Foxnews.com has filed an open-records request to view notices that a New
Jersey school district says were sent to parents alerting them to an
assembly performance earlier this year in which second-graders sang the
praises of President Obama.
The request, filed Monday with Mary Ann Bell, the Open Public Records
Act officer for the Burlington Township School District, seeks to obtain
copies of notices officials say were provided to parents of students at
the B. Bernice Young Elementary School prior to the assembly in February.
The song was performed again on March 23 -- and videotaped in violation
of school policy -- when author Charisse Carney-Nunes visited the school
in recognition of Women's History Month.
The video, which was posted on YouTube, has angered some parents who say
their children should not have been videotaped without permission.
Others have lambasted the school administrators for the video's message,
which they say amounts to indoctrination.
Liz Scott, a spokeswoman for the school district, told Foxnews.com last
week that the district would be unable to produce copies of the notices
sent to parents before the performances.
In a statement released on Oct. 12, Superintendent Christopher Manno
said lyrics to the song were sent home to parents ahead of the
performance, which was videotaped "without knowledge or permission" of
staff members. He also dismissed allegations that the performance was an
"indoctrination," saying there was nothing "systematic" about the
classroom activity.
"After an investigation of this event, we found that no form of
indoctrination took place, and there was no intent for indoctrination,"
the statement read. "There was no intention to make any political
statement or promote a political agenda at all."
But Jim Pronchick, whose 8-year-old son Jimmy can be seen on the video,
said school officials tried to push their political views on the
students, and he disputed the district's claims regarding the notices.
"We never got the lyrics," he told Foxnews.com. "Absolutely not."
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Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean. Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA
[Homestead] Obama song update,
EarthNSky, 10/19/2009