GOP Radicals Succeed in Strafford County

just to clarify & on a related note (4.00 / 1)

Caitlin Daniuk chairs a committee representing the whole county, but she is protesting a decision which only covers the two communities in SAU 56.

She has the right idea: we gotta kick back against those idiots.  Her statement is much more incendiary than the usual pabulum we liberals dish out, but it's mild compared to the vitriol the other side spews every day.

By any means necessary!

On a related note, why do we need to have those SAUs anyway? And why is the superintendent unilaterally making a  decision like this which would more appropriately be made by teachers and principals on the ground in each school?

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:44:30 PM CDT

This is sickening. (4.00 / 1)

It never would have been done to George W Bush when he was President. I feel sorry for the students and families of Rollinsford and Somersworth. Party politics has no place in this. Barack Obama is the President of the United States, for goodness sake! Superintendent Soule needs to be replaced, and fast.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:44:34 PM CDT

No Soule at all. n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: GreyMike @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:00:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Shocking (4.00 / 2)

Just incredibly offensive. Unbefitting a public official.

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by: JimC @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:56:05 PM CDT

No comment. (4.00 / 6)

Because I am honored and humbled in my day job to teach young people (at a different SAU), I don't feel that it is appropriate for me to comment on this story.

I will say, only, a) I have been following this since Arne Duncan announced that there would be a speech, and b) thank you very much for bringing this news to the attention of the BH community.

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by: Dean Barker @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:04:47 PM CDT

The weird thing is (4.00 / 3)

That George Bush could get on the TV and address students about war if he wanted, and despite that being a very weird and unsettling thing if I was a teacher I'd let them watch it, and then I'd discuss it with them and let them talk about what they agreed with and what they didn't.

But the conservative viewpoint is that schools should fill kids with facts and figures and adding equipment. It never even occurs to them that kids might make up their own minds, that they aren't actually subjects in some Manchurian candidate exercise.

Or rather, it frightens them to death that kids might make up their own minds and that they are not in a Manchurian candidate exercise.

I guess I just don't understand looking at your kids that way.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:31:28 PM CDT

So the right-wing says ... (4.00 / 5)

That the first black president was not born here.

And then that he's going to kill Grandma.

And then they freak out over him speaking to schoolchildren.

But race plays no role in any of this.

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by: JimC @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:42:00 PM CDT

The week in review (4.00 / 3)

from Black Kos has a good take on this:

In many ways, we are in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement Part Two.  Seems to me they are playing three card Monty and Madness Mind Meld, trying to make this about Health Care or Tea Bags.  It is not. Nor is it about Birthers or Deathers.  Or Speeches to School Children.  Not about.  Any of them.

This is about finding a way to humiliate the black man who thought he could be President of these United States. This is the republican't objective. This is anger about not being able to stop him or outsmart him.  If more people understood this we could be about the business of change.  His success would mean all those centuries of claiming by virtue of skin color you are superior was a lie.  What would the children think?

They say...

He is not one of us.  Not from this country. They want their country back.  Let us call him by the name of the preeminent racist of the twentieth century.  The irony is rich.

They mean...

He is black. Not white.  A black man has taken the reigns of power. He is the boogeyman.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:49:06 PM CDT

True true true, but that's only half of it. (4.00 / 2)

The other half is that they want their power back and will say anything or do at all in order to get it. Decency be damned.  

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:24:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is just silly. (4.00 / 1)

It's not a political thing.  It's not even about issue positions, as a State of the Union would be.  It's about the President saying to children, "Stay in school. I did, and I'm the President. You can be President too someday, because this is America."

Is anybody genuinely against that?

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:07:25 PM CDT

Is anybody against that? Well, yeah. (4.00 / 1)

Only the inherent and inherited elite are supposed to reach the heights.  Achievement is not an issue when the only criterion for success is heritage and obedience.

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by: hannah @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 18:24:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I submit that Barack Obama is living proof that it doesn't have to be that way. (4.00 / 2)

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 18:43:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yes, and that's exactly what's wrong with him. (4.00 / 1)

The interest in exerting control does not end at the grave.  The main purpose of heritable wealth and trust funds is to extract obedience from and provide direction to the next generation by dangling a future material reward in front of them, much as heaven is held out as a spiritual reward for enduring present hardships.  The memory function doesn't necessarily result in benevolent actions.
I have a friend whose father died when she was 13 and left her a trust fund, the principle of which she still can't access at the age of 78.  "Gone but not forgotten" is a common sentiment--made real in several ways.

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by: hannah @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 05:23:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

A solution to the "problem" (4.00 / 1)

I'll concede that their kid can swap watching the Obama speech for an alternate activity, if they let that activity be on evolution...

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:34:42 PM CDT

Or social darwinism? n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: GreyMike @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:38:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Manchester too. Ugh. (4.00 / 3)

http://www.wmur.com/education/...

We have a school board election in a few weeks.  This isn't a major issue, but it's worth noting.  A speech by the President about how it's good to stay in school is not nearly as politically charged as keeping a speech by the President out of the school simply because not everyone voted for him.  He won.  He is the President.  He's not the President of 53% of the voting public.  He's the President of the United States.  And for what it's worth, he won big in this state.

For the record, I remember having the then-President's portrait on the wall when I went to Webster School.

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:58:42 PM CDT

Rumors (4.00 / 6)

Someone told me today that that the President's speech was going to be about education - and health care! I asked who told him, and he told me it was a superintendent (not from Manchester or Somersworth, another district).  I said, well, he is totally off base, and this person said, that is the rumor going around the supers. I proceeded to use some words I don't use here, because it is insane that educated people are falling for this junk.  

I am not happy with Manchester; Barack Obama could inspire kids with a call to study and learn. Instead, crazy people with no respect for the office of the president are being allowed to dictate to the rest of us. No one elected the head of the Florida Republican Party or Glenn Beck to run New Hampshire's school districts.  

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 19:58:54 PM CDT

This makes me sick (4.00 / 4)

The superintendent is hiding behind a "policy" about outside speakers and meanwhile is validating the conspiracy theories of the far-right lunatics.  I thought Manchester schools would be safe from the ultra-right when Doug Kruse moved to Florida.  Guess I was wrong.

President Obama deserves a chance to contune a bipartisan tradition and talk to students about personal responsibility and the importance of education.  I think students in Manchester could especially benefit from his message (just as they could have when Reagan addressed students).

This is a scary point in politics where ideological idiocy and gossip is trumping reason and fact.  This is only going to worsen unless reasonable folks (like Dr. Brennan, who I like) stand up and say 'enough' and put the crazies back in their place.

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by: chris pappas @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 20:58:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The School Board should have an investigation. (4.00 / 1)

Kathy Labanaris should form a committee to investigate this entire episode.

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 22:10:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Very interesting.. (0.00 / 0)

That the NH Repub staff and assorted other wackadoos are flipping out over my post above..Hmmm they seem pretty freaked out about it. Why do I get the feeling that Frankie's fingerprints may be all over this?

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 17:34:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well, most of our rights, imply not just recognition by another, (0.00 / 0)

but acceptance.  The Constitution only enumerates the most common lapses on the part of agents of government in regards to the latter.  But, in regards to speech and the right to petition our agents of government, such lapses have become increasingly frequent and, by and large, unremonstrated.  Putting people with a contrarian message in "free speech zones" and excluding individuals from public venues because the "message" on a piece of clothing offends are of the same ilk.  How egalitarian to be equally rude whether the person's (earned) status is high or low!

And, btw, that's really what's most objectionable about Barack Hussein Obama.  A person who comes from such a lowly background is not supposed to excel.  He puts all those people with their multitude of excuses for failure to shame.  And he challenges the explanations of all those educators whose children can't be taught because their "home life" wasn't just right.

Prejudices come bundled and, mostly, they're self-serving.

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by: hannah @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 05:11:30 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Setting the Record Straight (0.00 / 0)

Chris -

For the record, I believe it is perfectly appropriate for President Obama to address school children. It was fine for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush to do so and it is fine for Barack Obama.

As I understand from today's UL story, the superintendent, per district policy, is leaving it up to principals to determine if the speech is educational and to allow it to be shown if they choose to. Sounds perfectly reasonable, no?

If I were still on the school board, I would support allowing schools to show the speech. I will remind you that when Kathy Sullivan's husband, the Central HS principal, invited your candidate Hillary Clinton to be commencement speaker in 2007 without following proper district policy, I was the one who made the motion to waive the board's policy in order to allow Senator Clinton to speak.

The conservative uproar over Obama's planned address is silly, but so is the overheated counter-uproar from liberals about schools choosing not to use class time to view the speech. All the crazies on both sides need to take a deep breath...

All the best,
Doug Kruse
(former Manchester School Board member)

 

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by: Doug Kruse @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 10:50:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Except... (4.00 / 1)

The uproar from the left is not because some principals or teachers choose not to show the speech; the uproar from the left is a direct response to the coordinated Republican attack on Obama over the speech. There is a large difference between a principal saying "I have no intention of showing the speech" and the Florida GOP chair saying "We must prevent all principals from showing this speech!" One is an administrative decision, one is a political attack.

IT for John Lynch '04 and NHDP '08 - I'm liking my track record so far!

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by: RealNRH @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 11:32:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Silly Uproar on BOTH Sides (0.00 / 0)

RealNRH -

I was respondng to Chris Pappas, Kathy Sullivan, and Ray Buckley being in an uproar over Manchester's decision.

In this case, the superintendent is following school board policy and allowing principals (inclduing Kathy Sullivan's husband, who heads Central High) to make the decision.

The current school board has 10 Democrats, 2 Undeclareds (one leans Dem, one leans GOP), and 3 Republicans. I'm not sure of the superintendent's political party, but I do know that he has a bust of JFK in his office and considers him his hero. So it strains credulity to assume there is political influence going on in this case, as Ray Buckley seems to be suggesting in his quest for an investigation. Democrats run the school district!

Yes, at the national level it appears there is a coordinated message across the country, both for and against the President's speech. That's what political parties do. You guys love it when the liberals coordinate messaging, send out talking points, and make a big uproar over something. (Hello? MoveOn.org?) Now that conservatives are using similar media tactics, suddenly you're outraged at the "political attack." Please...

Both sides look very silly in this whole matter.

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by: Doug Kruse @ Mon Sep 07, 2009 at 06:49:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

A dishonest comparison (4.00 / 1)

They're free to make a political attack. But you are dishonestly equating the policy decision with the political attack. Democrats are not making an uproar over principals and teachers not wanting to show the speech; if various principals and teachers had decided on their own to not show it, then no one would have particularly cared. The initiator to the uproar was the Republican decision to launch a political attack. Once the lunatics running that particular asylum decided to make it their issue, Democrats had little political choice but to make sure it was extremely clear that the 'issue' was a partisan Republican attack on a popular Democratic president and not any matter of actual principle. Democrats are pointing out that Republicans are trying to use schoolchildren for political pawns. The equally-absurd opposite position to the Republicans would have been for Democrats to start demanding that every schoolchild be forced on pain of losing federal funding to watch the speech in its entirety and write a glowing summary of it afterward. You'll notice that didn't happen, because the Democrats are the only party in this country that makes any serious effort to behave like adults.

IT for John Lynch '04 and NHDP '08 - I'm liking my track record so far!

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by: RealNRH @ Mon Sep 07, 2009 at 10:26:46 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Unbelievable! (4.00 / 4)

I represent both Rollinsford and Somersworth in the legislature, and I am just disgusted!
This is the POTUS!
Regardless of political ideology, we should all respect the office! I told a reporter from Foster's this evening that I would be just as upset if this happened to President Bush, and I would be! When did we as a nation become so rude?
I also called the SAU today and left a message for Mrs. Soule telling her about the several calls I received from parents upset about her decision. I might also note that one of the calls was from a prominent Republican family in town.
I am completely disgusted by her decision. Somersworth High School has one of the highest drop out rates in the state, the POTUS was going to speak about staying in school and serving your country.
Perhaps Mrs. Soule should go back and look at the mission statement for SAU 56 and get back to all of tax payers about her performance before she negates the sincerity of the POTUS!

Rep. Michael S. Rollo
Chairman, Strafford County Delegation
Strafford County District 2
Rollinsford and Somersworth

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by: mrollo @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 21:53:03 PM CDT

like I said before... (0.00 / 0)

Why is the superintendent unilaterally making this decision on behalf of all the schools, which should be made by the faculty of each school?

She seems to be overstepping her authority here.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 22:12:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

RE:Repulsive (0.00 / 0)

Tim,
Like I also said, just plain disgusting! I'm sure Mrs. Soule will have plenty of explaining to do at the next school board meeting in Rollinsford at least!

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by: mrollo @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 22:42:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

something I found out which I shd've known (0.00 / 0)

The School Administrative Units also oversee the private schools in their areas.  There are no private schools (or even any charter schools) in SAU56, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if a superintendent sent down an edict like this in an SAU which did have such schools.

My feeling has been that we shd get rid of the SAUs.  I see no reason why we need almost 100 SAUs (including one which absurdly supervises a district consisting of the unincorporated township of Hale's Location which doesn't actually have any schools.)  This could be handled at the county level.  (Any state legislators want to co-sponsor some legislation.)

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 10:47:57 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Why do you think sau's supervise private schools? (0.00 / 0)

I'm fairly certain that isn't true in any general sense, but wonder if in some area they have interaction.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 13:14:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

As far as I know, they don't. (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 13:22:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't believe that this is the case. (0.00 / 0)

There are some instances in which they must, by law, share Federal funding with local private schools, but to the best of my knowledge SAUs do not supervise the budgets, curriculum or staff of private schools in their area.

It's more a case of the SAUs having to provide certain information and services for the private schools in their areas, but this does not extend to the actual operation of the schools.

Last I knew, if children are home schooled, the SAU has some responsibility for approving the curriculum, but otherwise I think that's about it.

While I am personally ambivalent about the role played by SAUs in the state, they do provide some degree of local control over the educational process, something that has, for good or ill, been traditionally held sacred in New Hampshire. Of course this has eroded to some degree over the years due to Fed mandates of one kind or another, whether funded or no. That kind of thing has been the source of many an acrimonious discussion at school board meetings over many decades.

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by: GreyMike @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 13:56:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Now More Than Ever... (4.00 / 2)

...our youth need to know the value of education and their place in the world.  President Barack Obama can provide that important message.

To have any school district not considering the President's address to be a very worthwhile and timely way to spend a few minutes of a school day tells us a lot about those who make that decision.

Such decisions also give comfort to those who oppose Barack Obama, for a variety of reasons.  Very sad.  

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 08:43:57 AM CDT

Our youngest nicknamed himself "pink" and his son Milo Blue. (0.00 / 0)

Someone on KOS was reminded of Pink Floyd.

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by: hannah @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 05:43:14 AM CDT

Btw, pink was baptized by Daniel Berrigan on the first (0.00 / 0)

Moratorium Day in 1969.  He's a peace baby.

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by: hannah @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 05:45:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Somersworth has a 10% highschool drop out rate... (0.00 / 0)

... higher than the state average, and the superindentent doesn't want to use the president's speech as inspiration for her students to study hard and stay in school?

Wow. Just wow.

Will she be refusing swine flu shots for students in the district if the administration recommends it?  

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by: Michael Marsh @ Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 11:11:53 AM CDT