Like many, I have serious concerns about the President's speech. Whether it's indoctrination, a brief and simple admonition to do your best or something in between remains to be seen.

We're in a great school system with faculty and administrators who communicate well and generally share our values. I contacted the principal at our kids' school and first asked if they would be participating in the broadcast. 

His first reply was, "We will make this event known to our teachers who can access this in their rooms."

I simply replied and said I would prefer that our kids not participate. I asked if there would be an alternative activity or if I should just bring them after it was over.

His reply:

"We do not have any school-wide plans for this event, and it is not something that we are going to require. I have not heard of any plans from classroom teachers around this event, and according to the brief informational site I saw, it is not scheduled to happen until 1:00 which is close to the end of our day. Should your daughter’s class watch this, I will make sure that she is given an alternative activity."

Here's my larger point. The Obama administration is doing its best to paint ever larger swaths of conservatives - or detractors of any description - as dangerous, race baiting fear mongers who need to be watched by a skeptical citizenry.

I think it's key that we choose which battles to get loud about and which to handle in a more even handed manner. The current healthcare debate calls for some volume. Ditto for the insane spending that is mortgaging our children's generation to the hilt. Handling this particular challenge reasonably, without setting ourselves up to be cast as reactionary whackos will serve our cause better than carrying the heat of healthcare and deficit spending  into the educational arena.

If you're in a liberal school district with a combative administration, simply - and quietly - keep your child out of school that day. The forfeited federal and state funds (which are based on attendance) will send a powerful message on their own. 

Don't get me wrong. I think we're in for the fight of our lives, for the very fabric of our republic. But the more reason we can interject into the process - and the more reasonably we can do it - the better for the cause.