For Immediate Release
Office of Laura Bush
November 10, 2003
Remarks by First Lady Laura Bush in Media Availability - Delaware
Shortlidge Academy
Wilmington, Delaware
11:00 A.M. EST
MRS. BUSH: Good morning. I'm so glad to be here today at
Shortlidge Academy to talk about reading and to give an example to
everyone else of a really great school that's done a lot of different
innovative things to make sure every child here learns to read. This
school is also the recipient of a Reading First grant which is part of
the No Child Left Behind Act, and that is money that goes to schools to
make sure teachers know how to teach reading, that teachers become
aware of all the new research that shows how children learn to read to
make sure that children, every child here learns to read.
I'm also joined by Congressman Castle and I thank him very much for
joining me here. He's been very active in the movement to make sure
Head Start also includes an academic part to make sure that children
who are in Head Start start school ready to learn to read. So I'm glad
to be here and I'd love to take any questions.
Q Mrs. Bush, how does it feel to be on the campaign trail
again?
MRS. BUSH: Well, I like that. It's fun to campaign, it's fun to
see friends all over the country, and so it's hard to believe it's
gotten here so soon. But in a lot of ways, I think the campaign won't
really start until we know for sure who the other candidate is. I
think we have a couple more months without a really intense sort of
campaign, maybe I guess starting in late January or February.
Q Mrs. Bush, there have been a lot of educators, teachers,
administrators who are very vocal in their complaints about No Child
Left Behind, teaching to the test, time spent giving tests, paperwork,
unfunded mandates. As an educator, how do you respond to those kinds
of comments?
MRS. BUSH: Well, this is what I think about that. If your
curriculum that is devised by the state departments of education and by
your school districts, if that's what your test is over, then you're
teaching exactly what you want children to know. And if we don't have
diagnostic tests, then we don't have any idea which children need
special help or which ones start school at a disadvantage, because they
haven't already been read to and they have a very small vocabulary.
All of those parts of the No Child Left Behind Act are very, very
important. It's really important for schools to devise their own
tests, for school districts and state departments of education, the
same way they devise their curriculum, to make sure the children in
their state are learning what they think children ought to know. And
that's what a test would cover.
So this teaching to the test is exactly, I guess, what you should
be doing if your test is what you want children to know. What we
really want to know is if children are learning to read. And if
they're not, then it's really up to schools and school districts to
assess how they're teaching reading. Unless you have diagnostic tests,
you can't diagnose a problem.
Q Mrs. Bush, do you think every child will meet each state's
standards by the year 2013?
MRS. BUSH: Well, we certainly hope so. That's the goal. That's
part of the Reading First money, is to make sure teachers are trained
in how to teach reading, so that children really can learn to read.
Delaware has gotten about 28 percent more federal funding since my
husband has been President. So there is a lot of money associated with
the No Child Left Behind Act, more than has ever been associated with
any other education reform package, for states to use, for states to
leverage the money from the Reading First Initiative that this school
is learning -- is using money that was part of that act.
Q Mrs. Bush, what can you tell us about the next event? How
well do you know Charlie Cawley?
MRS. BUSH: Well, I know Charlie Cawley, of course. I've known him
for a long time. My cousins as well, Betsy and John Field, will be
there this will be a crowd of people who I've known for a long time and
have been friends with and am looking forward to seeing them
Any others?
Q Yes, you were telling the children that maybe one of the most
difficult parts of being the First Lady is dealing with the press.
MRS. BUSH: I was only kidding. (Laughter.) That was only a
joke.
Q I know. But what do you find when you're dealing with the
press? What are some of the concerns that you might have?
MRS. BUSH: Well, I don't really have those concerns. I was only
kidding, when I looked up and saw all of you. It was just a funny
thing.
I mean it was a question of what was the hardest part. And for me,
there aren't really that many hard parts. I get to do all the best
things, like this, get to be with children who are anxious to learn,
who want to please, who really want to do well and I think that's what
you're seeing here at this school. You're also seeing teachers and
principals and school administrators who are committed to the success
of these children. And that's what I see when I travel around our
country.
My husband and I have the true privilege of getting to see how
strong and resilient and resolute Americans are. And that's what we
see everywhere we go.
Q What are you doing in Maine?
MRS. BUSH: In Maine, I'm going to do a Preserve America event.
Preserve America is a new program that's part of the Department of
Commerce and the Department of the Interior to encourage communities to
preserve their historic landmarks and their historic downtowns and then
also to preserve and conserve their natural landscapes. So Portland is
a great example of a town that has really revitalized their economy by
redoing the old port part of the town and saving a lot of their
historic buildings.
Q How hard is it for you to get back on the cycle and get in to
fundraising? And how hard is it for you to deal with the slings and
arrows the Democrats are throwing at your husband every day?
MRS. BUSH: I think, after a while -- I mean, I won't say it never
hurts because of course it does. But after a lifetime in politics,
which is what it seems like now for my husband and me with his father's
many races and then my husband's governorship in Texas and now here at
the White House, you do become a little bit used to it.
You know, it's just a fact of life in politics, in any politics, in
any country that's the way it is. And we're a country that is so free
we have the freedom to say bad things about people who are the
President or who are running for office. And that's one of our
luxuries, one of our freedoms we have in the United States.
Q How tough is the endless fundraising cycle?
MRS. BUSH: Not that tough.
Q Mrs. Bush, it seems that Howard Dean and John Kerry are going
to follow your husband's lead in forgoing federal campaign funds. Are
you concerned that your husband has left something out of the bottle?
MRS. BUSH: No.
Q Mrs. Bush when you think about all the money it takes to run
a campaign, do you ever think about how many books that could buy, how
much that could --
MRS. BUSH: Sure, absolutely. I mean, you know, it's a lot of
money. But it's also a very huge country and you know I -- this is
another one of our freedoms as Americans, that we can give money to
political candidates. That's one of our luxuries also. And we can
pick a candidate that we like; we can support them by going down to
their headquarters and working for them, or by writing a check to their
campaigns. And that's one of the freedoms in our country that I think
definitely should be protected. That's one of the great things about
our country. Another thing fundraising shows is support for a
candidate, and I think that's an important part of it.
Q Mrs. Bush, the recent series that was done by CBS on the
Reagans, what are your thoughts about if there is ever something like
that done about you and your husband, how would you feel about that?
MRS. BUSH: I hope it would be really, really great. (Laughter.)
Q That notwithstanding, would you argue for not having it shown
if you felt that it was not presenting you in a favorable light?
MRS. BUSH: Sure, absolutely. If it wasn't presenting me in a
favorable light? (Laughter.)
Q Or your husband --
MRS. BUSH: Or my husband?
Q Or your husband in a favorable light. Or would you argue on
the side of artistic freedom or First Amendment or how would you feel
about that?
MRS. BUSH: Well, every day, I argue on the side of writing really
nice things about me and my husband.
MR. JOHNDROE: Thank you.
MRS. BUSH: Thanks everybody. Thank you all for coming.
* * *
MRS. BUSH: -- they're making sure these children learn to read and
I don't know if you've noticed or -- you all were in one class with me.
But when I asked who was going to college, every child said they were
going to college. So I think that's --
Q -- second graders asking you -- that's what I'm surprised
about. Can you talk about -- these are our future and this is what
your program is kind of spearheading?
MRS. BUSH: What I said earlier, when you travel around the country
like I have the privilege to do, what you find out is that young people
around our country, children and young people are going to make a --
they're going to make a great future when they are the leaders. And I
have every confidence in them. And it's up to us as adults, all the
adults here, to make sure that our children are prepared for their
future by knowing how to read and giving them a good education.
Thanks everybody.
11:10 A.M. EST END
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