For the second year in a row President Barack Obama will address American schoolchildren with a back-to-school speech, the White House confirmed Tuesday.
Word of the speech got out Monday at the National School Public Relations Association's National Seminar in Charlotte, N.C., when Peter Cunningham, the Education Department's assistant secretary for communications and outreach, mentioned during a session that Obama will address students again.
White House officials declined to provide any other details.
But last year's speech created an uproar. Before Obama addressed students Sept. 8, some parents said a White House video broadcast to youngsters amounted to propaganda. Many school districts said the timing of the speech conflicted with scheduled lesson plans and lunch periods.
A number of school districts statewide declined to screen the speech live and instead recorded it to show students later and posted a link on school websites.
In his speech, which was broadcast from the White House website and on C-SPAN cable television, Obama talked about the value of education, urging students to work hard and take responsibility for their studies.
On Tuesday, representatives from the Texas Education Agency and some school districts said that they were just now learning about the planned speech and that administrators will determine how to proceed in the coming weeks.
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