President Barack Obama’s live video speech to students in elementary and high schools sparked controversy in Valley schools Tuesday, as many school districts allowed parents to pull their children out of school or opted not to show it at all.

The speech, which was delivered by Obama from a high school in Arlington, Va., has been scrutinized and debated by school districts across the nation since it was announced last week.

Obama’s address to students focused on the merits of hard work and attentiveness in class, which he said will translate into successful careers.

“You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job,” Obama said. “You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.”

But critics, including state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, said the discussion questions accompanying the speech seemed “worshipful” of Obama in tone.

“There is nothing in the White House materials about approaching the speech critically or engaging in any critical thinking whatsoever,” Horne said in a press release. “But only adopting a reverent approach to everything they are told.”

Horne cited questions in the materials asking students “how [Obama] inspires you” as examples.

State Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Scottsdale, who sits on the House Education Committee, said she supports the message given in the speech, but said the White House’s study materials imposed too much on classroom discussion.

“It also entails other study activities — directions for teachers on how to follow up, which questions to ask,” Barto said. “I think that’s a bit directive coming from the president.”

One ASU faculty member said she was shocked when administrators at the Tempe Montessori School, where her daughter is a third-grader, sent out an e-mail to parents on Friday afternoon saying they would not show the live airing of the speech.

Professor Stephanie Downie, who teaches English on the Tempe campus, said school officials claimed they did not air the speech because they were unable to review it beforehand. By that time, however, the White House had released a transcript of the address on its Web site, which prompted Downie to write a letter to the administrators.

“I sent her an e-mail saying, ‘Actually, you can preview the speech,’” Downie said. “‘[And] if you guys decide not to preview the speech, I’ll know you were being disingenuous.’”

The school then sent an e-mail out Monday night saying the speech would be recorded and shown by instructors at their discretion. Administrators said they wanted instructors to be prepared to facilitate in-class discussion.

“This is in no way intended to censor the material, rather to be properly prepared,” administrator Sherri Sanford said in an e-mail.

Downie said officials at Montessori, a charter school that relies partly on private donations, may have been wary of upsetting parents who were unhappy about the speech for political reasons.

“This is a school that depends heavily on financial support from the families,” Downie said. “They may have been worried about alienating some of the families who showed reservations about [the speech].”

School districts in Mesa and Scottsdale allowed parents uncomfortable with the speech to request their children be pulled out of class when the speech was shown. Tempe school administrators said they screened the speech but allowed parents to bring their children to school after it had been given.

Monica Allread, a spokeswoman for the Tempe Elementary School District, said 17 of its 12,500 students did not come to school until after the speech aired.

Cathy Bareiss, a spokeswoman for the Mesa Public School District, said the option to take students out of class was part of the district’s “alternate curriculum” policy, which allows parents to keep their children from reading or viewing what they see as objectionable school material.

“When we received calls from people who objected to the speech, we told them they could fill out a form letting us know they didn’t want their kids in class while it was going on,” Bareiss said.

The Arizona School Boards Association, which represents 1,200 school boards across the state, encouraged schools to screen the speech, which spokeswoman Tracy Benson characterized as “nonpartisan,” but allowed the boards to make their own decisions.

Benson said the speech falls in line with the association’s mission promoting high student achievement and informed citizenship in schools.

“We believe it was an educational, non-political event, but we also believe the choice to participate must be a local one,” she said.

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.