Matt L. has been published again, this time in the New York Times. Below is the letter, or you can see it on the Times site here.

To the Editor:

Re: "Classrooms Find Lessons in Obama’s Inauguration" (news article, Jan. 16):

While schools nationwide gear up to acknowledge the inauguration of America’s 44th president, Barack Obama, it is important that they highlight the historical lessons of this particular inauguration and steer clear of any whiff of partisanship.

Not all families voted for Mr. Obama, and the larger lesson of America’s journey through the race landscape needs to be kept front and center.

Slaves built the White House, Bull Connor blasted hoses at peaceful African-American demonstrators in the civil rights era, and Rodney King endured a beating at the hands of white police officers in the early 1990s. Now, America readies to bear witness to the peaceful transfer of power to Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American president.

Whether schools close, or bring together the community to watch the inauguration live, schools need to scaffold the history behind this incredible moment in America so as not to lose the teachable moment in the minefield of political partisanship.

Matt Levinson
Hillsborough, Calif., Jan.
16, 2009

The writer is head of the middle school at the Nueva School.