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.
Usually a class officer is a person of good character, hopefully law abiding - rule abiding citizen and one of good example and good decisons. These would seem not to be any of the above. It was probably a fun and unforgetable experience, maybe well worth the price that was paid but not a great example of leadership; but of spontanaity.
Skipping school= one day suspension… I’m cool with that
But seriously people.. skipping school every once in a while for events like this is not that big of a deal.
And in no way should he be forced to resign his position.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As class president (especially his senior year) he should have know that there are consequences for leaving school with out permission. I am betting that the administration would have given permission to leave.
It is the school’s responsibility to make sure that the students, when in their care, are protected and kept safe . Obviously the student forgot this in the heat of the moment.
Life lesson learned?
It would have been easier to get parents permission to miss school for the day- than to just skip. As class president, he has to set the right example!
They skipped class without permission; as president of his senior high class, this young man sets an example for the rest of his class and the student body. It doesn’t matter which presidential candidate they skipped class to see….there are consequences to decisions. Too many people in our country don’t realize that ~ there is a huge sense of entitlement. “I want to do it, so I will and I don’t care.”
So, is the principal and teacher a Hillary supporter? This is ridiculous. If these boys did nothing wrong before, i.e., have a good school record, give them a pass. Thank God they are interested enough to look into the politics of this nation. Stop discouraging our school children and stary encouraging them.
Whether or not he was skipping to see Obama or to go to a party, the principle is the same: he needs to suffer whatever consequences are attendant to breaking the school rules. Class presidents are supposed to be leaders and set positive examples for their classmates; following the school rules is the least of what should be expected of them. If the student is now raising a ruckus about having to deal with the consequences of breaking the rules, then he is showing himself even less qualified to fill this role. There are good reasons why high school students are not supposed to leave the campus during the school day without permission; as a class president, this student should have familiarized himself with those reasons. Of course he shouldn’t be the class president anymore - and no one likes to hear someone get whiny when they’ve been held responsible for their actions.
I disagree with the suspentions altogether. What was not reported was Obama’s stop was not planned and the kids were privileged to have the possible next president stop close to their school. Most kids would have ditched (and teachers too). Not only that, but we are talking gym class. GYM CLASS. Let the punishment fit the crime, detention would have been good enough.
Keep the young man in office all you so called do gooders did the same thing and got over on it
and don’t tell me you didn’t and on top of that a gym class? When I was in High School a gym class was some thing you got a grade even if half the time you didn’t go. We all had a hang out spot you went to for gym class if you didn’t go and now some school system have drop gym class because you did not learn any thing any way skipping gym was the thing to do if you were a greaser and any way gym class was mainly used for going over your home work and getting done. But you say rules are rules no fooling was a set of panhead and flathead we got today you don’t do any thing wrong sure ok tell me something new
I agree with the last poster… the school should have given the students the option to attend. When i was in high school, we had the day off when the president came to speak in our town… I even remember hoping a fence to get to a water fountain, I was immediately surrounded by three secret service agents!!! FUN STUFF!