Schools prepare for the inauguration

Schools across Southern California are preparing for Inauguration Day.

Carla Rivera reports that more than 600 elementary and middle-school students at Crossroads School in Santa Monica will watch the swearing-in of the nation’s 44th president on 9-foot-by-12-foot projection screens. Final exams for the high school students were delayed a day so they could also participate.

At the Brentwood School, Cassy Clarke’s fifth-grade class will be taking notes during President-elect Barack Obama’s speech to compare it with President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, and they will also study the different crises faced by these two young senators from Illinois.

And in Compton, parents are invited to all 40 of that district’s schools, where broadcasts in English and Spanish will be provided, along with interpreters for Spanish speakers. In addition, community members are invited to view the ceremonies in the district’s boardroom.

More than any presidential inauguration in recent memory, educators said, schools here and across the country are mounting ambitious efforts to let students not only witness the historical event but also use it as an educational experience.

-- Beth Shuster

Comments

[steve rodriguez]

Don't for get to also teach the students about Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and throw in some American history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Richard]

I am curious if they would have done the same if McCain had been elected?

[Rebecca]

Of course they would not have done the same if McCain had been elected...they didn't for Bush. Everything is totally one sided now. I am thinking about keeping my children home tomorrow...I have the feeling with the Obama supporters flaunting the win & how *gag* wonderful he is, they may get into trouble. Might be better just to keep them home. They tend to be rather bold in their dislike of Obama & from what I have seen thus far if they speak any dislike of Obama or his policies the school will go after them....so much for freedom.

Yes, better to keep them home.