Politics & Government

'Meet the Press' Cameo Prompts Congressman's Visit

Rep. Himes addresses Obama's speech to school children on the steps of Town Hall after the superintendent's letter to parents was read on national television.

Rep. Jim Himes took to the steps of New Canaan Town Hall Monday afternoon, a day after New Canaan became a focal point in the national controversy over Obama's speech to school children scheduled for noon Tuesday.

On "Meet the Press" Sunday, host David Gregory read a portion of school superintendent David Abbey's letter to parents regarding the district's plan for presenting the speech to New Canaan students. The letter said that New Canaan's principals had "considered issues such as developmental appropriateness, curricular relevance, the time at which the speech is being broadcast and the importance of teachers assuming responsibility for the selection of instructional materials," in coming up with the plan.

Round table panelist Tom Brokaw said the letter "sounds like East Germany trying to form some restrictions on people leaving the eastern sector to go into the western sector... This is completely out of control, in my judgment."

According to the district's plans, elementary school administrators and teachers will review Obama's speech to determine which grade levels it is suitable for. It will be left to the discretion of social studies teachers at Saxe Middle School and any teacher at New Canaan High School whether or not to show the speech live. Parents who do not want their children to see it can opt out.

Rep. Himes sent a letter to superintendents in the 4th District urging them to allow all students to see the speech live Tuesday. In his remarks to about 50 members of the community and the media in front of Town Hall, Himes seemed to suggest that the New Canaan school district had caved under pressure from critics of Obama's speech, and took particular issue with the opt-out provision.

"If we allow our students to opt out because there may be X set of ideas in school today, then we need to allow them to opt out for Y, Z, A, B, C, and D," the congressman said to cheers from a mostly Democratic crowd that had gathered in front of Town Hall. "It is giving parents a free pass to take their kids out of school because they may disagree with the idea that is being conveyed that day. And I think that is the first small step in a dangerous direction."

Superintendent David Abbey said to the crowd that the district had consulted its principals and teachers in coming up with the plan for how to deal with the speech, and had approached it as a current event, rather than a part of the standard curriculum.

"We do not allow people to opt out of standards, the curriculum, assessments," Abbey said in response to Himes' criticism. "But occasionally something happens that upsets parents, and if it is an extra curricular, or current event, we felt it made sense to let people exercise that option, because we trust our parents, because they're reasonable, and over time we feel that they know what's in the best interest of their children."

Board of Education Vice Chair Nick Williams said that the board had received hundreds of e-mails over the last several days, most opposing the presentation of the speech in schools. Several parents following the urging of the Republican Town Committee had also shown up to a special meeting on school board governance Thursday hoping to debate the matter.

"Nothing has come close to this in terms of contentiousness," Williams said.

Williams, a Republican, and his fellow board member Jim Kucharczyk, a Democrat, were in agreement that the plan Abbey and the faculty had put forth was reasonable and consistent with the district's educational goals.

"I think it's incredibly disappointing to see New Canaan ridiculed on national TV as a function of this whole debacle," Kucharczyk said, referencing Sunday's edition of "Meet the Press", which had singled out the district's plan.

New Canaan's plan is moderate compared to others in the area. The Wesport School District is allowing teachers at all grade levels to present the speech live in their classrooms as they see fit, while it won't be shown at all Tuesday in the Greenwich schools, Himes’ home district.

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