Surprise! Obama shows up at Sasha’s parent-teacher conference
By Dave Cook | 10.19.09
Behind the scenes Monday, presidential advisers focused on US policy in Afghanistan and efforts to meld multiple healthcare reform bills into a single version for each chamber. But President Obama was making two surprise visits to Maryland schools, chatting about his daughter and playing book critic with grade-schoolers.
Mr. Obama’s day began with an early morning motorcade to the private Sidwell Friends School in nearby Bethesda, Md., for a parent-teacher conference for daughter Sasha. The school had been told Michelle Obama would be on hand, but the president’s presence was a surprise, the White House press office said. The half hour trip was not accompanied by the usual sirens and blocked intersections, with the first family stopping at red lights along the route.
Later in the morning the president headed to Viers Mill Elementary School in suburban Silver Spring, Md., for an unannounced visit with third and fourth graders at lunch. Press assistant Ben Finkenbinder told the travel pool that the school was picked because it was the first school with a large concentration of low income students in Montgomery County to win the National Blue Ribbon for significantly closing the achievement gap. It won the award in 2005.
For this jaunt, the president’s trip through Washington traffic was speeded along by police cars blocking intersections, keeping other drivers away from the president.
Presidential book reviews
Pool reporter George Condon of Congress Daily said the president asked each student what he or she was reading. One student said “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” The president said, “Sasha and Malia loved that. They think it is hilarious.”
When another student said “Goosebumps,” Mr. Obama said a couple of other kids had said that was good. “I haven’t read it,” the president admitted. One student was reading Harry Potter. The president said, “Malia and I read the Harry Potter books. We thought those were pretty good.” As he left each table, the president said, “You guys keep on reading, alright?”
At one point, the president noted that just yesterday he had seen Spike Jonze’s movie adaptation of the classic children’s book, “Where the Wild Things Are.” The First Movie Critic said, “That’s a great book” and proclaimed of the movie, “It’s worth seeing.” The White House has its own movie theater, off of a ground floor walkway near the East Wing.
Saving jobs in education
While the president was chatting up third and fourth graders on the value of reading, in the press room his aides were pitching reporters on how the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was saving education jobs around the country.
Jared Bernstein, chief economist and economic policy adviser to the vice president, said that preliminary data from states showed that 250,000 education jobs were saved or created as a result of Recovery Act spending. “This is a subset of the 1 million jobs saved or created thus far through the act, leaving us solidly on track to accomplish our stated goal of saving or creating 3-1/2 million jobs by later next year,” Mr. Bernstein said.
Melody Barnes, the president’s domestic policy adviser, argued that “we were able to avert massive class expansion, class size expansion, something that we’ve been concerned about in the educational context, for quite some time, and also to provide needed services when it comes to math and literacy.”
She said some $39.8 billion in recovery act funds have been earmarked for K through 12 education. The number of jobs saved so far ranges from 4,000 in New York City to 1,944 in Miami-Dade County to 242 in Indianapolis, she said.
—–
Follow us on Twitter.
<< Sunday shows - David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett | MainComments
2. Tom | 10.20.09
The real story is that they send their children to a respected private school, but continue to make it impossible for low-income families to do the same.
3. B. Fuller | 10.20.09
I think it’s worth noting the President and his wife, Michelle, with all their special demands and pressures, continue to carry out their parental responsibilities consistent with most parents albeit with an extraordinary support system appropriate to his position. Further, they both use their prominence to motivate and excite a lot of children about educational fundamentals, like reading. Go Prez! Go Michelle!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. betty | 10.19.09
Aot of parents attend conferences whats so big about these two doing it?
Must we go through media praising them for doing whateverybody does
?