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closeWhen Chase Drew’s second-grade son came home from Alexander II Magnet School with a permission slip asking the child to memorize an “Obama rap” for a Black History Month program, Drew got upset when he read the lyrics.
One verse asked that troops be brought home from Iraq. Another line sought lobbying for health care.
“If it was we’re celebrating a new president, fine,” Drew said of the lyrics. “They’re putting politics into it.”
He didn’t allow his son to participate in the rap during a Feb. 25 assembly at the magnet school.
Since President Obama, the nation’s first black president, was sworn into office Jan. 20, the Bibb County school system has received a few complaints that politics has unduly crept into school activities.
Some Bibb County schools, especially high-minority ones, marked the historic milestone with celebrations, essay contests and other tributes to Obama during their Black History Month programs.
School officials don’t see anything wrong with it.
“This is Black History Month and we teach the political process. These were all activities to school instruction,” Superintendent Sharon Patterson said last week, responding to the few complaints.
Objections first trickled in to the school system days before the inauguration, when some schools announced that they would allow students to watch the swearing-in ceremony live.
“We have some parents who do not want their child/children to view the oath of office and inaugural address as they do not feel it is an educational activity,” said a central office e-mail sent to principals.
If John McCain had been elected, one principal said, no one would have objected.
“Why should we not want to teach history as it’s being made?” said Baheejah Hasan, Ingram-Pye Elementary School principal. A black president in this country has “never happened before, so it’s a good topic to talk about.”
Her elementary students marched down to a nearby church on Inauguration Day to celebrate. The school has no auditorium, and students and teachers used the church facility, which had more space.
The march, in which students carried signs and were escorted by police and firefighters, led to at least one protest letter to the editor in The Telegraph. It also fueled a handful of residents to speak out at a February school board meeting, contending high security costs.
Hasan and Patterson say there was no costly charge. If any lessons were too extreme or costly, “I’d take action,” Patterson said.
The latest complaint involved Alex II’s black history program.
At the assembly, some of the magnet school’s second-grade class mimicked a rap they saw students from the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta perform Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
One verse goes: “Dear Obama hear us sing, we’re ready for the change that you will bring, going to shine the light for the world to see, to spread peace, hope and democracy. The time is now bring our troops home. Iraq can stand strong on their own. And fight for health care for the young, so that coverage is available for everyone.”
Drew, who says he didn’t vote for Obama, said his son read the verse, then came home asking what war is and why the country was at war?
“He’s the first minority president and that’s a good step for America, and we need to celebrate that part of it,” Drew said. “Kids don’t need to celebrate what (Obama’s) promised or not promised, not the politics.”
Alex II principal Linda Bivins said no other parents objected to the rap, and school employees didn’t think it was inappropriate.
“Politics is a part of our business. We teach government,” Bivins said. “I don’t let teachers wear Obama shirts. That’s politicking.”
If there was an outcry from parents that school officials were teaching something that adversely affected students, “we would take another look at it,” Bivins said.
To contact writer Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331.
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