Indian River schools reconsidering whether to show Obama speech to students
September 8th, 2009 by Post Staff
VERO BEACH - Cynthia Johnson, center, of Vero Beach, holds up her sign while protesting outside of the Indian River County School District offices on Tuesday morning in Vero Beach. (Sam Wolfe, TCPalm.com correspondent)
School officials announced Thursday that School Board policy requires the broadcast be first taped and reviewed to determine whether the material is educationally relevant. The decision outraged several residents, some calling the decision racist.
A group of about 40 people — made up of pastors, residents and others — early today showed up at the School Board office to protest the decision. They chanted and held signs throughout the morning in an attempt to persuade officials to reverse the decision.
One of the lead organizers was the Rev. Donald Brown, president of the Pastorial Association of Indian River County. He said the decision was “embarassing and disturbing to me.”
The Rev. Willie Richardson called La Cava on Saturday, and the superintendent referred him to state statutes saying the School District has the right to review materials not within the curriculum.
“This is our commander in chief,” Richardson said about the address to students. “We believe this is politically based, with the sub-base of racism.”
Leaders for the Pastorial Association of Indian River County of about 18 churches met Sunday, after learning that Indian River County schools would not air the program live.
Elsewhere on the Treasure Coast, school officials for Martin and St. Lucie counties said they would allow students to watch the C-Span broadcast live unless parents wrote notes saying they did not want their child to hear the speech.
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September 8th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I hope most people will remember the decision the school board made in regards to our president’s speech on education when election time comes. This is disturbing to think that a committee for education would not allow a speech on education to be shown. Seems to me alot about politics and not about freedom of speech. Pres. Bush spoke about education and so did Pres Reagan. Is it only politics or is there some racism involved?