Template:8:15 a.m. September 11, 2001: Bush

8:15 a.m. September 11, 2001: Bush Prolongs Briefing About Planned School Visit
Sandy Kress, George W. Bush’s unpaid education adviser, meets with the president in his hotel on Longboat Key, Florida, to brief him on their planned 9 a.m. visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in nearby Sarasota.

With them are Secretary of Education Rod Paige, Bush’s senior adviser Karl Rove, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Kress goes over some key points for the talk Bush is due to give to the press after reading with the students at the school. However, Kress will later recall that the “president is a very punctual person,” and “I’ve never known him to be late.” Yet, “we finished the briefing on that fateful day, and we continued to talk for another ten minutes about people and politics in Texas. The time to leave came and passed.” Kress adds, “That struck me as unusual.” According to the official schedule, the president is supposed to leave the resort at 8:30 a.m. for the drive to the school. Yet, according to one account, he will not leave until as late as 8:39