New School

Malia and Sasha Face Feeding Frenzy

First day at Sidwell will test patience, security.

On Monday, Malia, 10, and Sasha Obama, 7, start at their new school, Sidwell Friends School, Chelsea Clinton's alma mater, which has been teaching presidents' kids since Teddy Roosevelt. But while all efforts will be made to ensure their privacy and safety, in the age of Facebook, texting, and blogging, they will be subject to unprecedented press demand for every detail of their new lives, reports Politico. “Bodyguards will be around, for sure, but hard to spot. And their teachers will have a brand new worry in the digital age—cell phone cameras,” writes Nia-Malika Henderson. Some parents likely will push their kids to befriend the girls. “It is hard to not come across as snobby when you are 12 and you don’t want to deal with all of these people around you who want to be your friend,” said one of Chelsea’s old schoolmates. The Obama sisters will attend school on different campuses—Sasha, a second-grader, in Bethesda, and Malia, a fifth-grader, in Washington, D.C. Fees for the Quaker school are $28,442 for the elementary school and $29,442 for middle and upper school. Nearly 40 percent of students are non-white.