Why Sidwell Firends? The cost of an Adequate Education.

I was talking to my little sister the other day. She tells me the amount of money she pays for her son to attend the prestigious Browning School in Manhattan is pretty much the same as a year's tuition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Obama's will shell out similarly.

This from Ed Week:

Obamas Pick Private School,

Citing 'Fit,' Security, Privacy

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have chosen a private school for their two daughters, opting for an institution that another White House child, Chelsea Clinton, attended a decade ago.

Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will be attending Sidwell Friends School, a private, Quaker school with a campus in northwest Washington for grades 5-12 and another in suburban Bethesda, Md., for kindergarten through 4th grade. Malia is in 5th grade and Sasha is in 2nd grade...

[An Obama aide] said Sidwell Friends can provide the security and privacy that the girls will need as part of the new first family. Tuition is $28,442 at the lower school and $29,442 at the middle and upper schools.

Obama Girls Will Go To Sidwell Friends

This from the Washington Post:

Elite Private School Is 'Best Fit' for

Next First Family

The middle school at Sidwell Friends,

which is used to accommodating

children of high-powered politicians.

Continuing a tradition among Washington's power elite, President-elect Barack Obama and his wife have decided to send their kids to Sidwell Friends School. Michelle Obama confirmed yesterday that Malia and Sasha, the incoming first daughters, will enroll at the pricey private school when the family moves into the White House in January.

Although Mrs. Obama has said that public schools were under consideration and consulted with D.C. school officials, the decision narrowed this week after she and the girls visited Sidwell and the private Georgetown Day School. Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, visited classes and met with students while their mother talked with administration officials and parents. Mrs. Obama also visited both schools last week when she came to Washington with her husband to tour the White House and meet with President and Mrs. Bush.

At Sidwell, the Obama girls will be following in the footsteps of Chelsea Clinton, who attended and graduated from the Quaker school during the eight years her father, Bill Clinton, was president. The last presidential child to attend Washington public schools in modern times was Amy Carter.

"A number of great schools were considered," Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman, said in a statement yesterday. "In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now." ...

School of choice for Obama girls?

This from Gregg Toppo at USA Today, Photo by Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images:

WASHINGTON — Great news for the Obamas: If they want to strike a populist note and send their two daughters to a District of Columbia public school, there are lots of choices.

But will they have to get in line like everyone else for the most
sought-after schools?

As a candidate, President-elect Barack Obama praised D.C. schools
chancellor Michelle Rhee as "a wonderful new superintendent" who is "working very hard with the young mayor there." Rhee, 38, has moved quickly in the 17 months since Mayor Adrian Fenty hired her, firing excess staff and ineffective principals and undertaking a large school consolidation plan.

What if Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, want to follow in the footsteps of Amy Carter, the last presidential child to attend a D.C. public school? Carter attended historic Thaddeus Stevens Elementary, six blocks from the White House.

Hold on a second: It's closed. Rhee shuttered it last winter in the consolidation.

How about a charter school? Obama has championed these publicly funded, privately run schools, bragging that he doubled the number of charters in Illinois.

There's a great charter school just four blocks north of the White House: SAIL, the School for Arts in Learning. But it's for "children with learning differences." There are plenty more choices, though.

In a sense, the Obamas face a dilemma that many upper-middle-class families do in most big cities: Open, egalitarian systems offer lots of school choices — but the best ones fill up fast (and admission each fall is by lottery if applicants outnumber slots). Still, few can match the offerings of pricey private schools.

Mary Lord, a member of D.C.'s State Board of Education, suggests several neighborhood schools, including Strong John Thomson Elementary, just seven blocks from the White House (it houses a Chinese language immersion program); Ross Elementary, about a mile north; and Oyster Bilingual School, a Spanish immersion school.

"My advice: Check it out," she says. "Go put your nose in there. Walk in the door."

It's unlikely the Obamas will choose a charter school, but if they do, says Brian Jones of the city's Public Charter School Board, the first family would have to tread lightly to avoid the impression that they "inappropriately jumped the line" to score two slots.

This year, 1,900 D.C. kids attend private schools with a congressional voucher that faces the chopping block. What if the Obama girls go the private school route, as many predict? Would President Obama soften his stance against it? Jones hopes so: "I'd love to see President Obama stand up and support the D.C. voucher law so that low-income kids in the city could have that same opportunity."

On Monday, Michelle Obama flew to Washington ahead of her husband and visited the private Georgetown Day School.

The Obama Girls' New School

Well the search is on. Where will President-elect and Michelle Obama send their girls to school?

How likely is it that the Obamas will seek a public school whose highest priority is success on the state test?

Unlike most of us who want our children to attend a safe school, the Obamas must also consider a school with an even higher level of security - one that has worked effectively with the secret service - without overly affecting the experience of all of the children.

Is Michelle Rhee on the phone begging them to consider her best public school? ...or whatever school serves 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Or do they look for another private school; smaller classes; select student population; the ability to meet and deal with school staff to resolve issues without policy getting in the way?

Based on Sasha and Malia's previous attendance at John Dewey's Laboratory School at the University of Chicago, it's a pretty good guess they will "go private."

But how do parents choose? What do they look for? Here's some advice that may help the rest of us choose a school for our children.

Start with the school's principal and the culture he or she has established in the school. The principal's philosophy and attitude toward education will tell parents a lot about how the school "does business," whether all children are truly valued, and how problems are resolved at the school.

The principal determines the atmosphere in the school and his or her views are essential for the school to become an efficacious learning environment. Children benefit greatly from a safe, stimulating and supportive school experience. It is also important to consider how the principal responds to parental concerns. Does the school maintain a responsive environment? How does the school respond to students' special learning needs?

Then turn quickly to the quality of the faculty. There is probably nothing more important to the future success of students than the quality of the faculty. Are the teachers friendly and helpful? How are communications among parents and teachers sustained? Are parents truly partners? Does the school present a welcoming attitude toward all of its students and parents?

Like the principal, the teachers must be properly evaluated in a professional manner that inspires confidence that the faculty is working cooperatively to achieve its goals. In such an environment it is alright to ask questions - and parents should. How are children assessed? What is the homework policy? Does the faculty include specialists, like psychologists, counselors or speech therapists who can address a child's special needs?

It is essential that teachers demonstrate a willingness to go the extra mile to assure that students receive extra help when necessary, and a pat on the back regularly.

High standards + effective instruction = success and confidence.

A school's reputation, if earned, can also play a major role in discerning whether it is the best school for your child. Becoming a reputable and notable learning institution is a product of excellence over time. Parents and students who say they like their school - and parents who encourage other parents to send their children to the school - produces a strong support group that can powerfully direct children along the right path.

There is an old saying school folks have shared with parents over the years: "If you will believe half of what your children tell you about us, we will agree to believe half of what they tell us about you." There will always be some percentage of disgruntled folk; sometimes parents need to be told, "No." But that percentage ought to be small. Generally, pay attention to what the students say about their teachers, the quality of the work, school security, student activities any other issue that concerns the school.

A strong working relationship among attentive parents, high-quality teachers and responsive school administrators is the key to a great school.

In Schools, Election Is a Living History Lesson

This from Education Week, photo by Christopher Powers:

For students at two suburban Washington high schools, Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president was an inspiring example of history in the making. Chanell Richardson, a 17-year-old senior at Potomac Senior High School in Dumfries, Va., couldn’t contain herself last night when CNN announced that Mr. Obama would be the next president of the United States.

“I ran outside, in the rain, screaming Obama ’08! Obama ’08!” Ms. Richardson said this morning. “I didn’t go to sleep last night. I was too excited.” But, wired on caffeine and the knowledge that the candidate she supported had succeeded in his quest for the White House, she had no problem making it to school. And Ms. Richardson, who served as a volunteer at a polling place, steering voters to the correct lines and handing out “I Voted” stickers, confessed that she has fledgling political aspirations of her own.

“I’m interested in public policy now,” she said. “I want to be like Michelle Obama. I love her.” ...