<p>There have been several articles including one in the NYT today about which DC private the girls will attend. I’m surprised that the Obama’s are not even planning to look at any publics. Can they say it’s all about security rather than the condition of public schools in the US today?</p>
<p>If you were moving to DC would you enroll your children in the public schools there?</p>
<p>Weren’t they in private school in Chicago, as well?</p>
<p>They were indeed in a private school associated with the U of Chicago.</p>
<p>Interesting things going on in the DC district. The fairly new superintendent, Ms. Rhee, is speaking of a plan to replace tenure with something else. This could result in a rocky time in the district, and thus the Obama’s desire for a private schoo.</p>
<p>As strongly as I believe in public schools, I certainly don’t think the Obamas should choose public schools for their girls. Security being the primary reason.</p>
<p>Public school in DC? You must be kidding. It was never on Obama’s radar.</p>
<p>Actually, there are several reports that they HAVE been in touch with public school administrators to discuss possible enrollment. See: [The</a> Associated Press: Obamas discuss public school options for daughters](<a href=“http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5imLzxaKethq9jESypo6YoZPNL0yAD94DM58G0]The”>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5imLzxaKethq9jESypo6YoZPNL0yAD94DM58G0)</p>
<p>However, even though I am a strong supporter of public schools - and sent both my own kids to public school - I think it would represent a security nightmare – I think it would be a huge mistake, both for the girls’ safety and for their privacy. I think the Obama girls are particularly at risk because of the high level of threats that have been made to Obama. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that Secret Service agents are also at risk – they are the ones who are in the line of fire when they are trying to protect their charge. So I think that the Obama’s not only have to consider the safety and security of their daughters, but also should (in fairness) avoid making a choice that will make things harder for the agents whose job it is to watch over them.</p>
<p>Interesting ideas. I’m pretty sure Chelsea Clinton attended a private Quaker school. Can we build a database - kids under 18 in the White House: schools attended?</p>
<p>Actually, there are several high performing schools in the DC school system. In fact, the Obama’s have at least considered one of them. However, as several posters have mentioned, security would be extraordinarily difficult and these girls deserve to be safe.</p>
<p>I totally agree their security comes first, yet why are privates schools more secure necessarily? I’m just playing devil’s advocate, all of my kids attended privates as we also live in a place where public schools have in generally been poor. Yet even in NYC there are publics now that those with choice consider.</p>
<p>I’m just not sure how presidents identify with mainstream America’s struggle to educate their kids while sending their kids to elite schools. The NYT article reported, true or false, that they were not considering public.</p>
<p>Chelsea attended Sidwell Friends. That would be my choice, but my daughter attended one of the other Friends schools and I’m a big fan. </p>
<p>Amy Carter went to public schools I believe. Maybe this is just a rumor but I remember hearing or reading that she wasn’t allowed outside during recess or breaks for security reasons and that is one of the reasons the Clintons chose a private school.</p>
<p>I like the quaker schools too.</p>
<p>I don’t think any president can personally relate to mainstream struggles that exist in public education (given they having been down different paths for a very long time and while in the Whitehouse, life is sooo far from normal on every dimension). Even if Obama’s kids were in public school, it would be such an entirely different experience for them that it would be a very inaccurate proxy for the real thing.</p>
<p>I guess I’m just idealistic, I want to see the Obama’s make a major departure from the way things have been done.</p>
<p>Amy Carter attended a D.C. public school, and attended class with one of my graduate school professors.</p>
<p>Chelsea Clinton attended Sidwell Friends, a private, Quaker, school, and was a classmate of one of my friend’s daughters.</p>
<p>D.C. public schools now have a horrible reputation, and I highly doubt if the Obamas will send their girls to one. I don’t blame them a bit.</p>
<p>"The school choice will be the most important decision the Obamas make on the girls’ behalf, historians say. Amy Carter attended a public school to bolster her father’s everyman image, but she struggled making friends and was not allowed to play outside during recess because the playground was too close to the street.</p>
<p>The Clintons avoided such problems by enrolling their daughter, Chelsea, at Sidwell Friends, a private Quaker-run school where she was a National Merit Scholarship finalist in 1997. The Obamas are expected to consider the same K-12, coeducational school for their daughters."</p>
<p>[American</a> Girls: For Obama’s daughters, White House life isn’t going to be normal – chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-first-family-07-nov07,0,6338748.story]American”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-first-family-07-nov07,0,6338748.story)</p>
<p>Susan Ford attended Holton-Arms, a private girls’ school in Bethesda, Md.</p>
<p>hmom5, the security difference comes in a lot of ways, starting with physical structure. Some private schools are basically in gated off areas, in buildings that are well back from the street – so it is easy to make sure that no unauthorized people get onto the grounds. </p>
<p>The Obamas live directly across the street from a Jewish Synagogue in Chicago, and now the Rabbi there has had to provide the government with a list of names of all their members, and the members have to provide ID and go through metal detectors every time they show up for services. They are all willing to do so – after all, they are probably all very proud of their famous neighbor – but that is just an illustration of what happens when the Secret Service is looking to protect someone. It’s not just the building itself, it is all the neighboring buildings that get impacted.</p>
<p>the girls’ education should not be expected to make a statement about their father or anyone else. It should be what’s best for them, given the facts as they stand. Anyone here knows that i am a huge fan of public education, and sent my kids to public schools that most CC’ers, given a chance, would have avoided. Despite that, I recognize, as many here have, that the security arrangements have to be paramount, and that the education decisions belong to the family alone, not us.</p>
<p>Obama can advocate for good public education without running a lab in his home. If he were the head of the Ed. department I would feel differently, but that person had a choice of where he/she lives. The Obamas do not.</p>
<p>Let’s go back to picking out their pets:), and let them make decisions for the girls in private.</p>
<p>I think security issues trump all, and a private school is far better able to accommodate the security issues. It’s not fair to put that burden on a public school.</p>
<p>There are some good public schools in D.C., but I think the hard fact is that it would be very difficult for the President’s children to attend them. Yes, Amy Carter’s freedom of movement was severely restricted when she attended public school because of security concerns. A school like Sidwell Friends is set up to handle the security issues in a way that is much more comfortable for the child. And on top of that the faculty, administrators, and students there have a lot more experience and comfort with celebrity students – they can have something much more closely approximating a normal educational and social experience there. (And they are good schools, of course.)</p>