Reply to Since when do 14 year olds go out of the country with friends for spring break?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just don't buy the we're-just-a-regular-family-who-shops-at-Target White House propaganda and then you'll feel better.

Whether you like it or not, this is a very, very wealthy family who send their daughter to an elite private school that costs more per year than most Americans earn per year.  It is what it is.

The 25 Secret Service agents that are being used on the trip is, however, excessive by any standard.  The family should reimburse the taxpayers for any security for the trip that is beyond what is normally spent to protect this child on a daily basis.  After all, this is a completely voluntary trip to a very dangerous country --  we shouldn't have to foot additional security costs for that choice.[/quote]

They send their daughter to an elite private school, in part, because it's easier and cheaper to protect her there. If the Obama girls went to public school, they'd be on separate campuses and need twice the security.  The Secret Service would also have no say in who their classmates were, and so would need to provide even more supervision.  The cost to the taxpayer would be huge.

Part of the reality of sending your kid to Sidwell (or frankly the public schools that serve wealthier areas in DC and MD) is that these things are part of the program.  Malia should be able to participate in as much of what her classmates participate in as possible.  [/quote]

The Sidwell lower and upper schools ARE on different campuses, so they are in two different locations.  There would be no cost differential between protecting the girls at a private vs. public school.  In fact, Amy Carter famously went to public school in DC.  If the secret service can (and does) protect these girls when on Spring Break in Mexico, on various trips with their parents or walking down the street in the Inaugural Parade, they can certainly protect them at a DC public school.

The point is, that this wealthy family, like so many others in DC, chooses to go private.  This is, of course, their right, but we also have the right to judge it for what it is: a rich person's choice, not a Presidential family's necessity.

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But neither Sasha nor Malia is at the Lower school campus.  They are in 5th and 8th grades, grades that generally aren't together in middle school in DC, next year they'll be 6th and 9th.  Again, grades that aren't together anywhere in DCPS, but are together at Sidwell.  They'll stay together until Malia graduates.

I teach in a DC public school.  I am sure the secret service could figure out a way to keep the girls safe where we are, but it wouldn't be easy. Sidwell gives them a room to use, we have no rooms to spare -- do we add a trailer and kick a class out to accommodate the secret service?  Secret service would have no say in who attends our school, do we subject parents to intrusive security if they want to come volunteer in their child's class or attend a conference.  Our kids ride public buses for field trips, do we send a motorcade with them?  Our playground is unfenced, who pays for one to keep gawkers off the property?  Sidwell simplifies all those things.

I'm not arguing that Sidwell is a necessity, of course it isn't.  But the president has the right to choose luxuries for his family, just like anyone else.  Furthermore, this choice is likely saving the country more in secret service costs than they spend on this trip.

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