A Sensible School District

The following email message was sent out by the Medina (Ohio) City Schools on the subject of the President's address to the Nation's school children. It reinforces the concept that decisions regarding schools are local issues, and should remain as such. This is a school system that certainly seems to take a common sense approach to educating their students. Pay special attention to the next to last paragraph - how refreshing that they teach the Constitution and basic civics. There are many school systems across our great Nation, and especially the children in their charge, that could benefit from the same common sense approach to education.

Dear Parents of Medina City Schools,

In case you haven't heard, President Obama intends to address the children of our great nation on Tuesday, September 8th at noon. As a district we will not be airing President Obama's speech or utilizing the supporting documents for the speech. While we believe his intentions are good, we will leave it to you, the parents, to determine if you wish to have your children view President Obama's speech.

While we sincerely respect the position of President of the United States, as an educational institution we must also respect the rights of a parent to make decisions for their children when it comes to politics. Many parents have called the District both in favor and against the speech being broadcast live to students. In order to minimize any controversy and the potential disruption of the educational process, we decided to leave it to parents to discuss or watch the speech with their children on their own time. Should you make the decision to view the speech with your child you can access it via an archived webcast at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ or http://www.ed.gov/.

The Medina City School District will teach your children to think critically and think for themselves. We will also teach children how to sift through all of the information that is available to them (political or not), decide between fact and fiction, and then understand the process for making an educated decision based on quality information. We will also continue to make sure that our students know and understand the branches of government and the Constitution of the United States. We believe that once they truly understand the Constitution they will then be able to make good political decisions on their own.

Thanks for your understanding on this matter and thank you for your ongoing support of the Medina City School District!

Sincerely,

Randy Stepp

Superintendent

Medina City Schools

Just as a footnote, the White House parsed their words well. While they may have been truthful in stating that the speech wouldn't be political, the President just couldn't resist his radical urges and, just like a good leftist, he couldn't help himself in a meeting with 40 high school freshmen before the speech ~ you know it, he pitched healthcare reform http://cnsnews.com/news/article/53712

What a pitiful excuse for a statesman.