It's Back To School For Secretary 'Starbuck'
Now this is the way to go back to school: Wrap a supercomfy executive motor coach in yellow to make it look like a real school bus, grab a Starbucks tall Soy Misto, and take two field trips, one to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for some karaoke and a second to shoot rockets at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A dream?
Not for Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. The Bush hipster says that's exactly what she's doing this week in a bid to promote math and science and the reauthorization of the administration's teetering No Child Left Behind Act. She calls her tour "Empowering Parents, Empowering Children," a slogan that'll be painted on the bus.
The science part takes place in Cleveland, where Spellings--President Bush's American Idol fan--will steer her bus to the rock center to have her vocal vibrations measured while crooning a tune by her fave, Stevie Wonder.
"'Sign, Sealed, Delivered' may be the name of a song, but it's also the action Congress needs to take to reauthorize No Child Left Behind so all kids can be at grade-level reading and math by 2014," she says. Then it's on to Wright-Pat for a math and science lesson in its Starbase program, where kids launch water-propelled rockets.
Just like real pilots, participants get handles, and the coffee-loving Spellings is to be dubbed "Starbuck."
By Paul Bedard