Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader started to blog about this last night, but didn’t publish before the great Velociman put this out there…

So… Here is a lovely story for you…

Yesterday was going to be a big day for the kindergartners of Conway Elementary School. It was going to be their day to go to the White House for a tour. Your Maximum Leader knew about this a while ago. He knew because Conway Elementary School is the school for the Villainschloss and you hear things through the neighborhood. The teachers and students were pretty excited to go. And really, who wouldn’t be? Regardless of the resident of the White House it is a national treasure and should be visited.

Yesterday, early in the morning, parents were dropping their kids off to get on the buses that would take them to Washington and their rendezvous with the White House. They had a timetable to keep.

Little did they know how their story would end. Local NBC affiliate WRC wound up reporting on it.

As your Maximum Leader heard the story from some of the participants… The group from school was scheduled to arrive begin their tour at 10am. The school was advised by the White House tours office that the Pittsburgh Steelers were coming to the White House and that the school group had to be prompt, because as soon as the kindergartners were finished with their tour the preperations for the Steelers would begin. Knowing this the teachers and parents at Conway resolved to leave earlier than they planned to allow extra time. If you have ever travelled to Washington DC you know we have bad traffic. The drive from Conway Elementary to the White House should take about an hour under “good” conditions. Knowing this the Teachers advised parents that the buses were leaving the parking lot at 8am.

Alas… Even leaving early did not help the kids and their teachers and parents. Traffic was bad and they were running behind. Your Maximum Leader has been told that the coordinator for the trip telephoned the White House and advised them of the delay. The White House people told them that they would hold the tour as long as they could. The coordinator and the bus drivers agreed that the could make it to the White House around 10:15. They were advised that this would still work.

The buses arrived at the White House at 10:25.

And at 10:25 they were turned away. The kids were driven back to Conway. They saw the White House through the fence.

UPDATE: Your Maximum Leader has just heard from some other parents that the original story he heard is not the full story. The kids were allowed off the buses and were given a tour of the White House grounds. They just were not allowed into the White House. After the walk around the White House, the kids went to the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial where they had a picnic. So the day wasn’t completely lost.

Your Maximum Leader has read the NBC report and it states that the White House said the group was supposed to come at 9:30am and they held the tour for nearly an hour. According to what people have told your Maximum Leader, 9:30 was never in the cards. So rather than holding the tour for nearly an hour, it was held for about 15 mins or so. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if the White House people are lying outright to cover their arses or if his sources are exaggerating a little bit.

Now, your Maximum Leader is not entirely unschooled in how White House events work. He’s been involved in one or two in the past. He knows the White House is a schedule driven place. But one has to wonder what the hell wasn’t going on in the mind of the staffers who pulled the plug on some kindergartners. Turning 5 and 6 year old kids away at the gates? Have you ever tried to get anywhere on a tight schedule with a 5 year old? How about four buses full of 5 and 6 year old kids? Its tough. Did no one think of the public relations problem you might run into?

Oh yeah… Stafford County VA (where the school is located) went for John McCain last year…

Paybacks are hell (for children).

Carry on.