Assembly Featuring Rick Santorum at Grosse Pointe South Canceled

An assembly at Grosse Pointe South High School has been canceled planned for April 24 in which 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum was the featured speaker.

Santorum was a Republican candidate representing the conservatives he felt did not have a voice, according to his website.

The cancellation came Monday after district officials requested a copy of Santorum's speech and were denied access, district spokeswoman Rebecca Fannon said Tuesday afternoon.

Outlaw sent an email to parents Monday notifying them of the cancellation and explaining they should plan for their children to have a routine school day instead.

The email, shared with Patch by multiple parents, says the cancellation is the result of some staff sharing additional information about Santorum as well as other factors and says district Superintendent Tom Harwood is supportive of the decision.

Outlaw was asked to defer comment to Fannon.

Fannon said via email the other reasons for the cancellation include:

• Santorum's speaking engagement history, which does not include a school across the country
• Previous speakers, such as Martin Luther King Jr., spoke after school hours
• School-day activities should remain neutral given the district is public and such a speaker is not neutral

According to the website for the student organization Young Americans for Freedom, the event was sponsored and planned by the organization. The organization is for politically conservative students and there are chapters at both North and South high schools.

Patch is attempting to gather more information about why Santorum offered to speak at Grosse Pointe South.

The decision to not have Santorum speak is concerning to a vareity of Grosse Pointers--some parents and some politically active residents, all of whom sent emails to Patch. Not all of them were supportive of Santorum.

Among the concerns:

• Santorum is being turned away because of teachers political leanings
• Santorum is being turned away because he was invited by an active political student organization

This article was updated Tuesday April 9, 2013 at 5:17 p.m. after the school district released more information about the cancellation.