I am appalled and outraged at the Bellevue School District for their knee-jerk action regarding President Obama’s speech to our nation’s children on September 8. When a handful of people view a positive educational message to stay in school and work hard delivered by our nation’s elected leader to be as much a threat as the swine flu, I ask: What kind of modeling are school officials demonstrating for our children?

I would expect the superintendent and other officials at a school district – especially one with one of the strongest reputations in our state – to have the intelligence and courage to stand up to a vocal minority of partisan parents who espouse fear, distrust and hate. I am dismayed that my daughter attends school in a district that is so quick to cave in to unfounded pressure around an event that should have been a positive shared experience and teachable moment for our youth.

I believe the district did a grave disservice to our students and our teachers, and someone should apologize to them for exercising such blatant censorship. If our congressional representative or one of our esteemed U.S. senators had come to deliver a similar speech to the students in our district (perhaps even in person), I wonder if the district would have reacted by prevented students from attending or viewing such an event because they were fearful that an overly political message would be delivered to “indoctrinate” our children.

I find it very sad that our country is falling prey to the same level of fear, distrust and polarizing hysteria that accompanied past events such as the McCarthy era and Japanese internment camps. I expect far more from our educational leaders – to demonstrate to our youth that Americans can learn from historical mistakes, to recognize ignorance for what it is and to have the courage to stand up to it.

Jim Francis, Bellevue