Clearlake Elementary School (Mallory O'Brian's school)
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
Clearlake Elementary is the originating institution for the visiting children; its involvement is primarily representational, bringing civic curiosity and the claim that ordinary citizens (schoolchildren) have a stake in accurate public history.
Not physically present onstage, but implied as earnest and expectant—the students' demeanor reflects a school's emphasis on respect and learning.
Source of the visitors and moral counterweight to adult political theater.
Represents civic education and the public who are taught by the institution; their presence exposes adult hypocrisy.
School-organized field trip with chaperone/teacher oversight; children escorted into public rooms for guided tours.
Clearlake Elementary is the origin point for the visiting students and their essays; while offstage, its presence matters narratively because it supplies the moral purpose of the visit and contrasts genuine civic curiosity with Sam's self-focused performance.
Not onstage but implied as earnest and community-oriented, supplying well-prepared, motivated students.
Source of the visiting cohort and the essays that justify the tour.
Represents civic education and ordinary citizens whose expectations complicate West Wing theater.
Standard school group visiting protocol; children are chaperoned and must remain seated.
Clearlake Elementary School is invoked as the offstage reason Mallory is usually unavailable; its absence (no school today) provides the narrative space for her to visit during business hours and legitimizes her presence in the West Wing.
Absent but providential — the quiet of a closed school allows a teacher-daughter to enter adult spaces unmoored from routine.
Background context that explains Mallory's availability and grounds her character in a working-class, non-West Wing routine.
Symbolizes Mallory's rooted, everyday life outside the West Wing, contrasting institutional gravity with ordinary civic labor.
Not directly relevant to West Wing access in this event; functions as external context.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
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