Speech won’t be shown live

Newport-Mesa schools will not show a live stream today of President Obama’s address to students in which he’s expected to encourage them to work hard toward their goals, the superintendent announced.

In a letter to parents Friday, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard said principals and teachers will have an “opportunity to preview the speech to identify age/grade appropriateness of content.”

The district will record the speech and allow principals to decide whether to show it to students on a case-by-case basis.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, “The president will challenge students to work hard, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.”

As clear as Obama’s 15-minute message is expected to be, parents have called the district with complaints that their children could be “exposed to” inappropriate content, said district spokeswoman Laura Boss.

“We already know it’s controversial that he’s speaking, according to our community,” Boss said.

The president’s speech was available to read on the Department of Education’s website Monday, but because it was a holiday, principals, teachers and parents could not be expected to view it and weigh in before Tuesday, she said.

The district will not stream the broadcast for several reasons, Boss said. First, because the speech is education-themed, the curriculum aspect needs to be reviewed beforehand for all ages, she said. Also, the Internet bandwidth to show it to the entire district would be too much for the schools and could “shut the district down,” she said. And lastly, it’s the first day of school for Newport-Mesa children and, logistically, setting aside a large block of time in the first hours of the school year could prove a nightmare for teachers.

According to the Department of Education’s release of Obama’s speech, among his comments should be, “But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents and the best schools in the world — and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”

Never before has the president held a live broadcast aimed just at the country’s school-aged children, according to the Department of Education.

If principals and teachers choose to show the speech later, parents have an opportunity to opt their children from seeing the president’s speech.

Hubbard’s letter is available at web.nmusd.us. There’s a link there for parents to fill out a form to opt their children out of seeing the president’s speech.

A live stream of the president’s speech is available at www.whitehouse.gov/live.