Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip. But when they arrived, all the 5-year-olds got was a lesson in disappointment. The buses from Conway Elementary arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a little later than planned, and they were locked out..
“We were going to the White House, but we couldn’t get in so I felt sad,” 5-year-old Cameron Stine said.
Parents say they were just 10 minutes late for their scheduled tour. School officials say White House staff said they needed to get ready for the president’s event with the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, so they couldn’t come in.
“I was angry cause they were disappointed,” parent and chaperone Paty Stine said. A lot of preparing had gone into the trip. Conway Elementary teachers had been planning the trip for months, each child paid $20 for a seat on the chartered bus, and names were submitted to the White House for clearance.
Parents say they tried to make it on time, but their chartered buses hit heavy traffic that slowed them down substantially. They thought they were supposed to show up by 10:15, but they say they arrived at 10:25 instead, and couldn’t get in.“The person who headed this White House trip up came out and said, ‘I’m sorry, the White House tour’s off.’ There were a lot of crying kids,” parent Barbara Stine said. Paty Stine said the White House staff should have made an exception. She feels the kindergarteners were snubbed for the Steelers.
“Here we have President Obama and his administration saying, ‘Here we are for the common, middle class people,’ and here he is not letting 150 5- and 6-year-olds into the White House because he’s throwing a lunch for a bunch of grown millionaires,” Stine said.
Awwww! Obama sure like his sports, does this guy ever do any real work?
What does it say about our culture that we make a mistake, then blame the other party for not fixing it? Perhaps the children should sue Obama for personal anguish? Or perhaps the teachers should take responsibility for being late? Personally, I think the first option is more likely.
After all that planning, planning, planning, they expect the POTUS to work around their schedule?
Where was the plan to arrive a half hour EARLY?
Here’ are your lessons kids: Don’t you EVER try to hold up the US government again. Don’t arrive late at important events. Do NOT trust others to take charge of your schedule. Take charge of your own life. Remember what happens when you give the initiative away.
One last time with feeling — this is a “White House Tour,” not a “White House Tour with the President.” There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell the kids were going to see the President, even in passing. They see the East Room and the hallways on either side of it. IT’S A CRAP TOUR and the poster above that mentioned the museums is right — vastly better for the kids. I’ve done this White House tour twice because a my kids had classmates with a dad on the former President’s Secret Service team. You see no one except the security detail for the East Wing.
Fifty says this has nothing to do with the President’s schedule at all — it has to do with the East Room’s schedule. When the photos of the Steelers comes out we’ll find out pretty quickly, and I’ll bet they’re on risers in the East Room where this kind of thing is usually done.
Sag.