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Hundreds line up for school choice

Hundreds of parents lined up early this morning to sign up for the Brandywine School District’s school choice program, taking their place behind about 35 parents who had camped out overnight for a spot at the front of the line.

The sign-up was supposed to begin at 8 a.m., but the doors opened at 6:45 to accommodate the crowd.
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Parents had been lining up since about 2 p.m. Sunday for the opportunity to sign up for the district’s limited number of spaces.

A Crucial Decision For the Obamas: Public or Private?

Like many parents moving their children to Washington, Barack and Michelle Obama will be told to avoid D.C. public schools. Is that good advice?

This is a tricky subject. School choice is very personal. The president-elect’s fifth-grade daughter, Malia, and second-grade daughter, Sasha, have been attending the first-rate, private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. I bet they transfer to Georgetown Day School, a good fit because of its similarity to their current school, its historic role as the city’s first racially integrated school and the presence of Obama senior legal adviser Eric H. Holder Jr. on its board of trustees. It would be a sensible decision by two smart, caring people.
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But it wouldn’t hurt to look around first. Georgetown Day, like other private schools, would charge them nearly $56,000 a year for two kids. Why not see what their tax dollars are paying for? One educational gem happens to be the closest public school to their new home. Strong John Thomson Elementary School is at 1200 L St. NW, three-fifths of a mile from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Go north on 15th, turn right on L and three blocks farther it’s on the right.

School choice may be personal for the Obama’s, but thanks to the policies of President-elect Obama and his friends at the NEA, many are denied that choice. Unable to afford to both pay taxes for public schooling and enroll their children in private schools, many are trapped in a failing government school system.  Or they have to line up all night to fight over a few school choice bread crumbs.  But why should Obama care? The two girls lucky enough to share his last name will do just fine.

Barack Obama