When I got home from work on Friday, I found my daughters had brought home a rather disturbing memo. Short form -- no speech.

From: Daniel M. Lee, Ed.D.
Re: President Barack Obama to Speak to America's Students

On September 8, 2009 at 12:00 PM, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to students across the nation. Early press releases indicate the President will speak to children at youth about persisting and succeeding in school. Additionally, the President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

The U.S. Department of Education is encouraging students, teachers, and administrators to participate by watching the president deliver the address which will be broadcast on the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/) and on C-SPAN.

Unfortunately, it simply isn't practical to have students and teachers view the speech as it would be a significant disruption at a critical time of the year. Therefore, I am alerting families about the speech so, if they choose, they may record it. The speech will also be available later for download at http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/ as well as on www.ed.gov.

In this way families can view the speech together and discuss the President's points. Thank you for your interest in this matter.

First, this ticks me off because Dr. Lee waited until Friday afternoon to make the announcement, so that we couldn't argue with him.

Second, this irks me because he's claiming that the second week of school -- a short week, thanks to Labor Day -- is a "critical time of the year".

Third, this gives me displeasure because he's assuming that people have VCRs hooked up to record it, and cable to have something to record. At the moment, I have neither.

Tuesday morning, I will be on the phone (or maybe at the office in person, but I doubt it), and I won't be polite. I just wish it would do some good.

(Note: Dr. Lee had more to say at http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNews/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemI.... Now, if he had sent _that_ home, instead of the pablum above, I might not be quite as annoyed.)