When the president is headed to your gymnasium, the school day opens with unusual punch.

Wright Middle School eighth-grader Deion Ford showed up this morning with "Obama" shaved onto his head. Seventh-grader Jacel Schwartz gingerly balanced a Tupperware container with a sugar cookie she'd stayed up late to bake for the big-time guest. Sixth-grader Ari Davis wowed his classmates in a black dress suit and tie.

"It's good to see someone kind of like myself in a leadership role," said Ari, 12, who is black and who was picked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance before President Barack Obama's scheduled speech at the school early this afternoon.

As students rushed off buses, they lingered in the school's front courtyard, taking photos of each other and racing to break news of the latest bomb-sniffing dog to case the building. Air Force One is scheduled to touch down at Dane County Regional Airport early afternoon today. Obama will then make his way to the school for an address on education reform and a private meeting with 40 select students.

The charter school, at 1717 Fish Hatchery Road, is the middle school with the highest percentage of minority students and low-income students of any school in Madison.

"This will be good for us, because he's inspired us as the first black president," said seventh-grader Elias Dejesus.

Teacher Jon Hawkins said he gets a little emotional thinking about the impact the visit could have on students' futures.

"Any presidential visit would be amazing, but this president with these students goes way beyond that," he said. "We've been kind of tearing up some."

Students were hustled into the school promptly at 8, when Madison police shut down the parking lot. Minutes later, 10 city garbage trucks began parking bumper to fender on the sidewalk outside to create an impervious barrier and block much of the view of the school from the street.

Police said earlier this week that they would shut down parts of Fish Hatchery Road between noon and 3 p.m. today. But this morning police said they would shut down the street from Wingra Drive to Carver Street at 10 a.m.

More than 100 Madison police officers are assisting with security for the visit, said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.

Information on how much overtime is involved is not yet available, DeSpain said.

"There's a lot of people already working that aren't doing their usual jobs," DeSpain said. "There are detectives walking around in uniform today."

Only two protesters had arrived as of about 8:30 a.m., both opponents of legalized abortion. One of them, Mark Kimble of Monona, said he wanted to be there early so that students would know "it is important for the strong to protect the weak."

By mid-morning police had booted protesters from land adjacent to the school. Several dozen protesters, mostly from anti-war groups - among them Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine - had congregated at the corner of Fish Hatchery Road and Wingra Drive.

Barbara Smith, with the Madison Area Peace Coalition, said she was personally neutral on Obama's performance as president so far. But she added that as a peace activist she has never agreed with his continuing of the war in Afghanistan.

"I'm here in the spirit of believing change is still possible," Smith said.

About 20 Madison East High School students also joined the protesters, saying they wanted Obama to push forward with more liberal immigration policies and making college more affordable.

Exactly one year to the date of his election victory, Obama will be entering seemingly friendly territory. In a mock election last fall, he overwhelmingly beat Republican candidate John McCain among Wright students. Many of them wore pro-Obama T-shirts this morning, including specially designed ones saying Obama is "doing things the Wright way."

But he could face a little tough questioning. Deion Ford, the student with the "Obama" shaved onto his head, said he hopes to ask Obama what he thinks of year-round schooling. Deion said he opposes it because he thinks students would be more likely to skip school if they didn't get a summer break.

The speech is not open to the public, but 50 parents, including Regina Lemon, the mother of an eighth-grader, won a lottery to attend.

"We didn't sleep at all last night," Lemon said of herself and her daughter. "This is just a blessing for all of us."

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