WASHINGTON -- An upscale Los Angeles elementary school is canceling classes and day care in anticipation of President Barack Obama's fundraising event in West Hollywood tonight.
The Center for Early Education closed its doors on Monday, with a voice mail and website warning alerting those interested that its operations will resume Tuesday, Sept. 27. As for the why, the message states that the closure is "due to President Obama's visit in West Hollywood." That visit is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. Monday evening at the House of Blues, which is slightly less than 1.5 miles away from the Center.
The Obama campaign didn't immediately respond to the request for comment. But it does seem unlikely that they requested the school shut its doors for the day. Security precautions wouldn't normally require clearing a mile-and-a-half radius and another school nearby, Perutz Etz Jacob Hebrew Academy, is open for the day, an official there confirmed.
The closure may leave the 540 kindergarten-through-sixth-grade students giddy over their elongated weekend -- perhaps an overzealous bit of youth outreach for the campaign. But it was likely done for the sake of the parents whose commutes through notoriously bad Los Angeles traffic would have been made nearly unbearable. Several may have planned on attending the Obama fundraiser as well. The Center for Early Education is one of the city's more upscale elementary schools with tuition clocking in at an average of $14,586.
UPDATE: An Obama campaign officials emails that "no one from the White House or the campaign ever spoke to that school/asked them not to open today."