Hays schools won't show speech live to students
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
President Barack Obama will speak to students across the nation Tuesday, but Hays students will not see it live.
His address about the need to work hard and stay in school will air on C-SPAN, cable channel 19 in Hays, and on the White House Web site, www.whitehouse.gov, at 11 a.m. Central time.
According to an Associated Press story, school districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin already have made a firm decision about not showing the speech to students, while others still are up in the air about how to handle it.
A release from the Hays school district in its regular "Notes from USD 489" e-mail newsletter on Friday said the district plans to record the presentation, then review it and "present it where it is suitable."
No one will be required to watch it, and parents will be given the opportunity to opt their children out of the viewing, the newsletter said.
Likewise, Thomas More Prep-Marian High School plans to record the speech but not interrupt classes for the live event, Principal Bill DeWitt said.
"I'm certainly going to encourage our government teachers to show (the speech) to their classes," DeWitt said. "But I don't think schools with captive audiences are places for political speeches."