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President Obama tells students to never give up

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Many classrooms were filled with a little presidential pomp and circumstance Tuesday.

Classroom at Rosewood Elementary, Columbia

President Obama spoke to students by way of a video feed fed from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. He challenged students to develop education goals and stick to them.

Obama is not the first president to deliver a school-opening talk. But the 20-minute speech was plagued with
controversy from the moment it was announced. Some school districts and individual principals were hesitant to provide students access to the speech.

The principal at Rosewood Elementary in Columbia showed the address to some students, and recorded it to show to the rest on Wednesday.  Ted Wachter(WOCK-ter) has led the school for 25 years.  “I just hope it will make a positive change,” said Wachter, “in the lives of some children who see him as a positive force in their lives.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, News

Tenenbaum returns as CPSC Chief

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Former state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum returned to Columbia Tuesday. But now Tenebaum serves as Chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Tenenbaum used children at Rosewood Elementary School as a backdrop to kick off a nationwide back-to-school safety campaign.

Tenenbaum said that she is passionate about the safety of children, and she mentioned that the Obama Administration has given her the freedom she needs to run the agency.  “The President has allowed us to operated independently.  My areas of focus will be edcation and advocacy, and operating in an open and transparent way.”  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, News

SCRN affiliate hosting Gov. Sanford call-in today

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kevin Cohen will put most questions to Gov. Mark Sanford on his show: Afternoon Drive with Kevin Cohen on Columbia’s 560, WVOC-AM at 5 to 6 p.m. today. The broadcast can also be heard online and is scheduled for coverage on C-SPAN. The South Carolina Radio Network will follow-up with the governor’s comments and other coverage.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government

SC House Speaker calls for Sanford resignation

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell has asked Governor Mark Sanford to step down—in a letter he delivered to the governor today.   Listen to audio statement.Harrell Calls for Resignation 

The statement issued by the Speaker’s office reads:

 House Speaker Bobby Harrell called on the governor to act in the best interests of our state and resign.  “It was with much thought and trepidation that I came to this conclusion.  I did so only after I spoke with colleagues in the Legislature, talked with leaders in our communities, heard from numerous citizens from across the state and carefully reviewed the facts surrounding the situation. 

 “What has become clear is that Governor Sanford’s issues will continue to dominate our state as long as he remains in office.  Whether he should be removed from office is a question that will need to be answered from the State Ethics Commission investigation, but our state’s future is too important to have the Governor’s issues overshadow everything we do for the next fifteen months.  For the good of our state, Governor Sanford should step aside [Read more...]

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Politics & Government

Parents, political groups questioned airing speech

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Columbia's Rosewood elementary students watched Obama speech live on Tuesday

President Barack Obama spoke with school children around the nation today, but not without opposition. In a nearly 2,400 word, 18-minute long speech, President Obama told the nation’s students he “expects great things” from each of them.

From Wakefield High School in Virginia, the president told children to be encouraged to stay in school. However, this speech did not come without opposition from various conservative groups that said it took away from proper class time. The question among states was: “To see or not to see?” As South Carolina is a predominately red state, several Lowcountry residents called into a popular talk-show and gave their opinions, and despite the “color” of the state, most callers didn’t show much opposition.  Read transcript of the president’ speech.

“It’s important to use this as a teaching moment, and we did that with our first grader and told her “mom and dad didn’t vote for Barack Obama, but he is our president and we need to listen to what he has to say,” but in this country, if we don’t agree, we can say so, which is a great thing about the country.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, News, Politics & Government
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