Controversy over the President’s speech to students has led to the cancellation of a presentation from Eric W. Ramsey, an evangelist and part-time motivational speaker, Winfield schools superintendent Marvin Estes said Thursday.
Ramsey was to visit USD 465 next week for presentations at Winfield schools. But the district heard concerns from some who wanted to know why students would hear from Ramsey when teachers were allowed to opt out of the Barack Obama address.
"We were caught in the middle," he said. "So our thought was that we just need to go back to the classroom and not have these distractions."
Ramsey’s visit was pitched to district officials by a local person who had been interested more in Ramsey’s talents as a motivational speaker, Estes said.
Principals in the district had been aware of the planned presentations well before the President’s speech was made. Estes said it was made clear that these presentations by Ramsey were not to evolve into any type of religious event.
"It’s not as if we were going to be there proselytizing," he said. "We had discussed this."
The decision to scrap Ramsey’s appearances helps the district avoid two more weeks of controversy, Estes said.
It was mostly "awful timing" that led to a decision to let teachers opt out of the Obama speech, he said. The superintendent heard the speech and said if he had had more time and the contents of the address were made available earlier, he would likely have said that it would be viewed district wide.
"I think it was a great speech that students needed to hear," he said.
Instead, only about 30 percent of teachers decided to air the speech.
"We had teachers who had other things planned," he said. "And some who were opposed to it. There were a variety of issues."
