Obama Meeting Costs High School Class President His Office
It’s a controversy involving a president and a would-be commander in chief.
But the president, in this case, is an 18-year-old Pennsylvania high school student who claims he was forced to resign as head of his senior class because he skipped gym and left school to see Democratic presidential would-be Barack Obama.
Colin Saltry, a Scranton High School senior, and fellow classmate Joey Daniel reportedly bolted school on Monday to catch a glimpse of the Illinois senator during a campaign stop at “The Glider” restaurant, just minutes away from their school.
Saltry and Daniel say they met Obama, snapped photos with him, and even had the candidate sign excuse slips to present to their teachers.
But their decision to skip out did not sit well with school administrators, who said the students broke the rules by leaving school without permission.
Both Saltry and Daniel were issued one-day suspensions. Saltry also claims school principal Brian McGraw told him to “start writing his resignation letter,” according to the Scranton Times-Tribune Web site.
McGraw reportedly denied the claim and said Saltry voluntarily withdrew as class president.
The Obama campaign declined to comment on the controversy. McGraw was not immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, students at Scranton High School expressed outrage over Saltry’s resignation, posting online messages of support on his Facebook.com Web page.
The group site, which claims to be the official site for Saltry’s future presidential campaign — “sometime in the next 40 years” — was inundated with postings Wednesday by students angered over their classmate’s punishment.
“Help keep Saltry in office,” one statement read. ” Voice your support here on the wall or on his wall…Thanks for sticking by him and let’s rock 2008 right to the very bitter end!!!”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Excuse me, but did everyone miss it. The student IS 18 - That is an adult and as an adult, he does not need his parents permission.
I think it is a great learning experience for the young kids to go and experience part of our countries political process. So had they asked for permission to go to the event, I would hope the school would have obliged. However, it sounds like they exercised poor judgment and just skipped school in order to do this. That being the case, they deserve what ever “reasonable” punishment comes their way. This includes having to resign as Class President since as a leader they are supposed to be an example to other students.
Good for the school administration for setting an example in this case.
Obama should not have signed a note and gave him a permission slip. He should have acted like any responsible adult and told the students to return to class.
You break the rules, you pay the consequenses. I don’t care who this young man was going to see, the school has rules for a reason and if the rules are broken then the consequenses must follow. Why didn’t the kids get permission from their folks. They could of gone about this the right way and avoid all this. What if something would of happened to them while they were off school grounds.
Rules are rules and I applaud the administration. They students left without permission and should suffer the consequences.
If he was stupid enough to skip school to go see Obama he should have to resign.
Max
It was a once in a lifetime deal. Let him enjoy life.
Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem that we’re sending mixed messages?
We have an epidemic of students abusing drugs (meth, pot, Rx, you name it) and VERY LITTLE to NO accountability for that activity. A couple of students who wish to take part in one of the most important processes that citizens in our country can participate in and we THEN we exert discipline?
“Junior, it’s ok if you cook your brains and waste your life, just don’t be leaving campus to listening to the next potential leader of our county!” Don’t we WANT our young people engaged in the processes of our country? Seems to me that our priorities are pretty screwed up.
Ok, the kids left campus, they broke the rules. As if none of us have ever skipped class, right? Instead of kicking them in the ass over this, make them give a presentation to the whole school about what they saw, what they heard, why it was important and why so important that they felt breaking the rules was an appropriate action worth punishment. You can offer corrective action in a positive way that still reaps the good of the incident and in turn share the experience with the rest of the students.
Are we so lazy and fearful as to not take initiative, think creatively and inspire our youth to do better? Are we so jaded as to not encourage them to be involved in something this important?
This should not be a controversial subject at all. The students left school without permission. Suspend them! Any class president who flaunts the school rules should be dismissed immediately. End of story…
I skipped most of a day of HS in 1984 to see President Ronald Reagan at a re-election campaign rally in San Diego. Me and a buddy rode our bicycles 10 miles from Hoover HS to Mission Valley to get there. I remember we poked fun at some Secret Service agents.
We squirmed our way up to the front and I remember President Reagan looked bigger than life to me.
Great memories everyone. Good times.
I know why they did it. I know how their motives.
Colin Saltry may not be class president any more but he has a heck of a story.