
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SLANESVILLE, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Medium

PRESIDENT TAKES NATION'S TOP TEACHER OUT FOR A WHIRL

The last time President Bush visited an elementary school, one youngster doubted he was really the president. "This time I came prepared," Bush said Wednesday as he whisked the nation's Teacher of the Year back to the White House aboard his Marine helicopter.

The award winner, Rae Ellen McKee, stood beside the president and waved to her excited students and fellow teachers at the Slanesville Elementary School as she boarded Marine One.

Bush's helicopter had landed in a field beside the school so he could deliver this year's award to McKee, 33, a remedial reading instructor in this Appalachian hamlet.

"I hope you won't mind that we're going to borrow Mrs. McKee," Bush told his audience. As teacher of the year, she will be traveling around the nation "to share with all our schools the secrets of her success right here in McKee Slanesville."

Bush recalled that "the last time I went to a school . . . I had a third-grader, a boy, ask me to prove that I was the president. I finally showed him my American Express card."

"This time I came prepared," Bush said Wednesday, noting that he had brought along Education Secretary Lamar Alexander "so there can be no doubt" and had brought Marine One right to the school yard.

"And when we're done here, just to prove it, I'm going to take Mrs. McKee back up to the White House with me."

Back at the White House, after a 45-minute flight, McKee was shown around the Oval Office by the president.

Bush presented the teacher a crystal apple at a brief ceremony outside the school, lauded her 11 years of teaching and said her success marked "a proud day . . . for every hard-working teacher in America."

The National Teacher of the Year Program is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers in partnership with Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.

Bush also said he would soon unveil a national education blueprint that would be "a long-term strategy to make America all that it can be."

by CNB