UPDATED with new information.
It seems the Obama’s have chosen the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC for their daughters, Malia and Sasha, to attend while they are living in the White House. You can read more about Sidwell Friends, see great photos, and a video below.
Malia and Sasha Obama
UPDATED 1/5/09: Today, the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, began their first day at Sidwell Friends. Of course there was a gaggle of journalists camped out to capture the moment. There wasn’t much to see though, and knowing The One’s ability to stage a moment, this was most likely by design. School officials and the Obamas went about their business, without acknowledging the press contingent on the sidewalk.
Michelle Obama first dropped off Malia, 10, a fifth-grader, at Sidwell’s DC campus. Then the caravan of black SUVs headed to the school’s Bethesda site to drop off Sasha, 7, who is a second grader. They were flanked by Secret Service and school officials of course. It seems the Obama daughters will already have friends at the school, vice-president elect Joe Biden has grandchildren there.
The Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC is considered one of the best private schools in the city and was on the short list for the Obama’s consideration. In fact, the Obamas didn’t even pretend to consider public schools. It was, after all, where Chelsea Clinton attended and since so much of the Clinton Administration is being co-oped into hopechangery, why not the kids’ school too for gosh sakes? But who can really blame them with all of the security issues surrounding a First Family. Right?
The last White House child to go to public school was Amy Carter and it wasn’t exactly normal. She couldn’t go outdoors for recess and even the shortest of the Secret Service men couldn’t help being obvious. The Obama daughters - Malia age 10 and Sasha age 7 - are the youngest to move into the White House since the Kennedy children.
Sidwell Friends is actually a pre-K through 12 grade Quaker school of 1,100 students with tuition said to be upwards of $32,000 a year including fees. All the students attend Quaker ‘meetings’ for worship weekly. Academically, the program is geared to the mastery of basic language arts and mathematical skills and encourages individual creative expression. The school boasts famous alumni such as Chelsea Clinton as mentioned, Barney Frank, Charlie Gibson, Bill Nye that Science Guy, Charles Limbergh, the Nixon daughters, Julie and Tricia, Nancy Reagan and many others.
This was first posted on 11/21/08.
Obama Daughters Photos
Obama Daughters Video
November 21st, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Quaker…hm, that’s interesting. I’m not surprised that the girls are going to a private school - for security, I’m glad of it.
It’s just so inconsistent for someone who spouts socialistic principles to take advantage of something only the privileged have access to. The leftist illuminati spread discord a la Alinsky about the inaccessibility of opportunity, but it’s a different situation when one’s own family is involved.
Say what you will about the problems of the McCain campaign, but I always felt that at least, in terms of the military, McCain and Palin had children in the military - something they could share with other Americans, and something that would inform their decision making processes.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
reagankid
i think at all costs malia and sasha need to be kept safe. i also think they should be well educated.
but i also think that about all our kids.
November 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Who cares what school the Obama kids attend. Great that their parents can afford $32 grand a year to send them there. Too bad all American children don’t have the same opportunity for a first class educcation.
November 21st, 2008 at 8:30 pm
So public schools are good enough for us but not for them? What hypocrites.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
If I were in the Obama’s shoes, my reasoning would be similar to theirs. It involves no hypocrisy at all, but three important considerations. First, their children should get a first-class education at an institution also experienced in handling their security needs. Second, all children deserve a first class education, and this requires far more support, at all levels of government, for public education than is currently available - a policy President-elect Obama is likely to promote. Third, among public school systems, Washington DC ranks very low in terms of quality and safety. I think it would take considerable political bias to see a conflict between support for improving public schools and a decision not to send one’s child to a public school which has not yet been given the support it needs to provide a high quality education.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Why were “security” and “public schools” converted into advertising hyperlinks in my comments above?
Fred Moolten
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
who said public schools are good enuff for us? or were good enuff. look at us now? but obama prolly works 80 hours a week and will be on call every hour of the week so he deserves the exta pay to at least give them a premium education. 40 hour a week jobs just don’t pay enough to raise a family anymore, nor even the mortgage on a cheap to middling condo. Guess it won’t pay for much of an american car much longer either.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Well, let’s hope they don’t grow up to spend 32K on one bottle of vodka, like Bush’s daughters like to do.
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
@MCCAIN:
Oh come on.
If it were you, would you *really* send your kids to public school? PSs can hardly provide enough security for the *average* student, much less the First Children. The most important factor here is security, and Sidwell is prepared to, and has proven to be able to, accommodate/provide it.
Even if they *were* to go to public school as some show of working-class solidarity or whatever, their security would shut. That. School. DOWN. Everything would grind to a halt. Imagine the hundreds of other regular kids whose education would suffer. Imagine recess. Field trips. Lab class.
And it’s worth noting that these children are 7 and 10 years old. What have they done to have their young lives turned upside down? Nothing. Their parents OWE them the most normal childhood possible. And that ain’t gonna happen at a public school. Not now.
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
@ Fred:
Because C.R.E.A.M.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:09 am
I don’t think they should be in private school until all parents and students in the DC system have the same choice with school vouchers. Just because he is President and rich is not a reason.
It is more of Do as I say not as I do.
So far, no change and no hope for change. Still waiting.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:50 am
No change. Obamas are hypocrites.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
You don’t get it. The change was until election day. Now it’s just business as usual.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Edward Phillips;
“Well, let’s hope they don’t grow up to spend 32K on one bottle of vodka, like Bush’s daughters like to do.”
And you grew up to pi$$ away 50 cents a day on koolaid.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Edward,
They will be taught to drink the same koolaid you drink everyday. But they won’t live it because they have money. People with money make the rules. They don’t follow them.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Hey Mcain, You don’t live near D.C. do you. Because if you did you would know that maybe one public school in D.C. might be able to handle the job but that would only be a high school and that would be Wilson High school. The state of public primary schools in D.C. is pathetice and the worst in the country.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Very good point, William but begs the question. By sending his kids to public school like everyone else, Obama could educate himself enough to realize that privatization and vouchers are fantastic ideas. Largess government neophytes like Obama are responsible for the problem you describe. Why not put himself in a position to better fix it?
January 7th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
because we’re talking about CHILDREN. Why should the security of the girls be at stake for petty politics? They are not a banner to be flown on a flagpole, and the bottom line is their safety is more important than making the ignorant happy by putting the girls at risk in a public school. Have you ever seen “Children of Men”? Mccain, you remind me fondly of the Fishes.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:11 am
How bout this ?
I’ll toss it out there just for conversations sake.
Obama could send his girls to a public school and then take the 60,000.00 he would of used for tuitions at Sidewells and apply it to security details at whatever school the girls are going to ?
They’ll automatically have secret service and then the additional 60,000.00 that would of gone to Sidewells could be used to enhance security.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Micky,
You are not thinking like a rich snob? You are thinking like someone with common sense. Now cut that out. There will be none of that for the 4 years.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
A Quaker belief is that there is God in everyone. Something that is taught in their schools. In addition to an academic education, children are also taught to accept and embrace differences in others, volunteer in their communities, enjoy the simple things in life… There’s nothing elite about Quakers or their schools. If you ever visit a campus you will find children from diverse financial situations. Parents choice them not to breed elite but to raise compationate, well educated, happy children.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
[...] Obama is in the 5th grade at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. and by all reports, she is a very good [...]
January 24th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
[...] University of Chicago Laboratory School. Now they both attend the Sidwell Friends School which is the same school the Chelsea Clinton attended. Sasha is currently in the 2nd grade and doing [...]
February 4th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I think its the right desicion for them to go to private school.Malia and Sasha are both beautiful girls and are lucky because the Biden grandchildren attend that school so they will already have a few friends there.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Up for grabs