Surrounded by Secret Service agents and awaited by throngs of reporters and cameramen, Sasha and Malia Obama began classes as normally as possible Monday morning at Sidwell Friends School.
A caravan of sport utility vehicles carrying the girls and their mother departed from the incoming first family’s temporary home at the Hay-Adams Hotel just after sunrise, and swept them away to Malia’s middle school campus in the District, and Sasha’s primary campus in Bethesda, according to reports.
Early morning family photos showed President-elect Barack Obama seemingly offering a bit of first-day advice, and the girls stood by all smiles in puffy jackets and stuffed backpacks.
At the close of the day, in an apparent effort to refocus media attention on their father, Obama’s presidential transition team issued no release of the daughters’ events or reactions.
Ellis Turner, associate head of school at Sidwell Friends, said in November that hosting the Obamas “would be like having any other kids.” But most observers contend the daughters of the first black president in the nation’s history will likely garner more attention than children of diplomats and members of Congress.
“There will be news stories about them no matter how careful and cooperative the media is and how careful the parents are,” said Doug Wead, a former aide to the first President George Bush and the author of “All the President’s Children.”
“Something they say or do will become of great public interest and delight or controversy,” he said.
For now, some news agencies are betting viewers will be more impressed if the girls are allowed some privacy.
Tom Costello of NBC’s “Today” show broadcast from the school Monday morning, but left before the Obamas arrived.
“The last thing they need is for a camera crew to stand outside their school,” Costello said. “So we are leaving, back to you.”
But even if media outlets follow NBC’s lead, the Obamas will contend with technological advances like cell phone cameras and social networking sites unimagined when Chelsea Clinton, the last first-family grade-schooler, went off to class.
Sidwell’s Turner said the school is doing its best, including a policy barring cell phones.
“I think our students understand that we expect them to be responsible Internet users,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
