Out of 250,000, a Few Snapshots

MONDAY, OCTOBER 19TH, 2009 AT 6:59 PM
Out of 250,000, a Few Snapshots
Posted by Jesse Lee
With the release of the report this morning showing that 250,000 teachers have either been hired or saved through the Recovery Act, it seems like a good time to highlight the Department of Education's latest video.

In 2008, the St. Louis Public Schools faced a significant deficit in its budget due to the hurting economy. The district was able to address key needs by using funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to save the jobs of 85 teaching and learning facilitators. This is the story of three of those teaching and learning facilitators.

The President also had some time to spend with students today. In the morning, he met with winners of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in the Oval Office, then stopped by Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD.


(President Barack Obama with Youth Entrepreneur Challenge winners, from left; Scott Paiva, 18, New Bedford, MA, is Zoe Damacela, 17, from Chicago, and Kalief Rollins, 17, from Carson, Ca, in the Oval Office, Oct. 19, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)


(President Barack Obama talks to third and fourth grade students at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., Oct. 19, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)

He led the Silver Spring students in an impromptu rally for reading:


THE PRESIDENT: Here's the reason that I wanted to stop by for lunch today, and that is, I have heard great things about this school. I hear everybody here is reading all the time. Right? The motto here is?

PRINCIPAL DEVAN: Viers Mill, what's our goal?

STUDENTS: Read! Read! Read!

PRINCIPAL DEVAN: Viers Mill, what's our goal?

STUDENTS: Read! Read! Read!

PRINCIPAL DEVAN: Because great readers have?

STUDENTS: Great choices!

THE PRESIDENT: So you guys are readers. And so, being a reader myself, I wanted to come meet all these outstanding readers. Because you guys are reading so much and you're working so hard, you guys are doing great in terms of your test scores and how this school is doing. And so this was just a great example of how much improvement a school can make just in a really short time when you've got motivated kids.

So I wanted to come by and introduce myself, to say I'm very proud of you. I am hoping that you guys will continue to read, read, read, and that all of you are going to be really working hard not just this year but all the way through high school and then all the way through college, because how many people here plan to go to college? Everybody, right? I just wanted to make sure everybody's going to college. But that means everybody's going to have to work hard.

So here's what I'm going to do. I didn't want to give a long speech. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to come around, I'm going to shake people's hands, I'm going to say hi to folks, and I'm sure that somebody out there is going to be taking a bunch of pictures. (Laughter.) And you guys can tell me what you've been reading. All right? So get ready to tell me what you've been reading lately and what's going on. All right? Okay, guys.