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?
“Your late”?
Can’t tell the difference between a contraction “you’re” and a possessive “your”? Perhaps you might try “yore” and make it a story about ancient history.
[Give me a break, it’s early here – ed.]
Of course Obama personally turned the children away.
Might try a few other sources in DC. Including those that say the chaperons were told they had a half-hour cushion – and showed up an hour late.
http://tinyurl.com/psg4rk
Well, at least they didn’t get water-boarded for good measure?
One thing I DO like about Obama…he’s got balls!
If the tour were so important to them they should have planned to get there way early, not cut it so close that a few minutes stuck in traffic made any difference at all in their arrival time.
I blame Bush.
Late is Late, tough shit. The staff might plan better next time and be on time.
Kind of an inflammatory headline there?
Obama’s staff maybe… but him personally? I doubt it…
Come on people be practical. Who’s going to give more to O’Mama’s reelection campaign? A bunch of snot nosed kids or, a bunch of rick stupid jocks?
Betcha they’ll never be late again. =P An important life lesson learned. This is Obama showing tough love. =)
Exactly. Important life lesson, never be late. Punctuality makes all the difference in the REAL world children.
Apparently these parents didn’t learn this growing up and are making a stink because of their own mistakes. It’s so easy to place blame instead of taking responsibility. Another life lesson that these children will probably miss out on…
I have to take Obomba’s side on this one. (Make a note of it Dallas.)
Late is late. I have had to fire four people and three of them because they were late.
Get over it kiddies ’cause life isn’t going to get any easier than right now.
are you trying to be inflamatory, or do you really draw the connection from late kindergartners missing a tour to Obama is lazy.
PS. quit it with the sound board on TWIT, you act like a 3 year old with a new toy.
#15 Noted.
Thank you for the baby steps you are taking to distance yourself from the dark side.
This was a great lesson for these young people as well as the teachers to be prompt and account for contingencies.
Folks, this is the tight ship Prez Obama is running.
The Reality is:
Scheduled time = 9:30
Time they would allow them to enter = 10:00
Time they actually waited until = 10:15
Time they arrived = 10:25
So they say they were 10 minutes late but were actually 55 minutes late. Too bad so sad.
Ok, so they were late and the Chosen One was too busy to meet them. But why couldn’t they take the Whitehouse tour?
Is there still such a thing as the Whitehouse tour? Open to the public? Or is it now hallowed ground? Only super-bowl winners and campaign contributors allowed in.
Kowtow to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez, but stand firm against 5-year-old kids.
The President’s schedule it done in 15 minute increments and in many cases down to the minute. The Reagan library has a snippet of Reagan’s typical schedule and it is crazy. Beyond the general lesson of not being late, being late for a person as busy as the POTUS is both insulting and stupid. It makes no difference who was after them.
I’m actually with most of the crowd on this one. When I’m late for a doctor’s appointment and they can’t see me, I understand. These people were late for an appointment to tour the home of the President of the US and they are almost an hour late yet they get all up in a huff and start whining? I don’t care if the President is George Washington or George Bush, you can’t hold his schedule up like that for a bunch of school kids. If the Steelers were late, the same thing would happen to them. Heads of State of foreign governments: sure, pretty much everyone else on the planet: be on time…
If this story was about Bush, would everyone be excusing or condemning?
this is to stupid a story for such a big blog it belongs on Fox
ROTFLMAO
WTF? The “tours” of the White House don’t have shit to do with the President. He (or she) doesn’t schedule them. There’s a whole office for that. Obama, Bush, Reagan, none of them SCHEDULE these stupid little meetings with Boy Scouts, grade school cookie seller of the year or whatnot. They’re TOLD about it by their secretary. What a joke. This is almost dumb enough of a story to be on Fox “News”tm.
I feel sorry for the kids, it wasn’t their fault. If Obama is the type of guy all the Obamabots claim he is, He’ll make ammends to the kids (screw the adults)
This kind of stuff happens all the time under every administration.
If this is the biggest negative story you can find on Obama, he must be doing a great job.
SYSTEM ADMIN:
Please record this Conservative complaint under one of the falling bitch lists. We will sort these out later.
“Inappropriate WhiteHouse thermostat settings”
“Bowing when you’re not suppose to”
“Gifts not for giving”
“Not so funny jokes”
“Smiling at bad people”
“Changing you mind”
“Putting too much faith in facts”
“Conway Elementary teachers had been planning the trip for months”
Well, obviously they’re fucking incompetent.
#10 My guess is that the rich stupid jocks aren’t giving money to Obama either since they are most likely crying they can’t afford that 17th car because of those extra taxes they will have to pay in 4 years.
And seriously to the poster
“Awwww! Obama sure like his sports, does this guy ever do any real work?”
I sure hope this wasn’t a comparison to the douche that just left office. Maybe it would be ok if Obama was clearing brush ignoring pdb’s.
Cry me a river! If you’re going to a place like the White House you better make sure your ass is there atleast 30 minutes early. Hell if you have to be that early to an airport why not to a place like the White House? This simply boils down to poor foresight from whoever planned this whole thing.
Have to defend Obama’s admins on this one. If you are late, you miss out. It’s not like you can ask the leader of the free world to wait around. Plan better next time. Traffic in DC? Who would have thought???