview what Obama says. All liberals fail to include the crazy lesson plan that was sent ahead of the speech that got this whole thing rolling. The teaching instructions were changed. If the speech was a bad as the teaching instructions it was probably changed too. After the conservatives chastised Obama everything turned out good. So with this in mind they should have shown the video out of respect for the office.
“I can’t take anyone who uses the phrase, “for abortion,” seriously”
You cant take 1/3 of all Democrats seriously since 1/3 of all democrats believe that 9/11 was done at the direction of Bush. Now that is a serious problem isnt it!
“If you want to put your kids into a private school, then you pay for it. Don’t expect a handout for privatized, religious “education”.”
CC you just are not all the bright on this topic. You are one of these people that think everything is free that the government provides. The government collects this thing called taxes from all of us and then acts like it is soing us a favor by buying something for us we might not want. In this case that would be a horrible government school education. So if you havent figured it out, most of us have already paid for the education of of kids thru taxes. A voucher does nothing more than give parents their own money back to make their own decision GEEZ. So basically you a fool for trying to deny people the right to educate their children in an intelligent way.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Ms. Curtis,
Your last paragraph is totally irrelevant to the issue at hand (education), but since you brought it up, let me ask to you PRECISELY define the term you use, “social justice.”
You see, there are many in the US who would define “social justice” as strong and equivalent support of ALL provisions of the Bill Of Rights (including Amendments 2, 5, 9 and 10), the freedom to make our own education, business, and healthcare choices, and the right to enjoy the fruits of our labor without punitive taxation.
Tell us your definition.