President Obama visited the SEED School of Washington DC this week, to sign the National Service Act. He heaped praise on the urban public boarding school. "This school is a true success story, a place where for four of the last five years, every graduate from the SEED School was admitted to college. Every graduate,??? he said (as quoted in the Post story)
Indeed, the school, which opened in 2001, grew out of a very rough history ??? in 1992 a 5-year-old girl was shot and killed on what is now the school campus. Over the last several years, it has received many accolades for its success (Oprah is a big fan).
Now, we don't know exactly how President Obama first heard about it, but perhaps he has been reading David Whitman's book, Sweating the Small Stuff. In the book, Whitman highlights DC's SEED School as one of several extremely successful inner-city schools that he says possess ???paternalistic??? qualities ??? they emphasize developing moral character, maintaining order and safety, providing a rigorous curriculum. Whitman writes that SEED actually goes above and beyond ??? as a boarding school, the staff actually become the kids' ???second parents.??? To find out more about the school and Whitman's detailed description of it, check out his book.