road to the White House: A call to leadership, The

Teaching Pre K-8, Aug/Sep 2001 by Romano, Katherine

Classroom teacher David Lussier tells us of his year spent as a White House Fellow - "a noble cause" that he likens to teaching

As the nation's most prestigious call to public service, the White House Fellowship has attracted individuals eager to carry out the program's mission of dedication and service to our country since 1964. The program, which was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson, was devised as a means of cultivating the next generation of the nation's leaders (alumni include General Colin Powell, Pulitzer-Prize winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Elaine Chao, the former CEO and President of the United Way of America). Each year, the White House Fellowship omission selects citizens promising varcitied professions from varied participate in an ions to participate first-hand experience with the first-hand operations of The 2000-2001 class of the daily operations of our government.

The 2000-2001 class of these distinguished individuals included the first person to be a classroom teacher at the time of his appointmeet - David Lussier, a high school social studies teacher from Andover High School in Andover, MA.

Just a teacher? On a recent outing to the annual Association of Educational Publishers conference in Washington, D.C., Teaching K-8 had the privilege of sitting down and talking with David about his whirlwind year spent working as a White House Fellow. By attaining National Board Certification and by also being the youngest-ever recipient of the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year title, David had no problem rising to the task along with his fellow appointees whose professions run the gamut - from a former Green Beret to a New York City street cop turned prosecutor.

Even with all of these achievements under his belt, David was apprehensive that he would even be considered for the position - his initial thinking, he admitted, was, "But I'm just a teacher." He explained, "I thought it would be neat but, as a teacher, I wasn't really sure if I had the qualifications. I hadn't seen other educators listed as members of the program, so that inferiority complex that many educators have definitely came into play. But then I thought, `Why not?'"

Seeing in context. A major part of serving as a White House Fellow entails becoming involved in the inner workings of the Federal government. White House Fellows spend their year in Washington, D.C. as full-time, paid assistants to senior White House staff, the VicePresident, Cabinet officers and other topranking officials. Fellows are responsible for several key duties that include writing speeches, drafting and reviewing proposed legislation, answering Congressional inquiries, chairing meetings and conducting briefings. And, according to David, as soon as his appointment was official, not a second of his time as a Fellow has been wasted. "Literally the first day I was here, I was handed a speech and was asked to offer some thoughts and comments on what the President was going to be saying in just a few days."

Prior to officially beginning their posts, each of the Fellows' skills are evaluated and they are assigned to a White House department on a recommendation from the Commission. David is serving on the White House Domestic Policy Council and had just returned from India and Pakistan as White House delegation when we met with him in June. "It's another piece of the educational component," David commented. "We can see the implications of our work here in Washington by going to other cities and seeing things in context."

During many of these visits, Fellows meet and talk with various community leaders about their concerns. While in Bombay, David met with leaders to discuss the issues surrounding poverty. "Our trips, both domestically and internationally, give us a chance to see how policy is unfolding, what the needs are for policy and the impact of decisions in the field," he said.

A larger footprint. With his tenure as a Fellow concluding on August 31, 2001, David is both overwhelmed and hopeful with thoughts of returning home and to the classroom. In addition to finishing up his duties on the White House Domestic Policy Council, he and his wife are expecting their second child in August, they are looking for a new home in Massachusetts and he has to prepare lesson plans for each of the classes he will be teaching come September. He is determined to infuse his history teachings with much of what he has learned in this past year. "I feel two responsibilities. One is to share what I've learned with my students and to give them a sense of the vantage point that I've had here. I want to tell them about the lessons I've learned and what things are like behind the scenes in the West Wing and the Executive Branch," he commented. "I also think I have a greater professional responsibility now. There is an expectation that I'm going to use this knowledge to have a greater impact and leave a larger footprint on education and policy."

New insights. As a fitting conclusion to his time spent getting an up close and personal glimpse into the government, David has just signed on to teach a new course in the fall at Andover High School called "Democracy and the Media." "Working in a situation like this where we do a lot of press work for the President's speeches and seeing how we deal with the media here has definitely given me some new insights into how the media actually portrays government" he said- "I think my belief in democracy, more than anything, has been affirmed."