Open Letter to Lewisville ISD Trustees (Updated)

----- Original Message -----
From: Gregg, Vernell
To: Christianna Yarbrough
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 11:14 PM
Subject: RE: Letter from concerned parent


Mrs. Yarbrough,

Thank you for your and your husband's service to our country. As the wife of a deceased veteran, who dedicated 23 years of his life to serving our country, I totally understand your concerns. Regardless to who is president, the commander-in-chief should have our respect, whether we agree with his agenda or not.

The decision to not air the President's speech was not a board decision, but was made by our superintendent, who chose to have it recorded and linked to our Website to allow parents to watch it with their children at a later date.

Thank you for your concerns.

Sincerely,
Vernell Gregg
Board of Trustee

From: "Roy, Jerry" <royj@lisd.net>
To: "Micah and Christianna Yarbrough" <mycy1000@verizon.net>
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 5:55 AM
Subject: RE: Letter from concerned parent


Christianna,

Thank you for your email. The primary reason for my decision not to participate on Tuesday was timing. The speech is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
Thousands of our students would miss all or part of the speech because it falls during lunch periods. I made my decision on Tuesday, well before this became such a media event.

I also want to thank you for your service to our country. I experienced many of the same emotions you described when I was in the Army serving in
South Vietnam.

Jerry Roy

<i>This response was to a similar letter from another parent:</i>
From: Placke, Fred <plackef@lisd.net>
Subject: RE: President Obama's speech to students
To: *****
Date: Friday, September 4, 2009, 8:44 AM


*****,

I respectively disagree with your position on the "speech" completely. If it was going to purely a pep talk to the kids it would have been a little less hard to swallow, but it is not intended to be purely a pep talk to the kids. If George Bush or even Ronald Reagan had wanted to do such a thing, I would not have been in favor either. Indoctrination does not belong in education, which the follow up discussions and "essays" were going to be.

All of that said, none of what my objections to the speech are were the reasons we are not going to show the "speech".

By the way, I use to teach Government (Civics) at Marcus HS.

God Bless,

Fred Placke
LISD School Board Trustee

I so agree with Christianna. No matter what your opinion of Obama he is still our 44th President of these United States! I personally will definetly allow my child to watch it. It is sad that people really think our President is going to try and brainwash our children thru a speech on how important education is. When if you ask me they are the ones who have been brainwashed. Some people even say he wants them to change the words in the pledge of alliegance! hahaha where do they get this stuff!

On Sept. 11 2001, I watched as president Bush was told of the attack on our country. As so many of us, remember that day. We also, remember where our President was.

President Bush was reading to a class of children at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota Florida. The sadness of that day will be forever etched in my mind as an aide whispered over the shoulder of President Bush of the horrific attack on our great country.

What a great honor for the children in school that our president took the time to go there, meet them, and read with them. Our current President wants to read and talk with many children by the internet. What a great honor for the kids of America that the President of the United States will take time to talk to them.

I have heard “it’s a conspiracy to brainwash kids with a partisan message.” Funny we can say that without watching the talk. I did find this quote on the net;

"So as this new school year begins, I urge you to set goals for your own education: to study hard and get involved in your school, to try new things and find something you're passionate about," Obama says, in a quote from the special.

I am not a big Obama supporter. Nevertheless, I will give him the benefit of the doubt in this matter. Have we forgotten he is The President and though my child has grown {and such a little democrat} “I love you Paul” I would welcome his chance to hear the president speak on life.

Most importantly, our country is based on free speech. Let the kids hear from the President. If parents do not agree with him that is cool. Just think how much fun it will be to discuss with your children over dinner the views of the country.

But more importantly….Their views. I love talking to my son about life. And even though we do not agree on much these days it is good to see I have risen a child of thought and love.`


Don Tracey www.traceyforcongress.com

Has any of the proposed speech actually been posted? I keep hearing all these bits of speculation but can't seem to find the text of the speech.

Well it looks like LISD did it again. Our $300,000.00 a year Superintendent probably made a bad decision, and this Placke guy really reiterates the word arrogance. Thank God he is not in the classroom. Remember these people when voting time comes. I too am glad my kids are grown and out of the school system. What an embarrassment to our district that the President of this country has a message about the importance of education and are not allowed to watch.

I made several inquiries to the LISD and was told consistently that the Superintendent, Dr. Jerry Roy, made the decision to prohibit President Obama’s speech from being broadcast in LISD. I asked for Dr. Roy to call me to discuss the issue, and was told it could be up to a week later before I heard from him.

In response to my question, "Does the statement on the school district's website mean that all teachers are completely prohibited from showing the President's speech, or parts of the speech in their classrooms, either live or at a later date?” I was able to gain clarification from an official in the Curriculum Department. She told me the district had received several internal inquiries from teachers (she specifically mentioned secondary school teachers) about whether or not they could choose to air the speech to their classes at a later date. She read me the response to them from Dr. Roy, which made it VERY clear that his decision would preclude the speech being shown in a classroom setting in this district under ANY circumstances. I thanked her profusely for her straightforward answer.

I was pleasantly surprised when Dr. Joy called me in less than two hours from the time of my request.

Let me get this out of the way first, because this is VERY important to me, and I want to be as fair as possible to him. The fact that Dr. Roy called me back within two hours, not knowing me, and also knowing the nature of my inquiry, says something very positive about the Superintendent. We held a 20-minute conversation that was civil and substantive. He told me about other inquiries in which he had been accused of being Unamerican and of making a decision based on politics; he took great exception to both, indicating that his decision had been made prior to any media controversy, and then mentioned his service during the Vietnam War. I acknowledged his concern, and reminded him that I had not used any type of inflammatory language with him. I absolutely gained respect for his character during the course of this conversation. Few people in his position would have returned my call and given me the time and latitude for the course of that conversation that he did.

Dr. Roy told me that he felt it completely fair to question his judgement, but that it would be unfair to question his motives. I agreed that I could live with confining my objections to his judgement.

That said, Dr. Roy told me up front and without equivocation that the decision to prohibit the speech was his and his alone. He told me flat out that he did NOT consult the School Board on the decision, because he didn't feel it was a decision that needed their consultation.

My comment: Fair enough -- I appreciate his candor, but question whether or not making a decision about something that is potentially this politically sensitive should be made by staff -- even at the highest level. It seems that this is the type of thing (denying school children the opportunity to hear a live speech by the POTUS directed specifically to them) that the Superintendent should NOT feel comfortable enough to make by himself, without at least input or consensus from the elected political body charged with overseeing the school district -- and who are directly responsible to voters.

He told me the primary reason for saying "No" to participation was the time at which the speech was scheduled – 11 am on a Tuesday morning, which he felt would "disrupt" the flow of the school day. I told him I understood that -- as far as not making it mandatory that everyone participate -- but that his decision clearly prohibited ANY teacher in the district from using the recorded speech in a classroom setting. Dr. Roy's response -- and I am trying to be as fair as possible -- was that if he changed the original decision to then allow teachers the flexibilty to show the speech to their classes, that he would then have "lied" to parents with his original pronouncement. That was his anwer throughout the conversation, even after I pressed him.

My comment: OK -- I couldn't shake him from this, though I tried. He made an arbitrary decision with no input, and then will not revisit it for fear of others being able to accuse him of telling them a lie for simply changing his mind. Nope. Lying is when you deliberately tell an untruth about a situation or a person. Changing one’s mind to alter a policy after sober reflection is NOT lying. It is simply changing one's mind and is easily explained. I am still not buying his contention that he can't change this decision to allow teachers to accommodate the president's speech into appropriate classroom situations. Or...perhaps he could defer to the better judgment of school board members?

As I continue to reflect on this, I am more convinced that this decision is flat wrong, and the refusal to revisit it to provide reasonable accommodation to creative teachers is inexcusable. Even if not by design, the end result is that the LISD is practicing censorship on the President of the United States (and only on this President of the United States). I am guessing that if a history teacher, in the course of a lesson, wanted to show parts of a speech by Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush within the context of an event in U.S. History, it would be no problem -- at least I would hope not. The reality of the situation is that President Obama is being excluded from the classroom in the LISD. No other president is or has been treated in this manner.

For that matter, no other elected officeholders are treated this way in the LISD. Governor Perry visited a classroom a couple of years ago, and other local officeholders have visited classrooms periodically without controversy. Unfortunately, in Denton County, they are all Republicans. Even more unfortunately, the one Democratic officeholder who represents us in Denton County is exclusively denied, for whatever reason, from speaking to our schoolchildren.

This represents poor judgement indeed from the school district official who made this decision without input from anyone.

Ken Judkins

From my limited research the only thing I can find is that the 'suggested' supplemental curriculum had a question 'what can you do to help the president?'

Ok... that was stupid. But not nearly as bad as Reagan making taxation comments to school children in the 80's- and I love Ronnie.

The Office should be respected. Now, if the argument is 'disruption'- somehow I think there will be DOZENS of disruptions this coming school year that will be allowed.

The real kicker is that a speech on educational responsibility couldn't even be brought in at a later date for curriculum. That's where this argument goes from simple 'disruption' to 'political'. Of course if a teacher didn't keep the format for the lesson politically neutral then I'd have a problem.

Looks like we need to get rid of a lot of political speeches that I saw as a kid. Lets start with the 'Man on the Moon' from Kennedy and work towards MLK, followed by Reagan and the 'Tear down this Wall' and finally GWB and his motivating speeches in the wake of 9-11.

To: LISD Trustees: Carol Kyer, Kathy Duke, Tom Ferguson, Amber Fulton, Vernell Gregg, Tommy Kim, Fred Placke
Administration: Dr. Jerry Roy, Brant Buck, Dr. Harry Crenshaw, Dennis Winborn


It has come to my attention that the LISD has decided not to air our Presidents Education address to the public schools across the nation on Tuesday and the address to the Congress on Wednesday. I can somewhat understand the Joint House address. However, when a sitting President of our nation does not merit the respect of the institution of learning in our communities, we have acquiesced and placated to the extreme dogma of those who yell the loudest in spite of the responsibility that schools bear to educate and encourage our youth to the benefits of public education in a democratic society. Where have we gone wrong? I encourage all of you to quickly review our own Mission Statement:

Mission Statement
"Recognizing that the quality of life,
both today and in the future, depends upon the quality of education provided by the public schools, the Lewisville Independent School District is dedicated to education and committed to meeting the needs of every individual."

I further encourage you to examine the District Improvement Plan in reference to the AEIS Report and Needs Assessment, in particular:

• AEIS 4.6 Students shall demonstrate skills of cooperation and conflict resolution to work together and to resolve differences nonviolently

• AEIS 4.7 Students shall fulfill civic responsibilities as appropriate through voting and community involvement and service.

• AEIS 5.7 Provide engaging instruction to all students grounded in rigor, relevance and appropriate/positive relationships.

The role and duty of all of you is clearly defined in the position you hold and your responsibility to the student to be informed and prepared beyond the classroom doors. An Academic Excellence Indicator for our district is to make the right decisions as good mentors for an enlightened student body and better prepared citizens. Tuesday’s program should be viewed as an excellent opportunity to be encouraged from the top to stay in school, and study harder. What an opportunity our children will have missed if you don’t take a leadership position on this matter.

The Presidents address to Congress is an excellent civic topic for all high school students if not for seniors only. After all, most can vote or will be performing their civic duty in the next election. Voting is the most important civic duty an American can inherit. Will we not help them be informed? Are we not teachers of informed citizens? You are covered by School Policy EMB. This is not a nonacademic activity such as announcements and sales promotions. Think about it and make a good decision. Thank for reading this letter and thank you for what you do.

Sincerely,
Rebecca T. Davila
Retired LISD 33 years

Dear Dr. Roy and School Board Members,

"Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk through that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it just because your parents, or even the President, tell you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. And while you're at it, help a little brother or sister to learn, or maybe even Mom or Dad. Let me know how you're doing. Write me a letter -- and I'm serious about this one - write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals. I think you know the address."
Pres. George H.W. Bush Oct. 1, 1991 in a nationally televised address to students.

This is an excerpt from President George H.W. Bush's address to the children of our nation in 1991. It is very similar to what has been stated on WhiteHouse.gov as the focus of President Barack Obama's upcoming speech to school children next week ---the importance of education and staying in school. President Bush’s message was broadcast on Channel One in Texas schools and there was no screaming about indoctrination or blocking it from our children because the content might be deemed “inappropriate”. There is nothing inappropriate about a President encouraging our children to take responsibility for their education and their lives and to stay in school. And our children, all of our children, so desperately need to hear this message.

After hearing the news that Lewisville Independent School District is choosing not to televise President Obama's speech on the importance of getting an education and staying in school, I became outraged. I am truly offended by what appears to be a partisan decision that has been made out of fear. Framing an attempt to block this broadcast as a "socialist indoctrination" of Texas school children is nothing more than a flimsy veil for bigotries and hatreds that have not managed to die.

Considering that Texas has one of the worst rates of high school dropouts in the country, I would think that this address would be something our schools would want to encourage. According to the Alliance for Education, Nearly 133,200 students did not graduate from Texas' high schools in 2009, with lost lifetime earnings in Texas for that class of dropouts alone totaling more than $34.6 billion. These statistics are among the worst in the nation.

Please also take some time to remember the patriotic moments children have witnessed during school. For example, the coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy, the televised question and answer session by President Reagan, the crash of the Challenger and the speech given by President H.W. Bush. You are robbing my children of the moments that bond them with their classmates and their generation.

I don’t know what the specific motivation was behind the decision for LISD to block this broadcast, but I find it to be highly disrespectful of our democratically elected President and the Office for which he serves. This is an important teachable moment not only as a pep talk for staying in school, but as a spring board for conversations of civics and government and what it means to take part in Democratic Republic.

I am seriously debating whether to keep all three of my children home on Tuesday, September 8, so that they can witness first hand, the President of the United States address them directly. This doesn’t make up for the lack of opportunity to view such a message in the company of their peers, but maybe we can find peers that have also stayed out of school with whom to watch it. I do believe the message is important enough to take them out of school to hear. The irony is that I would have to take my children out of school for them to hear a message about the importance of staying in school.

As a constant volunteer in our school system and a past PTA board member, I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of our public education system. The reaction to this event, coupled with the recent attempts to subvert science education by inserting creationism in the form of ID, the horrible misrepresentations our children received through the abstinence only program pushed by our schools, and the current attempt to politicize the social studies program has me seriously considering whether Texas public schools deserve my support, or whether my children’s interests and education might be better served elsewhere.


Sincerely,
Regina Miller-Fierke
Flower Mound

Funny, there is no time to allow the children to view the president's address that is specifically meant for them but they can be pulled out of class for high pressure sales pitches so that we can then pimp the kids out to sell inferior, expensive and unnecessary products to friends and neighbors to help fund the needs and wants of each campus' principal. Oh, and if they are high sellers, they can win a ride in a limo and go to McDonalds during school time. Go figure...money trumps substance yet again! By the way, if there was a TAKS test on civics, you can bet your bottom dollar that the kids would be watching the address!

At last night's LISD meeting mention was made of an email from Placke to a parent that had offensive items. Is this email accessible and where; or could someone post it here.

Last week, WhosPlayin submitted an open records request to the district asking for copies of the relevant emails. Knowing that what we have here is technically hearsay, we want to make sure we have the facts straight including the internal emails.

As of today, we've still yet to receive a response to our simple request, so it would appear the district is stalling and waiting for this to blow over. To me, it's a strong indication that they're trying to hide something.

LISD has the summary and agenda of the 9/14 meeting posted on the LISD website. Unlike previous months' summaries the speakers' comments from the open forum are not posted.Just the names of the speakers. LISD continues its censorship.

There wouldn't have been such outrage at the POTUS wanting to speak to all the kids in the nation at the same time if he had released the speech ahead of time. He finally did, but only after, and because of, the firestorm. Plus, he released it very late for people to find out he finally released it, read it themselves and make a decision.

Personally, I don't think it's a conspiracy by "right-wing fringe lunatics" to object to this. I would object to any stranger sitting my child down and talking with them about something that they didn't want to reveal to me. That's called good parenting.

But moreover, it wasn't so much the speech that made so many parents uncomfortable, it was the lesson plan that accompanied the speech. Students had writing assignments on how they could "help Obama". Not help themselves, their school, their communities, their families, their nation, their world, or even their president, but how they could help Obama himself. No thanks, if that's not indoctrination then what is it?

As a hysterical..uhh..I mean historical side note, how soon we forget that when Bush spoke to school kids in 1991, the democrats had investigations and held hearings over it. Where was all of the support for it then? Oh right, Bush wasn't on the correct side of the isle.

Yet for Obama, everyone on his side of the isle just stares glassy-eyed and expressionless at the great uniter of the nation and agrees.