Yesterday, I wrote about the firestorm caused by Forest Lake High School Principal Steve Massey cancelling the Vets for Freedom event. I just found this article in the Forest Lake Times that includes this interview with Principal Massey. First, here’s what I wrote about Principal Massey and the anti-war protestors:

Instead of allowing VFF to give a legitimate presentation about military life, Principal Massey instead chose censorship over enlightenment. He chose to be a weenie instead of standing up for free speech. It obviously didn’t dawn on Principal Massey that the VFF rally and ensuing protest by anti-war protesters would’ve provided a great lesson on the First Amendment to his students.

Here’s Principal Massey’s explanation of his decision:

Discussions for the 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 the country, and not any kind of a debate on the war in Iraq or as a military recruitment tool. That agreement was struck and in place, he said.

When news of the visit broke eight days ago, 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 Monday 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.

First off, what’s the big deal if there are competing pro-war and anti-war protests? Shouldn’t students see that there isn’t anything wrong with competing lines of thinking? Frankly, it’d be a great civics lesson.

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.

Principal Massey didn’t think that there’d be some sparks flying when a pro-military group arrived? Hasn’t he paid any attention to liberal anti-war tactics the last five years or so? That’s an incredibly naive position to take.

Technorati: Vets For Freedom, Military, Anti-War Activists, Steve Massey, Anti-War Protests