The US first lady is planning a visit to the New York Stock Exchange next week and ring the famous opening bell, with Melania’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham enthusiastically telling CNN:
“Mrs Trump will be taking part in an iconic New York City tradition, and encouraging children to be best, through her initiative". Grisham added that Melania will be accompanied by several children from the UN International School (UNIS), but some parents don't appear to be very keen on seeing their kids in FLOTUS’s company.
According to the arrangements, only 10 children were to be invited as volunteers, but parents increasingly voiced concerns that their offspring could be used a political props if associated, even temporarily, with Melania, New York Daily News reported. The latter, they feared, could signal a political endorsement of her husband, President Trump, with the concerns felt even more amidst ongoing campaigns ahead of the 2020 vote. However, the school hit back arguing the aims of the school accepting the invitation are totally different, adding over 90 families had volunteered.
The school authorities responded to concerned parents with a letter posted to Facebook on Thursday. Executive Director Dan Brenner put the message in a very discreet way:
"Given who we are as a school community we considered the potentially sensitive nature of this request and how it might cause a strong reaction from some of our parents and students".
The United Nations, Brenner went on, "stands for giving voice to differing opinions and positions". That was the reason the school accepted the invitation, he wrote, "while making clear that any participation would be fully voluntary".
One parent cited by the aforementioned edition objected to the event, noting that the school had grief counseling following the outcome of the 2016 election.
@FLOTUS @MELANIATRUMP Invite children from appreciative families. Why would a school associated with the UN even be considered? https://t.co/PF2p9c68sn
— Rack City (@CityMitch93) September 18, 2019
Predrag Vasic, a UN public information officer, stated in a letter to a UN undersecretary-general his "disappointment" with "the decision to accept this invitation”.
Who could blame them? Parents don’t want their children used as political props like Trump and Melania did with the INFANT after the Massacre in El Paso.
— Jeannie Hartley (@Jeannie_Hartley) September 18, 2019
Parents at UN school don’t want their kids photographed with Melania Trump - https://t.co/GgFeXYNIYI
He implied schooling should leave no room for politicisation:
“I no longer have children in the Junior School, but the concern that I share with many other parents is that those children aren't only representing themselves and their parents; they are representing our school, and all of us as the UNIS community", he noted at length, stressing the UN school, which is known for its rigorous inclusive internationally recognised programmes, shouldn’t have accepted the White House’s invitation.
“The kids’ appearance together with the First Lady confers, by extension, on this US administration, the endorsement of our school and our community", Vasic asserted in his letter.
Melania, despite keeping a rather low profile as the US First Lady, is deeply engaged in her BeBest campaign, which marked its one-year anniversary this past May. It is aimed at boosting children's overall well-being, online safety, and diminishing their exposure to the raging opioid epidemic.
FLOTUS will tour the NYSE and ring the bell, which happens Monday through to Friday at 9:30am EDT. The iconic tradition has been upheld since the late 1800s with many from the political and business elite eagerly partaking.
