Sarasota school teacher remembers when Bush visited her classroom on 9/11

SARASOTA -- School teacher Kay Daniels’ life changed in the time it takes for one person to whisper to another.

That’s all it took for her name to go down in history.

One whisper turned an excited group of students buoyed by a visit from President George W. Bush into concerned children. They watched Bush’s face go from involved and animated to concerned. The kids wondered if they had done something wrong to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Daniels wondered if she had done something wrong, too, she said recently in speaking with the Bradenton Herald.

Sept. 11, 2001, was a day she described as experiencing some of the highest highs and lowest lows. It was an emotional shift she tried to shield from her students. But to better understand her angst, one has to rewind a decade ago.

Daniels was the teacher in charge of the class that would receive a visit from Bush at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota. She was fully apprised of the do’s and don’ts around the president. She and her students had been in the classroom on that infamous morning since about 7 a.m. They were told to wait in class to adhere to security precautions.

It was supposed to be a day of celebration, Daniels said.

“This class had made great gains in school -- that was the purpose of the president’s visit,” Daniels said. “He was celebrating their gains. They made (FCAT) gains over all the kids in Sarasota County.”

From the classroom window, Daniels and her students excitedly watched Bush’s motorcade drive up.

“Traffic was horrendous,” Daniels recalled with a laugh. “It was the president. It wasn’t somebody’s Aunt Sue.”

Instructions given were clear. President Bush would walk into Daniels’ room joined by Booker Elementary School principal, the late Gwendolyn Tose-Rigell, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and Florida Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan. Bush would greet students seated in chairs facing their teacher. A short lesson would take place as Daniels asked students to read from an easel. Then, students would read a story and the president would follow along with the lesson.

But long before Bush walked into the room, the group had already heard rumblings from intelligence of a plane accident, Brogan said.

“At that time, we all believed ... it was a small aircraft or a tremendous accident ... by a rookie pilot,” Brogan said recalling the surreal set of events. “What transpired after that was most memorable and most chilling.”

A stately visit

Video footage shows Bush as he walked in the classroom. His Texas drawl was welcoming as he said, “Good to meet you all.”

Daniels followed instructions. Students happily recited the words she gave them.

“Everyone always makes it seem like that was something we rehearsed, which is not true,” said student Natalia Jones-Pinkney, a student in Daniels’ class that day. “That was an everyday lesson.”

They finished to applause. Then the unthinkable. The classroom door opened.

“Out of the corner of my eye I could see someone walking up,” Daniels said. “Later, I identified that person as Andrew Card.”

The White House Chief of Staff whispered in Bush’s ear.

“I knew that was not supposed to happen,” Daniels, who currently teaches at Sarasota’s Booker Middle School, said recently. “I could feel President Bush leave me emotionally.”

Gone was the engaging Bush who happily smiled at the children.

“He changed from happy, excited and enthusiastic,” Natalia said. “It was a very big difference.”

Brogan was just a few feet away from Bush and he too noticed the difference.

“When Andy whispered,” Brogan said, “you knew something significant was taking place. It became clear to us that it was something extraordinary.”

Daniels continued to follow instructions she was given earlier, despite seeing Card in her classroom. She advised the children to pick up books under their chairs. The group was to read “The Pet Goat” by Siegried Englemann and Elaine C. Bruner.

Bush didn’t move.

“He didn’t pick up his book,” Daniels said. “He leaned back. His facial expression was void.”

Daniels had no idea what Card had whispered to Bush. The world would later learn part that Card said, “America is under attack.”

The class didn’t have access to television monitors to know that the World Trade Center’s towers had been hit by two commercial jets. But Daniels said she knew something was wrong in looking at Bush’s reactions to the whispers uttered in his ear.

“All I thought was: What just happened?” She asked herself. “Did something happen with Mrs. Bush? Did something happen with the twins?”

Daniels, the mother of twins, figured something had to be wrong with twins Jenna or Barbara Bush. Then, she saw the children eyeing the leader of the free world. Lazaro Dubrocq was one of Daniels’ students. He noticed the change in Bush.

“It was such a drastic change,” said Lazaro, who today goes to Riverview High School. “Here I am a 7-year-old boy. I thought everything was going well. Then, he looked completely worried and anxious.”

America is under attack

She knew if she stopped, it could cause a ruckus in the room, Daniels said. She was clueless as to what was going on outside of the classroom. She asked the children to read from the story. After a moment, Bush picked up the book to read silently.

“He did the best he could with trying to stay there,” Daniels said. “He returned to being jovial. He was engaged with my kids.”

Brogan who worked as an elementary school teacher, principal, superintendent and Florida’s Education Commissioner and former president of Florida Atlantic University, was keenly aware of Bush’s response.

“I’m a school teacher by trade and I could tell you I was extremely proud of the man that day,” Brogan, who works as chancellor of Florida’s University system, said about Bush.

The visit was cut short after Bush briefly spoke with students. He encouraged their reading skills. He thanked everyone for hosting him in the classroom. Then, he went into an office.

“In my mind I thought: Did I just do something wrong?” Daniels asked. “There was a speediness about him now. The business man was there.”

The school had made a makeshift office for Bush just outside the classroom. Daniels saw the president using a phone.

“We didn’t even leave the room when he addressed the nation in the media center,” Daniels said.

But Brogan had “ringside seats” of the activity surrounding Bush. The president remained calm, Brogan said. Secret Service officials were trying to encourage Bush as to the next steps to take.

“They wanted him to leave Booker immediately for Air Force One and go airborne,” Brogan said. “The president, in my opinion, courageously made it clear he was not going to leave until he made a statement to the American people.”

Some 200-300 people awaited to hear Bush’s words. He told the group about the attacks. Then, he led them in a moment of silence, Brogan said. The crowd had been sequestered in the library much like Daniels and her students.

Daniels learns the truth

After Bush’s address, a member of the Secret Service pulled Daniels aside. She was in Bush’s makeshift office when she was shown a television monitor.

“I saw thick, gray smoke billowing out of this building,” she said.

Her mind wouldn’t allow her to recognize the building she had visited while on vacation in New York City. Then, she was told what happened. Two planes had gone into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center.

“What World Trade Center -- the World Trade Center in New York?” Daniels asked nearly dumbfounded. “What New York are you talking about?”

When Daniels realized the attacks really did take place, one question came to mind: “Were people in the building?”

“His non-answer to me was an answer,” Daniels said. “I had to have my moment. The air had changed in the whole room. People were in the towers. America is under attack.”

Teaching the word terrorist

Daniels said looking back on that unbelievable day she knew she had to compose herself.

“It was a bit much to digest at the time,” Daniels said. “But, I had to get to my babies.”

She was thrust into the role of teaching about what had occurred -- to explain why the president’s visit was cut short. As she returned, student Natalia saw that she had been crying.

“In our classroom, it was like a family,” Natalia said. “Seeing her like that almost made me cry.”

Daniels sat the class down on the floor to explain why Bush had to leave before taking pictures and meeting every child. One child jokingly said, “I thought he had to go to the bathroom.” His words erupted the small class into ripples of laughter.

“I had to tell them: Something terrible has happened,” Daniels said. “The word terrorist was not in my lesson plan.”

Daniels said she chose to explain Bush’s departure in very basic terms.

“I told them he had to go and take care of what’s wrong right now,” she said. “We were on an emotional high. One moment you’re celebrating then you get this devastating news.”

The class was shown a television monitor.

“We didn’t fully grasp the situation,” Lazaro said. “We kind of just sat there in confusion. I later remember feeling fear and paranoia.”

Lazaro’s family picked him up from school.

“I assumed that they were targeting the president,” he said. “Maybe they will attack the school.”

Natalia’s mother also picked her up from the school.

“We didn’t know what a terrorist attack was or even what the World Trade Center was,” Natalia said.

Meanwhile, Brogan was asked by Gov. Jeb Bush to be back in Tallahassee by 3 p.m., to address Floridians. Brogan had less than four hours to get to the state’s capitol. The Florida Highway Patrol escorted him to Tallahassee’s emergency management center, which is more than 300 miles away.

“The whole world came to a stop,” Brogan said recalling his ride back to Tallahassee and how Interstate 75 was nearly deserted. “It’s like everyone anchored down and that was that.”

Keeping in touch

Both Lazaro and Natalia describe the second-grade class as a family. Many of the students advanced from Booker Elementary School to Booker Middle. The students continue to keep in touch.

“Mrs. Daniels was like a second mother to us,” Natalia said.

Daniels said it was natural for her to shield and mother the children knowing that all eyes would be on them.

“We had a special bond even before President Bush came to the school,” she said.

Daniels said she comes from a loving family. So, it was natural for her to give hugs in the morning or words of encouragement like “You can be better.”

“I would tell them that to take some of the roughness out of their little lives,” she said.

But she wanted the biggest take away for her students to be to succeed beyond the disaster of Sept. 11, 2001.

“For me it opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on the world,” Lazaro said. “It’s not a harmonious place.”

To make it more harmonious it’s his goal to be more accepting of individuals. Plus, he strives to make a difference.

“I need to be diligent and hardworking,” Lazaro, who aspires to study chemical engineering at Columbia University, said.

Natalia essentially thought the same thing. She embraced Daniels’ lessons of never giving up.

“I don’t like to give up and I don’t give up,” she said.

Then, Daniels described what she feels is a bond she shares with the families who grieved for their lost loved ones.

“I never met any of the victims. I never met any of the victims’ families,” Daniels said. “But President Bush was with me and my class. I can’t help but feel like I’m a part of them.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sarasota school teacher remembers when Bush visited her classroom on 9/11."