Thursday was a big day at the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy, a community charter school hosting about 340 students from Cleveland and inner ring suburbs..
It has less than two days to plan to host a campaign visit from Donald Trump.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for us to be highlighted in the community and for someone of his stature come visit us...It is a big honor,,,,When you look at the community and the population this school serves, why wouldn't he choose this school? " asked Debroah Mays, the Regional V.P. for ACCEL Schools that manages a group of schools nationwide.
The Trump campaign rolled out a big, new urban education plan, vowing to spend $20 billion of repurposed federal money to give to help struggling inner city.
He claimed that, combined with state funding, 11 million students could be empowered to use the money to pick a school of their choice.
He said states would be offered incentives to participate and believed the program would help Ohio which has a big and controversial charter school program.
The Academy is top-rated as a school in measuring year-to-year progress. But it reportedly had an overall D on the State Report Card.
"We have been unbelievably successful and we've done it with half the dollars traditional schools receive," Mays said.
Students pay no tuition.
Trump said, "My goal as President will be to ensure that African-American and Hispanic-Americans and all Americans will be placed on the ladder of success."
This was Trump's first visit to Cleveland's African American community.
On Labor Day, Hillary Clinton held a rally to connect with her strong base in Greater Cleveland.
Did the school expect any blow-back for hosting Trump?
"Mr. Trump visiting the school does not mean we are endorsing Mr. Trump," Mays said.
"I don't think it would be any different than Hillary Clinton coming to share her thoughts on educational policy, " she added
The event, like a Monday meeting with labor leaders in Brook Park, was highly controlled and not open to the public. It's a much different format than the huge rallies that have marked and sparked his campaign.
The school got exposure. Trump got a platform. And voters got to hear about a new issue.
Before today, Trump had only said he is for choice and against Common Core Standards.
Hillary Clinton has said she believes charter schools should supplement but not replace public schools by developing and discovering teaching methods that work.