# Have any presidential children attended public school while in White House?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374 "2008-03-31T12:55:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374/1 "2008-03-31T12:55:14Z")

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Title pretty much says it all. I read a letter to the editor this morning lambasting Hillary Clinton for claiming to be pro public education, even though Chelsea went to private school during Bill’s administration. But she did go to public school in Arkansas. Would the Secret Service have been able to protect her at a public school in Washington, DC? Have any presidential children gone to public school in DC? Need to know before I send off email to the letter writer calling him an idiot.

Thanks,

Gillian

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**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374/2 "2008-03-31T12:58:11Z")

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When Bill Clinton was president, his daughter, Chelsea, briefly went to a public school a few blocks from the White House. Security concerns became so great, however, that she changed to a private school. I don’t know if any other presidents had children of school age.

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374/3 "2008-03-31T13:05:58Z")

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Amy Carter went to public school while her father was president.

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**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374/4 "2008-03-31T13:33:43Z")

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Ok, thanks…I’m not sure I’ll do any email blasting, but I think I’ve gotten enough of an answer to still regard the letter writer as an idiot!

Gillian

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**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-presidential-children-attended-public-school-while-in-white-house/443374/5 "2008-03-31T13:47:47Z")

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One can be in favor of the concept of public schools without sacrificing one’s children to a notoriously dysfunctional public school system like the one in Washington, D.C.