President Obama addressed our nation's school kids Tuesday. While his speech covered topics like staying in school, some felt there was an alterior motive behind his message.

"This isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country," says President Obama.

Tuesday morning Obama encouraged students, like many at Dakota Valley High School in North Sioux City, to work hard and take responsibility for their education.

Despite the intended positive message, Dakota Valley's Superintendent said parents on both sides seemed to have similar concerns about the speech.

"They didn't know what the President was going to say. And they were concerned because of what they had read from other people, or what they had heard from other people of what potentially was going to be done." says Superintendent Al Leber.

Their decision: host a mass viewing in the high school auditorium, but give parents the option to pull their kids out. Of the 250 high school kids, only a handful sat out.

"I wanted to see what he had to say, because obviously it's going to affect us. He might not have said anything like, 'By the way, we're enacting a law.' but it's still something we need to know or something he obviously felt strongly about to tell us about." says Senior Allyssa Wall.

"He is our President of the United States. And he was elected, and he does have something to say. And he addressed a good point today. And I think all kids should have been able to see it and should have really took from what he had to say."

Students who chose not to view the speech were allowed to work independently until it was over. In fact, if parents have an opposition to any speaker at the high school, their children are allowed to sit out.

Elementary and middle school kids at Dakota Valley didn't watch the speech live today, but will have the option to watch a taped version over the next couple of days after parents have had a chance to review the speech.