Oops. Texas system says ‘no’ to Obama talk but ‘yes’ to Bush
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Arlington, Texas, Superintendent Jerry McCullough apologized Friday for how the district handled President Obama’s speech on Tuesday.
The district did not allow its students to watch the 25-minute Obama pep talk, saying it would take too much time away from class. But then it was revealed that the district had planned to bus 500 fifth-graders to listen to former President George W. Bush later this month at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
“In retrospect, I can see how the district’s decisions concerning these two events could be seen as favoring one event over another,” McCullough said in his written statement.
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32 comments Add your comment
MrLiberty
September 11th, 2009
6:10 pm
Aside from being a pathological liar himself, as well as a mass-murderer and war criminal, what exactly makes W worthy of any attention?
Any validation of a president, past or present only further serves to inappropriately elevate the status of the position. Under Bush and Clinton before him, the presidency became more imperial than is appropriate for a constitutional republic.
The folks who infest the white house are part of the problem, and certainly of too low a moral standing to deserve any accolades from society. They certainly should not be held up to students as any positive example of what they should aspire to.
Arealblkwmn
September 11th, 2009
6:19 pm
Why are you surprized?? IT’S TEXAS !!…..nuff said..I say LET them SECEDE
roundup « Walk In Brain
September 11th, 2009
6:26 pm
[...] Arlington [TX] School District won’t show President Obama’s speech at school but will gladly bus kids away from school for a speech by Drunky [...]
RLH
September 11th, 2009
6:36 pm
White is always right, black get back, half and half sorry but you still cannot get a pass. God Bless America.
Mark
September 11th, 2009
7:34 pm
Looks and sounds like the republican party is out to make it harder on the people and easier on the upper class, business and republican party. If they cannot make the other party look bad and fail then we the people might see just how bad they screwed the country up for 8 years.
Toto: exposing the man behind the curtain
September 12th, 2009
12:42 am
Oops! ACORN says “no” to IRS, but “yes” to a PIMP and PROSTITUTE.
SEE ACORN GET BUSTED ON CAMERA, TWICE! DISGUSTING!!!!!!
Census Bureau forced to remove them from worker’s list!
Considering the President’s association with this group, I think Texans HAVE THE RIGHT IDEA! No apologies necessary.
http://biggovernment.com/2009/09/10/chaos-for-glory/#idc-ctools
Dr. Craig Spinks /Augusta
September 12th, 2009
3:20 am
Dr. McCullough, in reference to your written retrospection provided above, how so?
BravesFan79
September 12th, 2009
6:24 am
There’s no doubt any school system with mostly blacks or minorities (since they have the highest dropout/ crime rate) should be willing to show this in class. I can see mostly white schools with already high graduation rates turning this down, but not schools with poor records and low testing students. I think trying to get more people to be motivated to finish highschool (in some cities 50% of the blacks drop out) should rank above petty politics! The blacks need stuff like this for motivation! WTF are these head pple thinking??
Happily retired
September 12th, 2009
8:53 am
Re: BravesFan79. While I do not totally agree with your premise, I do believe that many of our students (my child included) are about “motivational speakered” out by the time they get to high school. It always intrigued me that at the annual Beta Club convention in Atlanta each year the Saturday morning session almost always included a motivational speaker who told the students to study hard and make good grades (and also go to church). The kids were in Beta Club where admission was determined by good grades. My child who is currently a Dean’s List student at UGA would beg me to allow him to check in late whenever a motivational speaker was scheduled at his high school. Just a thought.
em
September 12th, 2009
11:01 am
I understand what the President was attempting to accomplish. As a matter of fact, I thought the speech was good speech. Unfortunately, many of my high school students went to sleep. For the rest who watched, his message fell on deaf ears.
DrinkSlinger
September 12th, 2009
11:36 am
RLH… You are an ignorant moron.
Arealblkwmn
September 12th, 2009
11:47 am
I have the feeling BravesFan79 , Toto, and RLH are in the SAME mental ward !!!!!! They ae all soooooooo pathetic !!
Gregory
September 12th, 2009
1:23 pm
Texas, a failing state for education. One of the worst. Look it up. The big secret that white guys like Bravesfan79 fail to reveal, or maybe they just don’t know, is the drop out, non graduation, teen pregnancy rate for his beloved young white children is unacceptably high. Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina ALL rank in the lowest scores and graduation rates in the country. A black girl gets pregnant too early, she’s a welfare mother. A white girl gets pregnant early, we get Juno. The ignorant and closed minded like Bravesfan79 and other racists will never admit, much less have the mental capability to understand.
Laura
September 12th, 2009
1:56 pm
Aaaaand comments like the ones above are why I’m about tempted to quit reading this blog. I used to come here for the intelligent debate on educational issues impacting teachers, students, and parents. I, frankly, could care less about the decisions of some school district in Texas and their faux pas which has had a political spin put on it.
How does this impact education? How does this even relate to education? It doesn’t. It was only published for the political implications of it, and this kind of politics doesn’t involve education at all – it just involves a small case of hypocrisy.
BTW, out of curiosity, if you are so keen on having the children listen to President Obama speak on television, why not have the students listen to a former president speak LIVE? Yes, it’s W, and yes, the last living president who the kids should even look to as any sort of role model is HW Bush, and he’s too old for them to care about. But it’s still a once in a lifetime chance.
Stephanie
September 12th, 2009
4:33 pm
I agree with Laura, I used to enjoy this blog and got a lot out of the debates about educational issues. In the last few days however, several of the topics have very little to do with education and everything to do with Mrs. Downeys political leanings. Please stop with the biased topics and get back to ones that truly deal with education in the metro atlanta area and beyond.
Donnie from the Big A
September 12th, 2009
4:54 pm
Good for you Mr McCollough, you made the right choice. DO NOT appolioze to anyone for this. Mr Bush is an honest man, Obama is a lying SOCIALIST. Keep him away from our KID’s, Please!!!
boots
September 12th, 2009
6:05 pm
I am
boots
September 12th, 2009
6:08 pm
I like the political discussion.
boots
September 12th, 2009
6:14 pm
I am having trouble with this comment box. To finish my thought: I like the political discussions here. I think it makes the blog a lot more interesting to more people. Politicians decide school funding. School boards are elected so education is political by definition
Ever been to the PTA? It’s all about politics, ladies. Keep it up and I’ll keep coming back.
Toto: exposing the man behind the curtain
September 12th, 2009
8:34 pm
arealblkwm
If you want to see a real black woman standing up for what is right, check out the 3rd video, last segment. Go Maxine Waters!
http://www.goldmansachs666.com/
Toto says this is the man behind the curtain.
S......
September 12th, 2009
8:54 pm
Sounds a bit hypocritical to me. If you will let kids hear Bush, then let them hear Obama. Any parent who understands their role, would have allowed their child to listen to the President, and made sure that their child understood why mom and dad don’t agree with Obama. Explaining why mom and dad disagree and answering any questions. But instead, the parents acted like children. I don’t like the President so I’m not going to listen. That’s what kids and immature adults do.
If you don’t agree with or didn’t vote for Obama, that’s fine. That’s one of the great things about this nation. But don’t act like a snot nosed little brat. Show some respect.
And for the so-called Christians praying for the death of the President, I don’t think that’s WJWD(what Jesus would do).
Russ
September 12th, 2009
11:05 pm
Uneducated whites tend to have inferiority complexes. They are threatened by anyone with a level of intelligence that they can’t relate to. Obama represents these cave people worst nightmare..he’s smarter than any white politician on the planet right now, he’s classy and good lookin’ with a beautiful wife and kids plus he is the most powerful man on the plannet. What these Nazis fail to realize is that all that screaming, cussin, shoutin, and spittin makes they all look like the racist pigs they are. The Republican party is doom for failure..they will however strive in the South because this is where most of the poor white trash reside.
JEM
September 12th, 2009
11:41 pm
I am from Texas. The only part of Texas with thinking people is Austin where I went to college. Not surprised at by this. Austin should secede from Texas.
Donnie from the Big A
September 13th, 2009
5:32 am
Obama smart???? Please, this idiot makes Jimmy Carter look good. He will be the WORSE President this great country has ever had and yes he is a black man!!
The Real Politico
September 13th, 2009
8:25 am
Isn’t being on the Dean’s List at UGA a bit like being a chair deck mover on the Titanic?
The Real Politico
September 13th, 2009
8:26 am
Wasn’t “Donnie from the Big A” on the Dean’s list at UGA? See my point?
Attitude rules out intelligence every time.
Donnie from the Big A
September 13th, 2009
8:53 am
The truth hurt’s, Huh??
hayley
September 13th, 2009
9:13 am
and your point is?
mom to four
September 13th, 2009
7:59 pm
I just heard on the news that Maureen Dowd, NY Times Columnist, says that anyone disagreeing with Obama (such as Rep. Wilson) is a racist. So now you know the rest of the story…
I agree with Laura and Stephanie. This use to be a great blog where one could have a discussion about eduation issues, voice concerns and discuss possible solutions. It has become a venue for racist name calling that Maureen allows and doesn’t attepmt to control. I use to enjoy the comments from Jim D. and V for Vendetta and others that don’t comment very often anymore.
I hope that the AJC brings back the former moderator.
Realdeal
September 13th, 2009
9:17 pm
Puleeeeze! This blog went downhill over the last year because the only posters were Jim D and V. for Vendetta BTW: Why would anyone want to encourage them to post even more often????? They are the reason I stopped reading.
This blog is much better now that it’s not the same people all the time.
alan
September 14th, 2009
8:31 pm
Hey Donnie from the Big A: If you look at his background, Obama is arguably one of the smartest guys in the room if not the smartest. He went to two Ivy League schools (UGA and Tech will never be confused for top tier universities. E.g., MIT will never call itself the Georgia Tech of the North). He was president of the Harvard Law Review. In fact, the University of Chicago Law School (a conservative law school) wanted to hire him as a tenured professor so bad that an additional incentive that they said if he accepted the position, they would hire his wife as the director of the law school’s legal clinic). You may not agree with his politics but there’s no way you can call him dumb. In fact, when was the law time you taught constitutional law at the university level? What, do I want fries with that?
philosopher
September 15th, 2009
8:26 am
I agree- Ms. Downey could moderate this by refusing to post comments full of irrational, name-calling statements that carry absolutely no logic. One blogger expects you to believe that Bush was wonderful…simply because she said so. Or another who states that Obama is a liar…and you should believe him just because he says so. Have some self-respect, folks, lay aside feelings and present an idea or thought that is logical, persuasive on its own merit, and doesn’t depend on hot-headed prejudice. And, Maureen, I appreciate the courage it takes for you not to eliminate bloggers and allowing freedom of stupidity…oops, I mean speech.