Gov's visit to Summerville High canceled

SUMMERVILLE -- An interview with Gov. Mark Sanford would have been the highlight of a high school broadcast student's career.

But Summerville High senior Shannon Graves didn't get that chance Tuesday.

Sanford had agreed to a short visit at the school to meet with students who work on the school newspaper and TV show.

But Dorchester District 2 officials thought the governor's presence would be disruptive to the overcrowded high school, public information officer Pat Raynor said.

"With the governor comes an entourage," she said.

Graves said she thinks the district was reluctant to have the governor come to the school because it was getting a lot of backlash from refusing last week to air President Barack Obama's speech to students. Raynor denied that allegation.

Raynor said a district employee asked someone in the governor's office Friday if the meeting with students could be moved to an off-campus location. The employee was told that the governor's schedule had filled up and he could no longer make the Summerville High stop, she said.

Sanford communications director Ben Fox said the governor will meet with the students in the future. But his schedule Tuesday was so tight that it couldn't tolerate any last-minute changes, such as a change of venue, Fox said.

Graves said students were going to ask the governor questions about education and about other things that concern young people. They were not going to ask about the personal or political turmoil in which Sanford is embroiled. She was looking forward to interviewing him and running the interview on the school's TV show.

"They are denying us the chance to talk to a public figure in our lives," she said. "If we would have interviewed him, we could have put that on our college applications."

Graves also said she would have probably watched Obama's speech last week, even though she doesn't support his entire agenda, if district leaders had not blocked schools from airing it live.

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In a news release prior to the speech, district officials said it wouldn't be aired because of "full instructional schedules and technology limitations."

The president's remarks were recorded and will be made available in each school's media center, Raynor said. Teachers can use all or part of the speech for future lessons or class discussion, which allows time for parent notification and student exemption, she has said.

Refusing to allow students to watch Obama's speech and not allowing media students to meet with Sanford reeks of censorship, Graves said. "To me, that seems a little ignorant. Where are they going to stop?" Graves said.

Patrick Labbe, a parent of two sons who attend Summerville High School, said a lot of parents are asking that question.

Labbe, who also is the state coordinator for the Progressive Democrats of America, was one of the parents and community residents who packed Monday's school board meeting to make it clear they disagree with the district's decision not to air the Obama speech. About 12 people spoke against the district's decision during the public comment portion of the meeting, he said, and only two spoke favorably about what the district had done.

In Graves' mind, not showing the Obama speech and asking Sanford to meet with students off-campus are connected. "They're punishing us for their mistakes," she said.