North Hills School Board Votes to Show Presidential Address During Assembly

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama will deliver his third annual Back-to-School speech at 1:30 p.m. in a live telecast to children across the nation. And for the first time in two years, all students of the North Hills School District will listen to it together.

The North Hills School Board had a heated discussion on the issue at their legislative meeting Monday, deciding in a slim vote of 4-3 in favor of showing the speech to students.

Board Member Lou Nudi voted against showing the speech. He proposed that the follow the process they had taken for the past two addresses, which was to allow teachers the freedom to show the speech at their discretion. The school district previously avoided condemning or supporting to avoid controversy.

“It goes back to people having a difficult time with our charter schools,” Nudi said. “One of the objections why people have their children in charter or cyber schools is that they feel that the public schools are more liberal than they would like.”

Edward Wielgus, president of the board, voted in favor of showing the speech because of the precedent the school set when President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation’s schools in 1991. This speech was shown to North Hills students during the school day.

Board Member Robert Barto also supported showing Obama’s speech because he believes it has more to offer than liberal politics.

“I found it appalling that we would treat the President of the United States of America like he was president of a third world country,” Barto said. “Let’s put politics aside. He’s the leader of the nation, for crying out loud, and if he’s willing to take time to address our students, then we should listen.”

In last year’s address, Obama spoke about how the future is in the hands of every student, and that in order to solve some of today’s problems, students need to work hard and achieve their dreams. He stressed that doing well in school is about more than getting into college or getting a good job – it’s also about becoming the person who you were destined to be.

His first address in 2009 focused on overcoming personal struggles to persevere. Obama spoke then, too, about how to succeed, describing how everyone must overcome their own personal failures and never let discouragement or prejudices bring them down.

While Superintendent Joseph Goodnack initially proposed that the school board vote to continue the policy they had maintained for the previous two addresses, he said he has no qualms with the new outcome.

“It’s really not a big deal, in my opinion,” Goodnack said. “Hopefully the controversy is no longer as it was a couple of years ago. I think when people actually listen to the address, it’s pretty mundane. It’s very uplifting in terms of kids and what he’s asking them to do — to work hard and study and those types of things.”

Other local school districts seem to be following the same trend as North Hills. will also be showing the speech to their students, but not as a live broadcast. Instead, the speech will be shown the next day, and students who do not wish to partake will be provided with an alternate activity.

While every parent may not agree, those who attended the meeting seemed to be in favor of the proposal.

“I think it’s a good idea for students to be given the opportunity to view it,” said David Herr, a retired North Hills teacher and parent. “I would have been disappointed. After all, he is the president, regardless of party and philosophy. He’s part of the policy-making structure of the country. I’m glad we’re going to do that.”

Parents who do not want their children to view the speech or students who do not want to participate will have the option of an alternate activity during the scheduled time. For all other students, an assembly will be called so that everyone can watch the speech during its live broadcast.