Hunter Wilson/Daily News Bowling Green Junior High School students listen Tuesday to President Barack Obama’s speech about education.

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Classrooms in both city and county school districts tuned into President Barack Obama’s back-to-school speech, with a handful of students electing to opt out of watching the address.

At Bowling Green Junior High School, students in James Yarbrough’s eighth-grade social studies class viewed the 20-minute Webcast late Tuesday morning just before the end of class.

Yarbrough said his class had prepared for the president’s speech by watching CNN in the preceding days.

Some conservative commentators criticized the president addressing students at schools nationwide during the day, and a number of local parents had called the Bowling Green Independent and Warren County Public school districts about the speech.

Kentucky Department of Education Secretary Terry Holliday sent a letter to superintendents across the state acknowledging that some school officials indicated they had received requests from parents for alternative activities if they did not wish for their children to see the address.

Holliday’s letter said that the decision whether to allow students or staff to view the broadcast should be made locally.

In Yarbrough’s class, students were encouraged to write down their opinions of the speech, an address by Obama encouraging students to take personal responsibility for their education and put in the hard work necessary to achieve.

“What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country,” Obama said Tuesday. “The future of America depends on you. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.”

Yarbrough asked students to consider whether it was appropriate for the speech to be broadcast and Webcast into schools during the day; one student in his class opted out of viewing the address, leaving the classroom to read a book.

Eighth-grader Michael Rhodes said he liked the speech and didn’t understand why the issue had become controversial, adding that he could have seen the previous president give a similar speech.

“I don’t get why so many people had so many problems with it,” Rhodes said. “If Bush were in office, that would be the same thing he’d say (to students).”

Another eighth-grader, Lici Kanan, said she appreciated the president’s remarks about being able to learn from one’s failures and not letting one’s circumstances be an excuse for not doing well in school.

“I thought it was really good,” Kanan said. “I liked when he said that you can learn from your mistakes.”

Warren County schools interim superintendent Tim Murley sent a letter to principals saying that teachers who intended to show the address should send a letter home to parents in advance to afford them an opportunity to request in writing that an alternative activity take place for their student.

“Leading up to the speech, there were some parents who had concerns, but we addressed those with the option to opt out,” said district spokesman Don Sargent. “(The speech) did seem to go over pretty smoothly. I haven’t heard anything after the fact.”

Bowling Green Independent Schools told parents who didn’t want their children to see the speech to contact their child’s teacher to opt out of the viewing.

Jay Burr, a parent of two children attending Alvaton Elementary School, requested that his son in third grade not watch the speech; his younger son’s first-grade class did not show the address.

“Looking at the speech after the fact, it was benign, but when you look at the original content and the e-mail sent to principals asking what you can do the help the president achieve his goals, it’s not his place to raise my kids and tell my kids what it is to be an American,” said Burr, whose son stayed in the school library during the speech. “I don’t want them to be introduced to the world of politics. It’s my job to determine when they’re ready for it.”