PINE BUSH – The news that Pine Bush School District had not organized itself to allow students to watch President Barack Obama's speech to the nation's schools last week set off flurries of phone calls and some questions.

Superintendent of Schools Phil Steinberg said he was happy to answer them.

"Our decision had nothing to do with the speech or the president. It was our first day back at school and we had to make sure that our students were in school and were in the right classes."

Steinberg pointed out that "most districts did not show the speech — for pretty much the same reasons. If it had been the second or third day of school I would have said, let's show it. But on the first day, there is simply way too much to be done."

A storm about the speech had been whipped up by various media in the week before school reopened. Responding to fears expressed on right-leaning television and talk radio, some parents, especially in Texas and the south, had demanded that their children not be shown the speech to be protected from being "indoctrinated" by the president's planned address to the nation's schoolchildren.

In the event, the 16-minute speech avoided partisan points or political discussion in favor of more predictable lines like: "Work hard so you can fight poverty and homelessness, build new companies, build your talent, skills, and intellect," and "No one has written your destiny for you because here in America you write your own destiny, you make your own future."

Indeed, once it became clear that Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton had also addressed the national student body, the national fuss subsided quickly.

Superintendent Steinberg insisted that the district's opting not to show the speech was "not a political thing."

"I had someone call me and say I was racist for not showing it. I explained that I thought that was way off the mark — that our district had opened the year with a professional development course that emphasized diversity and had as keynote speakers, Dr. Fowlin and Dr. Lindamichellebaron, both of whom are African American. And excellent [speakers], I should add."

Steinberg also said that the district has the speech on file and it is available to any students that want to see it.