BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Girl gets 'unexcused absence' for Bush event
Student sings in choir at presidential speech, punished with 'D' grades

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Posted: May 17, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

An Indiana eighth-grader was punished with an unexcused absence from her public school after taking the day off to sing in a children's choir for an event featuring the president of the United States.

As reported by WRTV in Indianapolis, Brianna Tull missed school Tuesday to sing with the Indianapolis Children's Choir at Bush's appearance at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Even though the Westfield-Washington School District allows for absences when the student is having an "educational experience," sharing the stage with the president did not meet that criterion.

As punishment, Tull was told she was not allowed to earn credit for homework, tests and quizzes given that day. It's the equivalent of getting all 'Ds' for the day, the TV station said. This even though the Tulls notified the school beforehand that the girl would be absent.

Brianna's father, Ken Tull, told WRTV: "It's totally ridiculous that you can't take your kids out of school for something this important. The president doesn't come here every day."

District Superintendent Mark Keen had a different take on the event.

"I'm not sure what was gained from an educational value," Keen told WRTV. "We're in school for 180 days to provide an education. Going to see the president is certainly an experience, but what did the child learn from that?"

The choir sang before Bush addressed about 7,000 people at the fairgrounds coliseum, touting his latest tax-cut plan.

Brianna said the presidential event was, in fact, educational.

"I bet that I'm going to remember this forever and tell my kids. It's an historical thing," she said.

Meanwhile, school districts in California appear to have different standards for approving absences. According to a story in the Oakland Tribune, several hundred Oakland and Berkeley public-school students traveled to Sacramento last week to protest against cuts in education funding on the steps of the state Capitol – on a school day.

The paper reports a few dozen busloads of students, ranging in age from first-graders to high-school seniors, took part in the "Education Not Incarceration" rally. The rally reportedly was organized by the children's teachers.

I don't get the point. Brianna and her parents made a choice that singing for the president was more important than her school work. Surely missing one day unexcused isn't going to kill her grades completely. She's only in the eighth grade. I don't think she should get special treatment. That's like giving lil Bobby the day off to go fishing with his grandpa. School is more important.

My old high school wouldn't take car crashes as an acceptible exuse for being late or absent.

[Edited on 18-5-2003 by Abraham Virtue]

Originally posted by kramtronix

District Superintendent Mark Keen had a different take on the event.

"I'm not sure what was gained from an educational value," Keen told WRTV. "We're in school for 180 days to provide an education. Going to see the president is certainly an experience, but what did the child learn from that?"

It's so logic....GWB is NOT a dem. Not the first time I read teachers and prof try to put some presure on their students if they are pro-GWB. I did a topic on this subject.

heh missing 1 day doesnt give you D's
I missed 87 days in 7th grade and still passed

UP we are talking about Jr. High School, come on. It has nothing to do with politics like AV said they have rules to enforce. If anything, here in Indy the masses are conservative. Dubya did after all win the state and when he was here he shut half the city down folk standing around just to get a glimpse of his highness. If she is excused then maybe they should have closed the schools that day just to be fair to all the other students.

Saphronia, I'm still thinking if the President was a dem and not a rep, she wouldn't had a D.

ultra_phoenix, I would tend to agree with you on that. But, if the educational system intends to honor this rule then it should be honored throughout. I have no problem with them being this stringent if they are congruent in it and not because of the political leanings of the superintendant which btw, I do not know. I'm certain that if another child has been excused for something outside but non-medical or non-academic related, it will be brought out before this is over and if it is, I hope the political pundit is ripped for it.

No news here.

Typical two-facedness of the NEA-controlled public education system. Had it been a few years ago, the student would have been given extra points.

How have things changed! When I went to school, all the guys could get an automatic excuse for the first day of hunting season. If either your father or your mother, decided to take you out of school for a day, the principal wouldn't argue. After all, you were their child. In those days about the worse that would happen to that girl would be that she would have to stand in front of the class and tell everyone else about what happened.