Gosh, I hope it’s okay to re-post these comments here - the Tree of Liberty forum is open to the public, so here goes, this is from the OP:
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First, I want to thank you all for your thoughts and ideas on this troubling situation. The response was very encouraging and it has been very uplifting to know that we are not alone.
My wife and I prayed that God give us guidance and encouragement in whatever path he takes us. We prayed long and hard if my wife should show up this morning with our camera to take video of this activity. We both agreed that we needed to follow whatever rules or laws concerning video taping of children in a classroom setting without permission so we decided it was best not to go that route. We just did not know if this was violating any privacy laws. We also wanted to respect the parents who might find their children unwillingly on Youtube. I know I would not want that without us knowing it.
So were does this stand now? We decided that it was best to give the pricipal a chance to explain what was going on. So after school today we went down there and waited for about 45 minutes and finally the Vice Principal came out and suggested that we speak with our childs teacher. It seemed that the office became dead silent and all eyes were on us so I asked that we speak privately. So reluctantly he took us into the conference room and asked us what was going on? I asked if he was aware of this image of Obama being shown to the kids and he said yes and that it was something new that they started this week. I asked if he thought this to a bit Orweallian to him and his facial expressions said it all. He then nodded saying, “yeah, it does seem...you know this could be easily fixed!” He then asked if the children were facing Obama during the reciting? My wife chummed in and said that when she was here Tuesday she saw a 5th grade class face Obama and NOT the flag. He said, “Well they shouldn’t be, they are supposed to honor and respect the flag.” I then asked,”Why are the lights being turned off in the classroom? You can’t see the flag but you can definetly see Obama. I added that this goes against flag etiquette. I then suggested that this is wrong and is a distraction and that it needs to be shut down. I further said that we did not do this for Bush (I then told him that I was not a Bush fan) and I would even be upset if you had an image of Jesus showing. It is almost like forced indoctrination. I then asked if this was school wide or district wide? He replied, “one of the teachers thought of it and so we tried it just here at this school, it is not district wide. But let me to try to solve this, okay?” I then asked for the district superintendant name and number? The vp again asked that they solve this first and that he would call the principal tonight and that they would take care of this first thing in the morning. We agreed and that was that. I do want to say that the vp was very polite and cordial and seemed concerned. We will see??
I guess if this doesn’t stop tomorrow then the wife and I are prepared to go forward. I do believe in giving people a chance to correct any wrong doings. A part of me wished that I held off on making my original post yesterday until this could be addressed properly and then the other side of me said that this needed to be shouted out from the roof tops so everyone can see and hear what is going on. However, it is what it is and God put it in our lap and I am thankful!
[snipping a bit of personal detail about the OP]