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Alright, so we have already asked the question, so I am going to ask it again for the camera.
Do you guys like Easter? Yes.
Easter Eggs? Yes.
Do you like the White House? Yes.
Who is our President? Barack Obama.
Alright, well Barack Obama has sent his Education Secretary, this is the number one person in
the entire country for education, to come by and visit you guys. Are you excited to
meet him? Yes.
Alright, well he is behind me. His name is Arne Duncan, and he does a great job, and
he is going to give you something that will allow you to go to the White House and find
Easter eggs. But before we hear from Secretary Duncan, before we hear from him, I am going
to introduce the person who is in charge of schools for Washington, DC. Do you guys know
Chancellor Rhee? Yeah.
Give her a big round of applause. Alright, and we also have Principal Warley. Do you
guys know Principal Warley? Alright, so… Alright, so Chancellor Michelle Rhee is going
to say something to you guys and then we are going to hear from Secretary Duncan. Are you
guys excited? Yes.
Chancellor, they’re all yours. Good afternoon. How are you?
Good. So we are so lucky because of the kids all
across the Nation the President and Secretary Duncan have decided to give 1200 tickets
– that means one thousand two hundred tickets for the White House Easter egg roll to children
in Washington, DC. Yeah.
Nine hundred and fifty of these tickets are going to come to DCPS and the rest are going
to go to kids in Charter Schools. But what Secretary Duncan and President Obama said
is we can’t just give these tickets to any kids in DCPS. They said we want to give these
tickets to the schools where children have been growing the most, they have been working
hard and their academic achievement has risen the highest. And, so guess what? We chose
J.O. Wilson as one of those schools. Yeah.
You have all worked so hard and your results show it. Last year for the 2009 DCCAs J.O.
Wilson had scored 71.4% in reading, 75.9% in math, for a gain of 18% which is a big
gain. The other schools that were chosen are Tyler, Burrville, Brightwood, Burroughs, H.D.
Cook, Hendley, Leckie, Ross, Smothers, Tubman and last, but not least, T.O. Wilson.
Yeah. The White House has been extremely, extremely
generous to the children of Washington, DC. They invited some DCPS to the White House
for Halloween, they invited some of our kids to the White House for Astronomy night, some
of our Walker Jones kids got to meet the Prime Minister of India the other night. Our Miner
kids got to perform at the Governor’s Ball and the First Lady is going to be giving the
graduation speech at Anacostia High School. So, the Obama’s have been very excited about
making sure that you all have access to the White House. Are you excited about that?
Yes. Alright. So let me introduce to you the man
who is giving you these tickets. He is, as the Mayor said, he is the number one most
important person in this country when it comes to education and schools. He used to run a
school district in Chicago, he has kids of his own, and he is the biggest champion for
public education in this entire country. Secretary Arne Duncan.
Chancellor Rhee and Mayor Fenty, thank you for your tremendous leadership. You guys have
a champion in Chancellor Rhee. Thank you for your hard work. This being said, this is a
great school. Principal, thank you so much for your leadership to all the students here.
Thank you for your hard work and your commitment to your good education. How many of you want
to go to college? Raise your hands. Me.
How many students this year have had perfect attendance races? Your hands. Give yourself
a round of applause. Give yourself a round of applause, great work, and we are here today
as Chancellor Rhee said because you are working so hard and doing such a great job. So, we
are thrilled that 1200 school students from here will be able to go the White House. The
Easter Egg roll next Monday will be a lot of fun and keep working hard. We couldn’t
be more proud of you. Chancellor Rhee we have a little present for you.
Thank you.