toledoblade.com --

WASHINGTON - Brian Gerber's initial reaction was to say "no'' when White House officials called him earlier this week and invited him to visit with President Bush yesterday.

The short notice to get to the nation's capital meant that Mr. Gerber, the principal of Payne Elementary School in Paulding County, would have to fly - something he detests and hadn't done in 36 years.

But a second White House call convinced Mr. Gerber to make the trip. And, after his hour-long visit yesterday with Mr. Bush - including a 25-minute chat in the Oval Office - Mr. Gerber is definitely happy that he came.

"This was absolutely one of the most incredible meetings I've ever attended,'' said Mr. Gerber, who was one of eight participants in the meeting.

Besides Mr. Bush and Mr. Gerber, the only other participants in the early afternoon meeting were U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, Margaret Spellings, whom Mr. Bush has chosen to succeed Mr. Paige in the top education job, and three teachers from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington.

Mr. Gerber, who runs a school of 302 students in the Wayne Trace school district about 60 miles southwest of Toledo, said he's not exactly sure why he was the only principal invited to the meeting. He said that his name was forwarded to the White House by the U.S. Department of Education, with which he has worked on a new Internet mentoring program for teachers.

"I'm guessing that's how they got my name,'' Mr. Gerber said yesterday.

At the White House meeting, the group first gathered around a rectangular table in the West Wing. Mr. Bush discussed his proposed federal education budget for next year, but Mr. Gerber said he doesn't remember too many specifics of Mr. Bush's presentation.

"I was only sitting two feet from him, and he was looking me in the eye for nearly an hour,'' said Mr. Gerber, who added that he voted for Mr. Bush in the November election. "I was kind of overwhelmed.''

Mr. Bush then asked the participants to talk about their own experiences as educators. Mr. Gerber, who presented Mr. Bush with a Payne Elementary School Hall of Fame hat and shirt, said he told the President about "how the public education system has been inadequately funded in Ohio."

"I've got to give him credit - he's a good listener. He heard me out,'' Mr. Gerber said. "But he told me that Ohio has to fix that problem.''

After 35 minutes in the West Wing, Mr. Bush invited the group to head into the Oval Office, where he talked about the history of various piece of furniture and art there.

"I told him that I got goose bumps just being in the Oval Office. He told me that's normal. He said, 'This is my office and I get goose bumps every time I come in here,'●'' Mr. Gerber said.

During the 25 minutes in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush also took the group over to a window where they watched the President's two Scottish terriers, 4-year-old Barney and a headstrong puppy named Miss Beazley, romp around the White House lawn.

"He talked about the dogs and said the little one is going to be tough to raise,'' Mr. Gerber said.

But the fairy-tale White House visit wasn't quite concluded. Near the end of the meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush told the group, "Guys, I've got a surprise for you," Mr. Gerber said. "Then he opened a door and there was [U.S. Secretary of State] Colin Powell.''

After a photograph session, it was time to leave. The White House will send the photos in a few weeks, but Mr. Gerber took some souvenirs with him: Mr. Bush's signature on a paper listing Payne Elementary's 2004-2005 Building Goals, as well as on Mr. Gerber's nametag for the White House meeting.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gerber was still rather dazed by it all. "This kind of thing will never happen to me again,'' he said.

Contact Karen MacPherson at:
kmacpherson@nationalpress.com
or 202-662-7075.

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