Wisconsin Superintendent: Regrets decision to prohibit live Obama education speech
WauwatosaNOW has reported that Wauwatosa School District Superintendent Phil Ertl has admitted he was wrong to prevent students from viewing last week’s live broadcast of President Obama’s education speech.
“(In) hindsight, I think I would have made a different decision on it,” Ertl said. “As I look at it, it is our president of our country and the opportunity for him to speak without disruption, I think, would have been a decision I could have made that would have been beneficial to everyone in our district.”
The comments came on the heels of a comprehensive open records request filed the week before by One Wisconsin Now asking for copies of all e-mails received by school personnel prior to Ertl’s indefensible decision. At a Monday school board meeting, Ertl was unanimously criticized by the board for prohibiting the live speech. The news story read, ‘Several board members said they have received many e-mails and phone calls from residents opposed to Ertl’s choice, but few who backed the decision.’
Similar requests have been filed with a number of Wisconsin school districts that made a similar ill-advised decisions to prohibit the speech’s live viewing.
(Note: One Wisconsin Now, a statewide progressive issue advocacy and communications organization, is in no way affiliated with WauwatosaNOW.com, an online media outlet.)