This is not going to go away. We?re going to learn from it and make it better. When parents and teachers work together, it?s a good signal to the student that says they (teachers and parents) are willing to work for me.

We want parents to know they can really become allies and partners so their students can do their best.

It's nice to see the young ones 7, 8, 9 years old. It seems like they know you through their parents.

There is a feeling [amongst parents] that if the secretary of state had such little grasp as to what was happening in one of the most important areas of her department it needs to be looked at.

My parents are like younger, urchinlike brothers and sisters whose faces are dirty and who blurt out humiliating things that can neither be anticipated nor controlled. I sigh and make the best of it. I feel I’m older than they are, much older. I feel ancient.

I was working on the farm to get in shape, about a mile away from my parents. You know, I did everything as a kid to stay in shape - jogging, work on the farm, driving the tractor. I'll never forget.