Hillary talks federal education funding

Benjamin Grove

Monday, Oct. 19, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

Fifth-grader Alexandra Marshall had practiced her welcome greeting to Hillary Clinton over and over.

But she never got to say it. The first lady startled the 11-year-old with a hug before she could utter a word.

"It was fun," Alexandra said after she had presented Clinton with a gift basket. "I was lucky."

Clinton stopped in Las Vegas Friday to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Jan Laverty Jones and several other Nevada Democrats, using Halle Hewetson Elementary School as her stump.

Clinton was greeted at the sidewalk by students. Aides quickly shuttled her to three classrooms for brief visits. Close in tow were fellow Democrats Jones, who is also the mayor of Las Vegas, Shelley Berkley, candidate for U.S. Congress, and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who does not face an election race this year.

At one point, Clinton knelt to ask first-grader Glory Valdez what she was working on. As the first lady rose to move on, Glory asked her to open her glue. Clinton obliged.

"She was nice," Glory said afterward, not fully understanding the stature of the classroom guest.

"This was pretty cool," said Laurie Drentlaw, Glory's teacher. "There was a lot of hoopla leading up to this. It was a lot calmer than we thought it would be."

Before leaving for a fund-raiser luncheon, Clinton addressed about 300 people jammed into the school's multi-purpose room.

Clinton's speech centered almost entirely on the importance of education and education funding.

"I wanted to come here and talk about education, particularly in the context of some important decisions the people in Nevada are going to make in the next few weeks," Clinton said.

Clinton said she supported using federal money for school construction, a concept Congress has rejected. She said smaller classrooms mean teachers pay more attention to students. Smaller classes are also safer, she said.

Clinton also stressed the importance of using federal money for more teachers. She spoke specifically of meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking students. Hewetson, the district's second largest elementary school with roughly 1,200 pupils, also has one of the highest percentages of Spanish-speaking students -- roughly 70 percent.

Clinton had high praise for Berkley and Jones. Jones wants to hire a state "dropout czar" as part of her education plans.

"Jan wants schools to have the teachers, the tools and the technology to do the job," Clinton said.

Clinton did not take questions from the tightly controlled media.

Clinton had an unpleasant reception from more than 100 noisy protesters across the street from the school. The chanting group objected to the recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to void the work permits of thousands of aliens who face possible deportation.

Protest organizers, including representatives from the organization Fair Treatment for Immigrants, said the ruling could ruin families when fathers who are sent back to their native countries. Many of their children were born in the United States.

"They want to stay here," said Miguel Rodriguez, a friend of some who face deportation. "They are victims."

Clinton supporters sung her praises.

"She's intelligent, beautiful, politically wise and a caring person," said substitute teacher Inez Saxon. "In spite of her personal problems and the venom that has been spewed, she puts on a happy face and does what is best for the country. Children are her priority."