by David Safier
You may have read about the McCain rally in Defiance, Ohio, where McCain said Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (I refuse to use the name the McCain camp coined for him, and it amazes me when the media goes along with the campaign slogan spin) was in the house but apparently . . . wasn't. Oops!
But you probably missed something about the number count. There were 6,000 people were at the rally — 2,000 citizens who came on their own volition and 4,000 school kids bussed in to boost the weak crowds.
The last week of the campaign, and McCain can only pull in a "crowd" of 2,000?
Here's my question as an educator. How do school districts justify bussing their students to a partisan political rally? And not just some students:
The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.
Any time you move students out of their home schools, you need permission slips from parents. Did all the Defiance School District parents sign slips saying their children could attend a McCain rally? And 14 school busses full from another district?
In the tight budget times of my last few years of teaching, field trips were all but ended because of the cost. But one school district had the funds for 14 bus drivers, gas and other expenses hidden away in a slush fund? I wonder what their class sizes are, and whether they've updated their history texts or added computer facilities lately.
Sure, this is an educational experience. But it's a wildly partisan one which could help sway some parents to vote Republican. It feels very, very wrong. I wonder if any parents or staff complained.
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