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.
I work at a public school. It is not safe for students to leave school without permission for any reason. Anything could have happened to these students and the school administrators, and district officials would be legally liable. Kids don’t think about what could happen until something bad does. Adults need to be the authority here and they are right to discipline and uphold the rules. It’s a shame Obama, as the adult, condoned the behavior by signing excuse slips.
Obama thinks he has the authority to sign a napkin and all these kids are excused from skipping school. What a bum. He has no place in encouraging kids to skip school just because he thinks he is so “inspirational.” I would have thrown the kids out of school on suspension for a couple days. Resigning from student council is a slap on the wrist.
The kid lost out on that days classes to meet a guy whos going to lose an election. It appears everyone involved here is a loser.
Teenage children sometimes test the waters of authority. These two students are probably aware of their wrong behavior, but are now gaining support from fellow students to make this avoidable situation seem very right.
What is wrong with just asking someone, (principal, teacher, guidance counselor), to take the day to attend this one-time event without dragging everyone else in to make it a blame game.
What I think is needed is more discipline. Students who do this, in my opinion, are either spoiled, bored, or just looking for attention at the expense of valuable time consumed by their fellow students and teachers.
They should be suspended in order to make a positive point on the side of overall authority.
Pete
Last time I checked an 18 year old high school does not need his parents permission to leave school. What is all the hoopla about? Sounds like his principal is a republican.
The boy was 18, he leagally could make his own choice to leave without parental permission, and depending on the laws in the state involved, the school might not be able to do anything about it if push comes to shove.
What is happening to my beloved country? A young man, having been voted to the highest position in his class, and having an obvious interest in politics, skips school to possibly MEET a Presidential Candidate. Not only is he suspended, but asked to resign from his elected position. Something else is going on here. I applaud this young man, and hope that he does everything that he can to fight this. More young people need to take an active interest in politics. I would bet that the principal is a Republican. I am a Republican as well, but would never fault a person for something like this. Inform his parents and drop it. Attention all High School students; Attend the political rally of your choice and be proud of it!
He’s 18 years old. He old enough to die fighting in Iraqi, give me a break. This is nonsense. He can make his own decisions, sign contracts and get a drivers license. The school should have better things to do than give out such silly punishments.
I attend that school, and I know Colin. He is a fantastic leader, and yes he did deserve the suspension. But making him resign is a different story. What you “grown-ups” don’t understand is when you went to school is a lot different then now. Meeting Senator Obama could be a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah, leaving was wrong. But its not like they got up, walked out of class, and went 30 miles away. They left during gym, where they do things that can be easily made up, across the street. Not far, literally across the street. We students have a voice, and it will be heard. Colin did a great job and he was not a rule breaker. If he was why would he be in office in the first place? Did you ever think about that? And for the people saying, “Why didn’t they just ask, they would have been let out.” No, they would not have been. I know by fact, they wouldn’t have been.
GOOD JOB COLIN! YOUR A GREAT LEADER AND YOU’LL BE KEPT IN OFFICE!
(I mean, we have 30 some days left, how unbelievably mean could you possibly be to make him resign now.)
As a personal friend of the kids involved in this situation, I feel it is my duty to report the facts. Mr. Saltry was not forced to resign as president. He did write a letter of resignation dated for Friday, 25 April. This morning he rescinded that letter stating that he wrote it under the impression that he was had to resign, which is not the case. As of this moment he remains president of his class and I quote him directly here “[he] accepts full responsibility for his actions and their consequences, whatever they may be.” As a concerned student myself, I hope that fox pulls this story from the website and allows this obscure tale to fade into obscurity…where it belongs.