    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [March 14, 1997]
    [Pages 311-314]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Telephone Remarks to Lighthouse Elementary School in Jupiter, Florida
    March 14, 1997

        Dr. Joan Kowal. Good morning, Mr. President.
        The President. Good morning, Joan.
        Dr. Kowal. And good morning--I know that the President is saying
    good morning to all the boys and girls here that are gathered at
    Lighthouse. We're very pleased to at least have you on the phone. And we
    wish you were here in person, and we know you do, too.
        The President. Oh, I really wish I were there. I wanted so much to
    come and visit because I've heard so much about the school. And I know
    about the problem of growth and crowding in Florida, and I wanted to use
    the work you're doing there as a strong argument for passing this
    program in Congress to help school districts like this one and
    throughout the State of Florida to do the building they need to do.
        And I'm very grateful--and I also wanted to thank all the students
    and the educators for showing up. I know the student body president
    there, Marcy Haylett--I've been told this is her birthday. I hope you
    will tell her happy birthday for me.
        Dr. Kowal. I will tell you she also has the title of president. I
    was going to get to introduce that president this morning. And she is,
    indeed, celebrating an 11th birthday at this time. And I think one of
    the things--we know you didn't choose Lighthouse quite by accident. When
    we think of the symbol of a lighthouse and the fact that what it offers
    is a real symbol of hope on the horizon and helps navigators, and we
    know that one of the things that as you're looking for growth, that it's
    a real sense of hope for us. And we're very pleased that you've
    recognized the challenge here as we talk about rebuilding America's
    schools.
        Can you tell us just a little bit more--and let me just say, Marcy
    wants to--she had a long introduction here, but I'm going to ask her
    just to say a couple of words out of her introduction, because she
    wanted the opportunity to do that. Is that okay?
        The President. Sure, I want to hear her.
        Marcy Haylett. Hey, Mr. President. It is an honor and a privilege to
    have the 42d President to come to Lighthouse Elementary School to speak
    to us and to help us to solve our problem of overcrowded schools.
        The President. Thank you, Marcy.
        Ms. Haylett. You're welcome.
        The President. And happy birthday again.
        Ms. Haylett. Thank you.

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        The President. Hope you have a great day.
        Ms. Haylett. Hope you feel better.
        The President. Oh, I'll feel better, and I hope I get to come and
    visit you later, okay?
        Ms. Haylett. Okay.
        The President. That's great.
        Dr. Kowal. Mr. President, can you give us a few words--you are now
    on loudspeaker, and let me just mention that standing here with me is
    Commissioner Brogan, and he's grabbing the phone out of my hand. But
    I'll tell you what, he is one of the most visible commissioners we've
    had here in Florida. He just wants to say howdy.
        The President. Hello, Frank.
        Commissioner Frank Brogan. Mr. President, how are you?
        The President. I'm great. I heard you and Joan talking on the
    television a few moments ago. It was very good, and I appreciate what
    you had to say.
        Commissioner Brogan. Well, Mr. President, we are certainly sorry to
    hear about your accident. The good news is they'll have to give you two
    strokes a side in the future, I suppose.
        The President. Right. I saw Greg Norman this morning; I told him my
    handicap is going up by the minute.
        Commissioner Brogan. Well, we are disappointed, as I'm sure you're
    well aware, but I told all of the wonderful children and teachers and
    parents here at Lighthouse Elementary that I'm sure you're considerably
    more disappointed, having had the accident and not being able to visit
    this great school.
        The President. I'm so disappointed because I really looked forward
    to coming. As soon as I heard about the school and how the principal,
    Una Hukill, and all the teachers were working hard to cope with the
    growth, and I really wanted to come there because I thought that
    Lighthouse would be a symbol of what we need to do, of the best in our
    education system and how we need to respond to the growth issue.
        We have more young people in school today than ever before in the
    history of America, and we don't have enough facilities. And in many
    places, the facilities that are there are deteriorating. And what my
    proposal would do is simply say to the local community, if you're out
    there trying to do your part to build or repair facilities, we want the
    National Government to put some money aside, to lower the interest rates
    so that you can get more money for building for less effort as long as
    you're making an appropriate effort on your own.
        It's a way of using our national funds, which are more limited, to
    leverage far more money all across America to help deal with this growth
    issue. And I'm looking forward to passing it, and I just want to
    encourage everyone there to talk to the Members of Congress and the
    Senators from Florida and ask them to support this.
        Commissioner Brogan. Well, Mr. President, we appreciate that. And
    I've spoken personally with both Senator Graham and Senator Mack, who
    obviously recognize some of the overcrowding that we're facing in what
    we believe is a very special State, with 2.3 million schoolchildren who
    come to us not just from around the country but all over the world. And
    we believe that facilities is an issue for both the local and the State
    government. But we also believe because of our special circumstances, as
    do Senators Mack and Graham, that we need some special consideration
    from the Federal level.
        Your proposed visit here today has really made a statement. We're
    sorry that you couldn't be here personally, but believe me, it has made
    a statement. And we're working in Tallahassee right now, in the
    legislative session, drawing some attention to this issue of
    overcrowding. They're working on it at the local level. And we thank you
    for bringing some national attention to a very special State with very
    special problems.
        The President. Thank you. I was glad to do it. I talked to
    Congressman Foley today--he came by the hospital to see me--I was glad
    to see him. And I think if we can get all the legislators from Florida
    behind this in Washington, we've got a good chance to pass the program.
        Commissioner Brogan. Well, you take care of yourself. I had surgery
    similar to that when I was a little bit younger, and I seemed to have
    come through it. I run every day, and I know you'll be back on the golf
    course very soon.
        The President. I want to be back running soon, and that's
    encouraging. And again, I want to thank Joan Kowal and all the people
    from the school there. Please forgive me for not being there, and give
    me a raincheck. I can't wait to see you, and believe me, you've done a
    lot of good for this program today, just by the national publicity
    you've achieved. Perhaps you'll

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    even get more, in addition--than I heard that you would have had
    otherwise.
        Commissioner Brogan. Well, that's very possible. You know how these
    things work. I'm going to turn, very quickly, the telephone over to the
    chairman of the school board here in Palm Beach County, and also the
    principal, because I know they want to say a quick ``hello'' and ``get
    well soon'' to you, Mr. President.
        Thank you. Take care of yourself. Fly safely.
        Paulette Burdick. Good morning, President. My name's Paulette
    Burdick from the school board.
        The President. Good morning.
        Ms. Burdick. Well, we certainly wish you well. We're sorry that
    you're not here, but all the children wish you a speedy recovery.
    They're all busy addressing and making get-well cards for you.
        The President. Oh, great.
        Ms. Burdick. And we thank you for bringing a national recognition to
    the fact of school overcrowding. I've just returned from Tallahassee,
    and your visit down here to south Florida certainly has increased the
    dialog up in Tallahassee and also at our local level. And certainly, on
    behalf of the nearly 135,000 students in Palm Beach County, we do want
    to extend another invitation to come back to our glorious county.
        The President. Thank you very much. I'll try to do it without
    incident next time. [Laughter]
        Ms. Burdick. Well, okay. Thank you. I'm going to turn you over to
    our wonderful principal here, Ms. Hukill.
        Ms. Una Hukill. Good morning, Mr. President. This is Una Hukill, the
    principal of Lighthouse Elementary. And on behalf of all of our students
    and our staff and our parents, we wish you a very, very speedy recovery.
    All of our thoughts and prayers are certainly with you this morning.
        The President. Thank you. Thank you for all the effort you put into
    this visit. I'm so sorry I can't be there. I'm looking at the children
    on television now. They look wonderful. And I hope I get a chance to
    visit with you in the future.
        Ms. Hukill. Well, I truly want to extend that offer to you. Anytime
    that you happen to be anywhere near our area, our door is always open
    and welcome to you, and any impromptu time, we would be happy to have
    you here with us.
        The President. Thank you very much.
        Ms. Hukill. And have a very speedy recovery, and you'll be receiving
    packages from us very soon.
        The President. I can't wait. I'll need it.
        Ms. Hukill. I need to just tell you that we have some wonderful
    lemon cake and your Diet Coke in sterling silver waiting for you, and
    we'll keep it.
        The President.  Just save them all. I'll be there.
        Ms. Hukill. We'll save it. We're hoping that we'll be able to just
    put it on hold for a very brief time.
        The President. Hi, kids. I can see them waving on the television.
    That's great.
        Ms. Hukill. Let me give this to Superintendent Kowal who will also
    introduce to you Congressman Mark Foley. Okay, I guess he just spoke at
    you. I'll give you back to the superintendent. Thank you so much, and
    for a speedy recovery.
        The President. Thank you. Goodbye.
        Dr. Kowal. One more time we want to let Marcy, who introduced you,
    say goodbye. We really appreciate--I know when you are in pain it's
    sometimes hard to have a smile on your face, but everybody tells us you
    do right now.
        The President. Thank you. I'm doing fine.
        Dr. Kowal. That's really good. Just reechoing what the commissioner
    said, we have a school board that has been committed to doing the right
    things for children in providing the very best in teaching and learning.
    And I know that you would have liked to have seen that, classroom to
    classroom. But you're certainly here in our spirits.
        I'm going to let President Haylett say goodbye to you. Okay? Hello?
        The President. Yes, I can hear you.
        Ms. Haylett. Hi, hope you feel better.
        The President. Thank you, Marcy. I'll feel better. And you tell all
    your classmates that I'm sorry I missed them, and I thank them for their
    good wishes, okay?
        Ms. Haylett. Okay. Hope to see you next Friday in Washington.
        The President. Oh, great. I'd like that.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:06 a.m. from Air Force One. The President
    canceled his scheduled visit to the school after injuring his knee
    during a visit to professional golfer Greg Norman's residence on the
    evening of March 13. The following persons participated in the telephone
    conversation: Joan P. Kowal, superintendent, Palm Beach

    [[Page 314]]

    County schools; Florida Commissioner of Education Frank Brogan; Marcy
    Haylett, student body president, and Una Hukill, principal, Lighthouse
    Elementary School; and Paulette Burdick, chair, Palm Beach County School
    Board.