The Obamas choose Quaker private school for daughters' education

New York, November 22 : U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have announced the name of the school where their two daughters will study.

The couple have decided to send their children - Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 - to Sidwell Friends School, the pricey and prestigious academy that has educated generations of this city's elite.

"A number of great schools were considered,'' the New York Times quoted Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle as saying.

"In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now," she added.

The newspaper report suggests that Barack and Michelle had also considered two other private institutions for their daughters, but finally decided on Sidwell.

Sidwell, which has already educated the children of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, which was established in 1883 and costs as much as 29,442 dollars a year. It has long been described by some as the Harvard of the town's private schools.

The newspaper has also revealed that Vice-President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s grandchildren, who are friendly with the Obama girls, currently attend Sidwell.

The Obamas' selection of Sidwell is said to have left some Washington parents and children cheering, and others brokenhearted.

Eric Adler, who runs a foundation that operates boarding schools for urban children and has two children at Sidwell, said: "Of course it's good for the school. But this isn't about what's good for the school. It's about what's good for the kids."

ANI