COLTS NECK - As public speeches go, Linda McMahon's address at Cedar Drive Middle School Friday morning was pretty tame. Or perhaps it was what you'd expect the nation's Education Secretary to say to sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

"This is just a wonderful, wonderful school," McMahon said after touring classes where language arts, civics and robotics were being taught. She then talked about the American Revolution and New Jersey's role in it. Five New Jerseyans, she told students, signed the Declaration of Independence. That Revolution was won on the battlefield, but it was also won by "ideas," - the ideas of freedom, democracy and self-determination. She also played a game with students modeled after the Family Feud TV show.

McMahon is touring schools in all 50 states as part of the nation's upcoming 250th birthday. McMahon is trying to visit states in the order in which they joined the union. Which is why New Jersey was among the first visited - and also why it will be a while before McMahon gets to Hawaii.

If the above was the story. this may not be a story.

But in today's polarized political world, the story was very much what was happening outside the cozy confines of the school gym.

As soon as the visit was announced a few days ago, a petition opposing it was launched. Some of the opponents braved the morning's frosty temperatures and demonstrated outside

One of them, Kyler Dineen of nearby Old Bridge, founded a group called NJ Voters for Church and State Separation. She said she objected to what she saw as a "religious motivation" in McMahon's visit.

The likely impetus for that is not specifically McMahon, but her status as a member of President Trump's Cabinet.

It is the president who wants to eliminate the very education department that McMahon runs. Critics say this shows the Administration's indifference to public education.

In talking with a small group of reporters (more about that later) afterwards, McMahon acknowledged that she plans to be the nation's last education secretary. The president thinks education works best when it is overseen locally, she said.

She told a story - credited to a former governor of Oklahoma - in which the punchline was that many people managed to graduate high school prior to the creation of the federal Education Department in 1979. Not a bad sound byte, but it doesn't go very far. Many senior citizens managed to stay alive in the 1950's, but the creation of Medicare in 1965 certainly helps them do that.

Just prior to McMahon's visit, Democratic state Sen. Vin Gopal, whose district includes Colts Neck, released a statement lambasting not the secretary, but the school board. Here is part of it:

"Since this majority has taken office in Colts Neck - the Board of Education has only focused on politics. Their entire tenure on the board has been focused on politics. ....

“We have seen the Colts Neck Board of Education do nothing productive as it relates to the actual education of their children. What have they done on mental health? Special education? Improving grades and scores on math and science? The answer is nothing. They are the most partisan group of elected officials I have ever seen. They are full of hypocrisy - talking about ‘indoctrination’ when they are illegally attempting to force these children to sit through a political event rather than getting their education. Dozens of Colts Neck parents have reached out to me. Even many who actually hold very conservative beliefs, are outraged at what these politicians are doing to their kids."

Asked about some of the local critics, McMahon said:

"I wish they could have been here today, because they would have seen that it is clearly not about politics."

She said her school tour is designed to stress civics, history and patriotism, which she said crosses all partisan lines.

McMahon spoke to only four news outlets - News 12, NJ.com, Jersey Shore Online and InsiderNJ. Other news outlets reportedly showed up, but were not allowed inside the school.

A similar problem revolved around a special board of education meeting called for 7:45 a.m. All board meetings have to be formally opened in public, but some would-be attendees said they were not allowed in. That has sparked promises of a protest at the board's next regular meeting on Dec. 17.

Board members attended the assembly, but did not speak to reporters afterwards.

Angelique Volpe, the board president, has not yet responded to an email about media attendance and the board meeting.