Oops. Administrators at the Bronx High School for Performance and Stagecraft are in hot water with the DOE after they allowed the Barack Obama campaign to film students discussing a class assignment based on Obama's "Yes We Can" speech. It's against DOE policy for schools to be used in political or promotional films; the 13-minute film has been circulated as a fundraising pitch by the Obama campaign. In addition, students are identified by their full names, and several say they are 9th graders — it's unclear whether the campaign sought releases from those students and their families before filming.Principal Mark Sweeting said he knew the film was against the rules but that getting students to become politically engaged and informed was worth the potential consequences. I agree with Sweeting that inspiring kids to think critically about race and to see themselves as integral to the political process is a great thing. And I think the DOE's rules can be constricting for schools that want to publicize their work. But in this case, I am worried that structuring a class assignment around the speech of a particular candidate and then offering students the chance to speak about that assignment on behalf of that candidate creates a coercive environment that's inappropriate for the classroom.