At least three Central Texas school districts — Georgetown, Wimberley and Leander — say they will not show a live Webcast on the importance of education by President Barack Obama planned for next week.

In a statement, Georgetown school district officials said:

As you may be aware, President Obama is planning to share remarks with students Tuesday afternoon. As this is the third week of school for our students and because we want to honor the time teachers have with our students, Georgetown ISD will not broadcast the event to our students as part of the school day. If parents would like their children to view the President’s remarks, we would encourage families to record the speech and watch the event as a family.

The Leander district late Wednesday announced that schools there will not show the Webcast “due to the logistics of making a webcast available during that time of the school day.”

In the full statement, the district said:

We have received a number of inquiries about whether President Obama’s speech to the schoolchildren of America next week will be available “live” in Leander ISD. Due to the logistics of making a webcast available during that time of the school day, we will not be showing this address in LISD classrooms or campuses. However, as soon as the speech is available, we will place a link on the district website should you and your family choose to view the speech.

But Leander Trustee Lisa Mallory seems to imply in Web posts, to her Web site and on Twitter, that calls from parents protesting the speech prompted the district to not show the Web cast. The post on her site reads:

Leander ISD will NOT participate in the Obama broadcast to school children! Texans support LOCAL control of education!

District spokesman Dick Ellis, when asked whether the district was not showing the Web cast because of political reason, responded, “Of course not.”

Ellis said he didn’t know whether the Web cast would ever be shown in Leander classrooms.

The Wimberley school district said:

In a letter received last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated the following, “President Obama announced that on September 8 - the first day of school for many children across America - he will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education. The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.”

I have received visits, calls, and emails about the speech with most of the questions pertaining to how the school district will address this situation.

We all have our own political viewpoints and attitudes and as parents we all want to be able to discuss our viewpoints with our children. As your superintendent, I do not feel it is the school district’s responsibility or place to emphasize one group’s philosophy and/or values over another. I do, however, feel it is the district’s responsibility to offer all our students the opportunity to listen or not listen to the President with parental/guardian approval.

I have received questions from parents on this issue, with as many parents opposed to allowing their child to participate as there were for requesting their child view the President’s address. Therefore, after meeting with my administrative team we will address the concern as follows:

WISD campuses will be allowed to participate in the President’s address; however, as with other controversial issues, I want to make sure we are protecting our parents’ rights by allowing them to exclude their children, if they choose. This letter provides you the opportunity to exclude your child by checking the appropriate box below, signing and returning this letter to the campus Principal office by Wednesday morning, September 9, 2009.

Logistically, the timing of the speech does provide a real problem for us to show the students a live feed on Tuesday, primarily because it was intended to be shown in a classroom under the supervision of our teachers, and the President is speaking at 12:00 p.m. (noon) our time. Because many of our students will be at lunch, we will record the speech and show it in our classrooms on Wednesday, September 9th. Again, for those parents who wish to exclude their children from the speech, the forms must be returned to your campus principal by Wednesday morning, September 9, 2009 in order to allow us time to make appropriate arrangements for students.

The President’s unprecedented approach has created unique issues for schools across the nation. I would like to hear your opinion as to how we have handled this. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to hearing from you about this matter.

Dwain York, WISD Superintendent

As we reported in today’s print story, Obama’s address, which is billed as a direct speech to children on the importance of education, set off a nationwide wave of phone calls from parents who were concerned their students might be forced to watch. The speech is scheduled to air at 11 a.m. on Tuesday on the White House Web site, www.whitehouse.gov.