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Cliff Buchan
News Editor
Looking for the definition of a hot button issue? Cancel an appearance by veterans at a school and you’ll get one.
Officials in ISD 831 continue to feel the backlash of the March 25 cancelation of the Vets for Freedom National Heroes tour at Forest Lake High School. The backlash has been seen in letters to the editor, Internet blogs and during visits to the ISD 831 School Board last Thursday night.
In all, 26 people spoke during the board’s listening session and several more spoke during the open forum of the regular meeting.
The school board agreed to a suggestion by Superintendent Lynn Steenblock to form a task force that will review the situation. Its study will include future forums to discuss the war issue in non-school hours community session.
Board action
There was far from board harmony last week. Although the study group was formed by way of a request to the superintendent, an attempt to direct Steenblock to prepare for just such a study group by way of a board vote did not happen.
Member Eric Langness sought that action through a motion, but his motion was challenged as out of order. Langness and member David Gay then moved to challenge the chair and override the ruling. The challenge failed on a 4-2 vote with Langness and Gay voting for the motion.
Langness also requested a board slot on the task force but the request was denied.
Board President Bill Bresin and member Joe Grafft will represent the school board.
Langness said the district should issue an apology for offending veterans.
“We represent the school district at the top level,” he said. “I’m not too thrilled with what happened.”
Bresin welcomed the committee. “We need some information,” he said. “I don’t know everything that went on.”
The board, however, was not willing to allow Langness to serve on the committee. Langness has a “preconceived notion of what happened,” said member Rob Rapheal after hearing Langness on call-in radio shows and reading Internet blogs written by Langness.
In a March 25th posting on the web site riehlworldview.com, Langness wrote:
“I am as frustrated about this as you are. It was a week ago (yesterday) that I watched my brother take off on a naval ship headed to Iraq, again. I am a firm supporter of our military and as I always tell my brother, “You protect our country overseas, and as a politician I’ll protect you here.” I intend to take whatever necessary actions to do just that for him and all of our military persons and veterans. I will address the serious concerns I have with our administration’s decision on this.”
He signed the posting as a Forest Lake school board member.
Call for calm
Not all speakers on March 27 were irate with the schools.
El Ewert, Forest Lake, a decorated World War II vet and active member of American Legion Post 225 and VFW Post 4210, supported the schools. “To say this school district is not patriotic is unfair,” he said.
As a veteran, Ewert said many veterans were quick to react negatively. “Some vets are intimated by this, but not all.”
Robyn Madsen, high school debate coach and teacher, said she was embarrassed by the negative publicity and the attacks on Principal Steve Massey who was “being led to the slaughter in the media.”
She was also critical of any criticism supplied by board members in form of on-line contributions and comments, calling it a breach of trust by public officials.
Massey’s view
If the general public and former members of the military believe Forest Lake High School is anti-veteran, they would be wrong, Massey said during an interview last week.
On March 26, Massey and officials in ISD 831 were digging out from under an avalanche of e-mails after the Vets for Freedom stop at the high school was called off by Massey.
Phone banks were also jammed, mostly by people upset with the school and venting about the decision, Massey said. Massey said he had received in excess of 2000 e-mails and hundreds of voice-mail messages on his phone.
“We struck a nerve,” Massey said, referring to the firestorm that followed the cancelation of the National Heroes tour that was being brought to Forest Lake by Pete Hegseth, executive director of the national organization and a Forest Lake High School graduate.
When the event was canceled it moved to the American Legion Post.
The visit was designed, Massey said, as an educational experience for 150 social studies students who had planned to spend 90 minutes listening to the stories of veterans and war heroes.
But when the tour began to attract attention and complaints from individuals opposed to the war in Iraq, Massey said he felt the correct decision was to cancel the event to avoid student distractions and disruptions.
Not anti-vet
In a meeting arranged by Massey on Wednesday, representatives of the Forest Lake American Legion and VFW were assured that the furor in no way reflected any intent to criticize veterans. Massey said the organizations were told the school was proud of veterans and the relationship.
The school, Massey said, has a long tradition of recognizing the service of vets and demonstrates it by sending school bands and choral groups to veteran programs and by welcoming Legion and VFW color guards to school events and opening classroom doors to vets who serve as speakers.
After reading mail and listening to phone messages, Massey said many conveyed the message that the cancelation was a sign of disrespect to veterans. The history of the school does not reflect that, Massey said, respectfully disagreeing.
“The reality is, our door was open,” Massey said.
What happened?
During the interview, the principal outlined the process and what went wrong.
Discussions with Vets for Freedom visit started more than two weeks ago as the national tour kicked off in California. Massey said his discussions with Hegseth were shaped in the context that the visit had to be about military service and its importance to country, and not any kind of a debate on the war in Iraq or as a military recruitment tool
That agreement was struck, he said.
When news of the visit broke, the school began to hear some noise of protest, Massey said. That noise grew louder and Massey’s concerns greater when the Vets for Freedom planned a media event in the high school parking lot prior to the visit with students.
“The event became quite public,” Massey said. Fearing protests and disruptions to the school day, Massey moved late in the day March 24 to call off the event.
“We felt we had structured a teaching tool for our students,” he said. But with the publicity starting to grow, Massey said he believed the mere presence of the organization on campus in any fashion would bring anti-war and pro-war protestors to the school.
Massey said public schools must walk a “fine line” and it should not be the school’s place to push any form of political agenda. “We had an awesome event planned,” he said. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t have pulled this off.”
Responding to the criticism from Hegseth that he caved in and from District 52A Rep. Bob Dettmer, R-Forest Lake, a retired high school teacher here, that the action was censorship, Massey disagreed.
“This wasn’t about censuring anyone’s opinion,” Massey said. “This was about trying to not make this visit about a political message.”
Massey says he is not second-guessing his decision. If he could relive the past two weeks, however, he said he would have insisted on tighter event planning beyond the 90 minutes the group would be with students. That would include limits on publicity on school grounds.
“We weren’t looking for all the fanfare coming with the tour,” Massey said.
By the time the event was moved to the Legion, Massey said he had no time to attend. The e-mails and phone messages saw to that, he said.
Massey said 40 students left the school to attend the event and most had permission slips from parents. Those who did not have permission will not be disciplined, he said.
Hegseth speaks
In an interview last week, Hegseth said the tone of criticism to his hometown and school district had escalated. “Some folks on our side have gone way too far,” he said.
Hegseth said it was not his intent, nor the intent of Vets for Freedom in stoking the flames or to “trample Steve Massey and Forest Lake.” Hegseth said he has respect for Massey but did feel the decision to cancel was not right.
“I do feel it was the wrong decision,” Hegseth said.
He said he disagreed with Massey’s later assessments that there were safety risks for the school and that Vets for Freedom had scheduled a formal press conference for tour members when it was simply media availability time.
“It was never about safety,” Hegseth said of the school’s decision to cancel the event. He said the school was bowing to political pressure and was unwilling to “stand up on principle.”
Massey said later that the threat of disruptions and distractions and the availability for media to gather on the high school grounds supported his conclusions. “What are we talking about? It’s the same thing.” Massey said.
Vets for Freedom, which reports 21,000 members, bills itself as a nonpartisan organization established by combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The organization’s mission is to educate the American public about the importance of achieving success in these conflicts by applying first-hand knowledge to issues of American strategy and tactics in Iraq.
According to its web site, The Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour is about supporting the troops, honoring their commitment, and rallying the country to complete the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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