Bob Woodward: Charitable Guy

Bob Woodward recently appeared on a celebrity edition of Jeopardy. During these events the celebrities choose a charity to which their winnings from the show will be donated. Bob Woodward chose as his charity his daughter’s high school, Sidwell Friends. Sounds great, right?
Who wouldn’t want to help a school do a better job of educating children, except that Sidwell Friends is a well-to-do private school with a $30 million endowment. And they charge $22,415/year for tuition (via The Agitator).

Washington City Paper – In his May 10 appearance on a special “Power Players” edition of Jeopardy!, Woodward was asked by host Alex Trebek to designate a charity for any potential winnings.
“Sidwell Friends,” responded Woodward, adding that his 7-year-old daughter, Diana Woodward, is a first-grader at the school.
The audience at DAR Constitution Hall applauded the choice. Certainly the well-informed onlookers knew of the plight of primary-school children at the school, who attend classes at Sidwell’s Bethesda Lower School. According to school documents, those Sidwell students put up with an “over-programmed multi-purpose room” that must accommodate “PE, dining, theatre and general assembly.” Another hazard is that “Spanish has no classroom” and computer sciences “uses substandard space in meetinghouse basement.” A renovation is in the planning stages.
With everyone pitching in, Sidwell can emerge from the renovation of its Lower School campus with enough money to accomplish its other priorities, such as training teachers, funding scholarships, and upgrading its Wisconsin Avenue campus. Associate Head of School Ellis Turner places the school’s endowment at $30 million.
Woodward lost his Jeopardy! round to CNN personality Tucker Carlson and Wall Street Journal Contributing Editor Peggy Noonan. The third-place effort, nonetheless, netted $20,000 for Sidwell Friends.

Glad to see you could help out Bob.
Who says the media elite aren’t in touch with the average American? I’m sure that if I were called upon to make an appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy I’d pick a mega-rich private school as the beneficiary of my winnings.