The nation is chiming in on the latest question facing the first family-elect: Should the girls attend public or private school when the family moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

The decision is certainly a personal one for President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, but wherever they send their daughters will be viewed as a political statement.

In Chicago, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, go to the private University of Chicago Laboratory School. While their mother was in Washington on Monday, she visited the private Georgetown Day School, the first integrated school in the district when it opened in 1945.

The "neighborhood school" for the White House is Francis-Stevens Educational Center, according to a map of Washington public schools. It's within bike-riding distance – about a mile away, near Dupont Circle.

So what should the Obamas do? Here is what a number of Sacramentans – and experts – have to say:

• Michelle Rhee, chancellor of Washington public schools, a former board member of St. HOPE Public Schools in Sacramento and a member of Sacramento Mayor-elect Kevin Johnson's transition team. She issued a statement this week on the matter.

"Mayor Adrian Fenty and the chancellor believe that every parent, including the Obamas, should make the decision on where to send their children to school based solely on what school is in the best interest of the child.

"We've gladly discussed the many educational options at (D.C. public schools), encouraged them to explore all of the alternatives, and, in the end will fully support whatever decision the Obamas make."

• Stephen Repsher, headmaster, Sacramento Country Day School.

"From a political perspective, it would be wise for (Obama) to at least consider a public school. … There is a sense, and I'm not sure if it is fair, that public schools are less secure. I believe that really depends on the neighborhood and the level of criminal activity surrounding it."

• Daniel Franz, fifth-grader, San Juan Unified's Del Dayo Elementary.

"I think (Malia and Sasha) should go to one school for one year and then another for the second year. They can decide which one they like."

• Tom Gardner, Elk Grove Unified first-grade teacher and president of the Elk Grove Education Association.

"How would you like to be the president's daughter's teacher?' And what would the parent-teacher conference be like?

"I feel (the girls) should be treated as normally as possible. As part of that, they should go to public school and participate in it, as their parents did."

• Lucy Giles, fifth-grader, Del Dayo Elementary.

"I think the girls should go to a private school. They might get hurt (otherwise) because someone might do something to them because their parents are famous."

• Kevin Johnson, Sacramento mayor-elect and the founder of St. HOPE Public Schools.

"I think it's a very personal decision. They have to make the best choice possible for their kids. And if it's private school, so be it. If it's public school – because there are some great choices in D.C. – then I think they should consider that.

"But I don't think anyone can intervene or make a recommendation on where people should send their children to school. It's a very, very personal decision."

• Lacey West, fifth-grader, Del Dayo Elementary.

"I think they should go to a public school so their parents can save money."

• Dave Gordon, Sacramento County superintendent of schools and an appointee to both President Bush's Commission on Excellence in Special Education and the Governor's Advisory Committee on Education Excellence.

"It should not be a political choice. … I would suggest that the Obamas visit both public and private schools, and get beyond the Web sites and test scores, to see what's right for their children. … No one knows their own kids as well as parents."

• Thomas Harp, principal at Del Dayo Elementary.

"I totally see both sides, but as an administrator I see the security ramifications. We have parents coming and going all day long. How do you really control for that? We'd have to have metal detectors and there would always probably be a Secret Service agent in or outside the classroom."

• Jocelyn Barboza, principal, Loretto High School, a private Catholic college preparatory school for girls.

"If the (girls) are happy in the setting in which they are now, the Obamas should find a similar school. The situation is even more heightened as they are transferring in the middle of the year – those girls will have to adjust from one setting to another. … Personally, I vote to support public education in every way possible, and yet, I sent my child to Catholic school as I really wanted my child to have a Catholic education. That was not a vote against public education."

• Kaitlyn Shelloe, second-grader, Del Dayo Elementary.

"Do you get to wear whatever you want at private school or a uniform? I don't want to wear a uniform."

Call The Bee's Melissa Nix, (916) 321-1090.