Update 3pm Sept 4, 2009: I reversed the order of the two issues below, expanded some comments, AND added the email memo from School District Supt. Moxley regarding the Obama video.
Two Issues discussed at this morning's Board meeting on budgets:
1. Obama's Scheduled Sept 8 video in classrooms: The Board at the budget workshop also discussed this morning the current emotional issue of allowing President Obama's scheduled video for school children to presented live in classes via internet on Sept. 8th. One member really felt the video should be presented (Cindy Barrow) and others were more reserved. However, the decision of the Superintendent and the Board wasn't based upon wild, partisan emotion, but upon existing School Board policy 9.70. And, after the discussion, Supt. Moxley issued an email explaining the decision, which is at the BOTTOM of this document. The various reasons stated to follow the policy were:
- The schools are encouraged to cooperate with State or Federal education programs like this, BUT the purpose for the Sept. 8th Obama video is not a national crisis, and in such cases, the policy says planned classroom schedules should not be interrupted with such programs. They have used this policy in the past, such as the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies, which were not shown live for the same reason.
- The School District has limited internet bandwidth, and to have all classes trying to download any video might cause the system to collapse, plus there are ongoing internet classes and programs that would be affected.
- Not all students have lunch or classes at the same time, so there would be time conflicts, so many students might not even be in a classroom with video connections.
- No one knows what will actually be said. The White House has said a transcript will be posted on their website before the event for parent or School officials review. One Board member said nothing should be shown to students without it being reviewed first by School Officials or Board members. The sentiment appeared to be to tape the video, review for appropriate educational content, then perhaps allow School Principals to make a decision.
- Opt outs - in any case, even if the video was to be shown, parents can provide a letter to excuse their children from watching it.
- All Board members have been contacted by questioning parents, so they are aware of public input. I didn't see any obvious partisian support one way or the other except Cindy Barrow said "He is the President, and why wouldn't we want our children to see it?"
- According to Board member Rosanne Brandeburg, five states have already decided NOT to allow the video to be shown in any of their schools.
So, don't flip out on this. It seems the Board has an existing policy, and all of them appear to support the Superintendent in following it - so the video won't be shown on the planned schedule, and MAY be shown later as a tape after review and sole discretion of the School Principals.
(any Board or staff member who has corrections can email me a [email protected] .
Note: At 3pm today, Superintendent Moxley sent out an explanation letter to School staff for distribution to parents (I assume), and it was added to the bottom of this document. I consider this issue to be resolved in a rational approach, but if you are a die hard Obama fan, and you wanted every class to have their schedules disrupted for 30-60 minutes (including Dept. of Educ provided lesson plans) and every kid in Lake County to listen to his video without any prior knowledge of what he would say, you might think otherwise. I personally am fearful he would have subliminal background music tracks telling the kids to instruct parents to buy GM cars at any price, when I am a Ford fan...
vj
Issue 2. School Board Budget hearings:
This morning, I just finished attending the second recent budget
workshop held by the Lake County School District Board on budgets. The
Board is scheduled to vote on the final budget at a Sept. 8th public
meeting, INCLUDING whether to propose an added .25 mill property tax to
make up for capital spending shortfalls implemented by the Florida
State legislature. I
will add the results in the next blog post from my notes by the end of Saturday. I will provide my perspective on whether the Board members
will support the .25 mill tax or not in that posting. (They talked, but
did not take a straw vote on the issue - it may be that the Board will vote NOT to approve the tax, but read my blog entry tomorrow to see why!). Anyone interested in this issue should go to the Sept. 8th Board meeting to provide public input, or call or email your Board member. vj
==========================================
Email Memo from Supt. Moxley to explain School District Policy on Showing Sept 8 Video Message from President Obama:
From: Painter, Pati Barrow, Cindy Barrow, Cindy Brandeburg,
Rosanne Stivender,
Debbie
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 11:29 AM
To: Principals (Mgr: JonesG1); Supervisors (Mgr: JonesG1); Assistant
Principals (Mgr. JonesG1)
Cc:
Subject: September 8th Message from President Obama
Importance: High
As
you are aware by the invitation sent to you from US America
After
careful review of School Board Policy 9.70 which provides that cooperation with
Federal agencies “shall not be at the expense of district level or local school
programs.” Since schools are in the process of conducting diagnostic reading
and baseline assessments and have structured schedules or current lesson plans,
viewing the live broadcast would not be within the guidelines outlined in this
policy and the bandwidth capacity of the district will not support both
activities. Therefore, the presidential address will be taped and reviewed in
accordance with the policy guidelines prior to any classroom viewing of the
address. The live broadcast will not be shown during the school day on Tuesday,
September 8, 2009 in district operated schools.
According
to the White House, communicated through the Frequently Asked Questions
document, the address will be available in some form after the original
broadcast at http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/
as well as www. Ed.gov. Parents, at their discretion, can access this website
to view the address with their own child at home.
Susan
Moxley
Superintendent
of Schools
352.253.6515
