I do think learning how to analyze a political race and candidates for political office is a valuable and frankly great thing for our kids to be exposed to in school. But your story points out that we need to have a very standard curriculum that would be followed for how that is to be done in order to emphasize that this is a democracy and that teachers really should not be promoting one candidate over the other, let alone making any of them look back to the kids.

But let’s face it, even adults have a hard time being able to discuss politics without resorting to name-calling – blogs are a great example. I want my kids to be passionate about and want to contribute to our democracy, but I definitely would just like to have them get the skills, not necessarily all the opinions of their teachers!

On the other hand, don’t you just know – reasonably – that kids are likely to ASK teachers who they prefer, right? So – it’s up to the teachers to know to say that that’s not what’s relevant.

I think this can be done without great pain but again, the district, the principals, everyone needs to have the same expectations for how it should be handled.

People often claim that parents are abdicating all childrearing to schools and educators, but clearly we know that’s not the case. Your story also points out how important it is for us to have communications with our kids!

The only way for something to be non-partisan is for there to be equal representation of all the parties. Even if they supported McCain and Obama……..they would not have likely supported Nader,Baldwin, or Barr. And I guarantee you if the socialist party candidate held a public rally there would be NO school kids at the rally and NO public funds expended for rally costs.

This area is a Republican stronghold. This was a safe decision to make. I commend Acus for raising the issue of propriety and partisanship.

Bruce

Was band supporting McCain?

By TAMI BRIGLE – Times Reporter

Did Bryan City Schools inadvertently support a political candidate by allowing the band to perform at the John McCain rally in Defiance recently?

Or were officials just allowing students to experience the political process?

That was the concern that school board members addressed Monday night.

“I’ve gotten word from maybe a couple dozen parents who were concerned about the fact that the Bryan band went to the McCain rally,” said board member Scott Acus. “Some of the concerns that I’ve heard are … we spent school money to go support a political candidate.”

“ThatÕs tax money that’s coming from people with a wide range of political beliefs.”

At the end of the board meeting, Acus said he and others wanted more information on why the decision was made to send the band to the rally.

Superintendent Diana Savage said she was responsible for making the decision.

“I felt being there in person at such a historic event and having the national coverage that was going to be there, I thought it was truly an honor for us to go, and I gave the permission for us to set up the trip,” Savage said. She added that she got feedback from board members before making her decision, and she also checked with the district’s attorney on the board policy. Acus acknowledged he was the only board member who did not give his approval.

Savage read from board policy 9700, which concerns relations with special interest groups.

The policy states, “Any request from civic institutions, charitable organizations, or special interest groups which involve such activities as patriotic functions, contests, exhibits, sales of products to and by students, sending promotional materials home with students, graduation prizes, fund raising, and free teaching materials must be carefully reviewed to ensure that such activities promote student interests.”

The policy continues, “… any such approval, granted for whatever cause or group, shall not be construed as an endorsement of said cause or group by this Board. Board President Glen Newcomer supported Savage.

“It is not an endorsement,” he said. “… It is showing responsible citizenship and it also shows respect for the political process. She followed the procedures, and I believe she made the right call.”

Acus still was concerned about mixing politics with education.

“There’s a reason that school board members are not partisan,” Acus said, explaining that political affiliations should not come into play when dealing with school issues.

Bryan High School Principal Stephen Alspaugh said he also was involved in making the decision to send the students to the rally, and he believed the day was historic and important for students to see, no matter what political affiliations there were.

“In my 43 years of life, I have never seen anything like what I saw that day. The fact that our students had a chance to be there, the fact that they had a chance to experience and see it, to me, it wouldn’t have mattered whether it was a McCain or Obama rally. It was unbelievable,” said Alspaugh. “In my opinion, it was an unbelievable honor for our students to be there, and I would seriously believe that it wasn’t dependent upon a candidate”

“I was seriously looking at it from the educational aspect for our students,” he added.

According to the Defiance City Administrator Jeff Leonard:

“City officials have not debated whether to charge the Republican campaign for any of the costs the city incurred because of the event, but he explained that it is important for the city to support the rights of free speech and assembly which are important in America.”