Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 16:09     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:And you know that because.... The Service can secure any area, but a helluva lot easier to secure Edgemoor than MacArthur.

Different poster. Since you want to claim to know so much, why don't you tell us all exactly what the Secret Service thinks about securing MacArthur Blvd?
Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 16:09     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I doubt the Secret Service would have allowed the children to attend a public school unless the physical plant was easy to secure, especially the perimeter.


A: The Secret Servce can secure any area that needs to be secured

B: The Secret Service does not get to decide where the President's kids go to school



The Secret Service would certainly make an assessment and provide a security recommendation to the parents. In the case of Sidwell, they presumably knew the school from the Clinton years and had a template in place. I am sure as GDS plans the expanded Wisconsin campus that they will incorporate the recommendations of security professionals so that they build a facility that the USSS would feel very comfortable with. It's logical for first tier DC private schools to be fully ready to accommodate VIP students.
Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 16:05     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I doubt the Secret Service would have allowed the children to attend a public school unless the physical plant was easy to secure, especially the perimeter.


A: The Secret Servce can secure any area that needs to be secured

B: The Secret Service does not get to decide where the President's kids go to school



And you know that because.... The Service can secure any area, but a helluva lot easier to secure Edgemoor than MacArthur.
Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 12:39     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:I doubt the Secret Service would have allowed the children to attend a public school unless the physical plant was easy to secure, especially the perimeter.


A: The Secret Servce can secure any area that needs to be secured

B: The Secret Service does not get to decide where the President's kids go to school

Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 10:37     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:Many people thought it would be cool to have the president's kids at their school. But given the reality of what I've seen at SFS, I'm glad they chose it over GDS. That's not preening etc, it's just that I like the way GDS currently is and am less attracted to what SFS has become. Just my personal preference.

I don't understand this comment, PP. Are you saying you actually have children at SFS, so therefore you have informed, first-hand insight into how the Obama girls change the day-to-day lifestyle at SFS, and you instead prefer what you think GDS might be? Or are you saying you have children at GDS, and prefer it to your outsider's perception of SFS?

I'm guessing it's the latter. If you currently have children at both SFS and GDS, and have before-and-after personal experience, I'm more interested in your opinion.
Anonymous
Post 07/08/2014 09:56     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No criticism of GDS, but concerned how they are going to manage 1000 students in confined periods of pick-ups and drop offs during confined periods of the day, particularly if, as rumored, they propose closing 42nd Street.


GDS will manage the traffic and will make the expanded site very safe and secure. This is likely a top priority. The reason the Obamas didn't go to GDS in the end was concern about traffic backup at the Palisades site. The expanded Wisconsin campus, especially if 42nd St is figured out, will make GDS fully competitive in recruiting students who are VIP protectees.


Unlike Sidwell and STA/NCS, GDS could care less about "recruiting VIP's'. We get plenty of applicants who are a right fit for the school. High profile VIP types don't typically mesh well. I am glad the Obamas didn't go to GDS. It would have affected the school and its applicant pool.


Such preening self-congratulatory self-righteousness must be a troll, right? Or is this a little Aesop at work? (Those grapes were undoubtedly sour!)


Try just an honest sentiment. Why such hatefulness


Because the "honest sentiment" was honestly self-congratulatory, preening, and self-righteous. It might not have been hateful but it was sneering and nasty (for example, referencing other supposedly less morally pure schools by name). It's also delusional and ahistorical-- GDS (both the admin and the parent body) was desperate to have the Obama girls enroll. It didn't work because of security concerns but the GDS community wanted it badly. I don't blame them -- it would have really fit into the school's historical narrative -- but to pretend now that GDS didn't want those kids and is above any interest in VIP kids is just fantasy.


+1
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 22:06     Subject: Big GDS news
I doubt the Secret Service would have allowed the children to attend a public school unless the physical plant was easy to secure, especially the perimeter.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 21:56     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:I'm a white liberal. I just think that the Obamas could have really helped other African Americans a lot if they had chosen the public schools. They would have been good examples.
\


I really fail to comprehend what you are saying. To say nothing that the daughters deserve to have their own private lives and not used as role models.


Also Obamas send their children to one of the best private schools in Chicago. Didn't seem likely they were going to switch to public in DC
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 21:25     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:Yes, at the time the Obamas were elected, the Washington Post did a series of stories about where the Obama kids would go to school. And, people at GDS were pushing for it.

I think they should have gone to DC public schools to help improve them. It's strange to me when liberals brag about the public schools, teachers unions, etc. and then don't send their own kids.


FWIW, the family was interested in the school because the pedagogy and curriculum most closely dovetailed with that of the school the children attended in Chicago. I can't speak to what GDS did or did not do to woo the family. I only know about it from the Chicago end - a few old friends happen to have kids who were classmates and friends of the daughters.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 20:44     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:Many people thought it would be cool to have the president's kids at their school. But given the reality of what I've seen at SFS, I'm glad they chose it over GDS. That's not preening etc, it's just that I like the way GDS currently is and am less attracted to what SFS has become. Just my personal preference.


And your point is both reasonable and reasonably stated. The earlier post (presumably from a different poster) had a very different tone.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 20:34     Subject: Big GDS news
Many people thought it would be cool to have the president's kids at their school. But given the reality of what I've seen at SFS, I'm glad they chose it over GDS. That's not preening etc, it's just that I like the way GDS currently is and am less attracted to what SFS has become. Just my personal preference.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 16:32     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People would have been thrilled if the Obamas chose public. They would have attracted much-needed resources to the DC Publics. I bet your kids go to nice suburban schools pp.


Resources (esp. funding) are not DCPS' main challenge.






+1 a study several years ago showed DC spent the equivalent of $29K per year on students.

http://www.cato.org/blog/dc-vouchers-solved-generous-severance-displaced-workers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040402921.html
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 14:53     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:People would have been thrilled if the Obamas chose public. They would have attracted much-needed resources to the DC Publics. I bet your kids go to nice suburban schools pp.


Resources (esp. funding) are not DCPS' main challenge.




Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 13:26     Subject: Big GDS news
I'm a white liberal. I just think that the Obamas could have really helped other African Americans a lot if they had chosen the public schools. They would have been good examples.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2014 11:47     Subject: Big GDS news
Anonymous wrote:The Carters tried that -- Amy attended DCPS. By the time the Clinton's came in, they knew better.

And IIRC, Amy attended DCPS for 1-2 years only, and then switched to some private school.