School Gate blog: should President-elect Obama be sending his daughters to a private school?

Sasha and Malia Obama will arrive at their new school today, protected from physical attack by the Secret Service but still being thrust into the global glare accorded to celebrities.

The girls — aged 7 and 10 — who are already being spoken about as role models for a generation of African-American children, will be educated on separate campuses at the private Sidwell Friends School.

Chelsea Clinton, the last presidential daughter to attend the Quaker school, which has long been a haven for the offspring of the Washington elite, is regarded as having emerged as a level-headed adult.

Security around the children of Barack Obama, however, is expected to be tighter because of the terror attacks on the US in 2001 and the racial threats made against the first black family to occupy the White House.

Some of the school’s highly motivated parents are rumoured to be hoping that their children might provide them with access to the First Family’s social circle. Some have already been asked not to speak to the press, who are expected to be camped out at both sites this morning. Pupils have been told to respect the privacy of their new classmates or merely to say “no comment” when approached by the media. A particular concern is the use of mobile phone cameras by children, as well as the ease with which pictures can be put on to the internet.

The school promises that it knows how to make the girls feel comfortable because of its Quaker values. Current pupils include the grandchildren of Joe Biden, the Vice-President-elect. The Obamas will pay tuition fees of $28,442 (£19,675) for the elementary school, where Sasha will go, and $29,442 for Malia at the middle school.

Michelle Obama and her daughters arrived in Washington on Saturday after a holiday in Hawaii, while the President-elect arrived late last night. They are staying at the Hay-Adams hotel in suites that can cost as much as $6,000 a night. On January 15 they will move to Blair House, which is usually reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries, before taking over the White House after the inauguration on January 20.

One parent of a Sidwell pupil, who asked not to be named, said: “The real interest for my son is how many secret servicemen he can spot. Men with wires in their ears. That’s cool.”

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