WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday dismissed as pointless the furor over President Barack Obama's plan to deliver a televised back-to-school speech to the nation's students but the uproar has sent school districts across the country - including Hall's - scrambling to deal with the matter.
"I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school," presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success."
Obama's planned address to students has prompted a surprising push-back from some quarters over what the White House sees as an important but innocuous topic.
Some conservative critics say Obama is trying to promote a political agenda and overstepping his bounds, taking the federal government too far into public school business.
Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a potential presidential contender in 2012, said Obama's speech is "uninvited" and that the president's move raises questions of content and motive.
Many school districts have decided not to show Obama's speech, to be delivered at 12 noon EDT Tuesday, partly in response to concerns from parents.
HALL COUNTY
Late Friday, Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield released a copy of a memo that was sent to all schools on Thursday.
Schofield wrote "Recently I learned that our schools have received correspondence from the United States Secretary of Education that President Obama has asked to address all students next Tuesday with a video-streamed internet â
Thursday
July 3rd, 2025
3:22AM
