This hubbub over the use of Radnor High School for a Bryan Lentz campaign rally is actually pretty interesting. Makes you wonder what some people at the school were thinking in the first place.
It seems wholly inappropriate to use a public school for a partisan rally right before an election. It's one thing to have a president or a vice president or a senator or any other public official associated with a particular party visit a school and speak to students during the political off-season (if there is such a thing.)
But to stuff a school with political operatives and activists to ramp up voters within days of an election was sure to offend members of the other party.
Lentz campaign manager Kevin McTigue said it was "outrageous" that vice president would be prevented from speaking at a public high school. And school board member Brucie Rapoport said the students were being prevented from a "civics lesson" and seeing "living history."
Joe Biden, living history? That's a stretch.
Republican school board member Patricia Booker said, "Using our kids as a backdrop for a campaign rally (is) totally inappropriate.”
Even Rapoport admitted the district received numerous complaints about that from parents over the weekend. There's a civics lesson here all right. Partisan campaign rallies are better held in places other than schools that are supposed to be in session.
Shying away from such controversies is smart for school board members from both parties.
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