President Obama intends to present a 15 – 20 minute live broadcast at Noon on September 8th to school children across America. According to the Education Department, he will challenge students to work hard, set education goals, and take responsibility for their learning. The broadcast will be on both CSPAN and through a White House Webcast.
Lakota will conduct school on September 8th as a normal school day with no district-wide showing of the President’s address. The address will be taped and previewed and made available through our media centers in case teachers or students wish to view the address.
If individual teachers choose to show the live-cast, because it ties into their curricular activities, they must follow the supplemental materials guidelines as well as inform parents in writing to the activity. If teachers show the live-cast in class, there will be an option for students to opt out of the showing.
We recognize the political interest our community has in this topic. Our commitment as educators is to value our instructional time in our classrooms. In making this decision, we strived for a common-sense approach that both valued the instructional time while still offering our students an opportunity to view a special message from the sitting President of the United States.
Submitted by: Laura Kursman, 874-5505 Date: September 3, 2009
