What were school officials thinking?

This boggles the mind - the students in the schools with the lowest graduation rates such as Aurora West and Aurora East (75 percent and 71 percent respectively) - were not allowed to hear President Obama's speech.

This speech challenged students "to work hard, stay in school and dramatically reduce the dropout rate," according to an administration spokesman. Here was the perfect opportunity to reach the very students who need it most. What were the administrators thinking?

Marianne Hofmann

Naperville