President Barack Obama will address his back-to-school televised speech during the school day on Sep. 14. All MISD campuses will show the speech live to students with their parents’ consent. Students must turn in a signed permission slip in order to miss class to watch his speech. Students without a permission slip will not be permitted to watch the speech during class.
The MISD website and any of the AP offices offer permission slips for the students. The slips must be signed and returned to the students sixth block teacher by Sept 10. If a student is off campus (Ben Barber, TCC) for sixth block they may return their permission slip to their appropriate AP.
I feel it is fair [to have parents sign permission slips] because if we don’t ask then parents feel that we force kids to take in the ideals of political nature that they don’t agree with,” Mr. Contreras said. “It gives parents the opportunity to determine whether they allow their child to hear what the President is speaking.”
Students will be informed of the speech via announcements and updates from the student’s teachers. It is undetermined where the speech will be viewed, due to the amount of students watching the speech, but most likely it will be held in the P.E. gym. No individual classrooms will show the speech. The time of the speech is undetermined as well.
“It is a good thing [to show the speech],” Mr. Contreras said. “Whatever parts of the speech that students see could be integrated into a lesson.”
Students who choose to watch the speech at an off-campus location will be given an excused absence and allowed to make up the work. However, the absence counts against exemptions and perfect attendance. Students viewing the speech on campus will be allowed time to complete any work they missed during the speech.
“School and politics go hand in hand,” Sara Coots,11, said. “It’s always about how he’s proud of us and expects great things for the future. It’s more for the parents than the kids.”
With the approval of the campus principal, teachers are allowed to show the speech after Sept 14 if the material is consistent with the TEKS for that subject.
