This feels like an only on Martha’s Vineyard story. Two weeks before the doors to my daughter’s school open for students, the cafeteria and gym are filled with reporters from around the globe. They await the arrival of President Obama and Ben Bernanke, who, after negotiating the narrow two-lane roads leading to the school, on an Island without one traffic light, arrive at the Oak Bluffs School by motorcade. Once inside, the President announces he is reappointing Bernanke for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Our modest lunchroom has transformed magically into a White House briefing room. The White House advance team brought flags, a backdrop and a podium. It’s a sturdy substantial podium, much nicer than the ones we have; I hope they leave it behind for us.

The town of Oak Bluffs is telling the school it will likely need to cut an additional $200,000 from its budget. These cuts assault a budget already so trim it threatens to turn a weight watchers success story into a tale of anorexia. We need that podium; there’s no room for podiums in our budget. If the President and Mr. Bernanke would just sign that podium, we could auction it off on eBay and our budget woes would be over. We could even thank the Fed for our success.

The other day I stopped by the school to speak with our principal, Laury Binney. Three press tents were set up near the school’s entrance. A reporter in a blue blazer and khaki shorts was interviewing a woman wearing a lavender pantsuit. I don’t know if anyone has ever been seen in a lavender pantsuit in August on this Island notorious for casual attire. Even the President and Mr. Bernanke wore open collared shirts while making statements about continuing efforts to save the world economy.

In the middle of my conversation with Mr. Binney, his phone rings. It’s Cindy Sheehan’s representative. Ms. Sheehan wants to hold a press conference at the school on Wednesday. Why is Cindy Sheehan on Martha’s Vineyard? I thought Crawford, Texas, was her beat. At least she’ll probably be wearing a T-shirt or flip-flops.

The Oak Bluffs school cafeteria and gym are conjoined by a folding accordion door. Both rooms are lined with rows of tables, on which laptops, telephones and television monitors now sit. Each of these tables is designated to a different news organization. A few weeks from now, five boys from Miss Graber’s class will be sitting at the CNN table and eight girls from Miss Glynn’s class will take over the NBC table. They are way more likely to be flinging food than filing stories.

There’s no air conditioning in the cafeteria, just a large fan, and the humidity and heat the past few days have been oppressive. Our school doesn’t have money in the budget for air conditioning. Perhaps the press corps should take up a collection and make a donation. After all, they’ll likely be back.

After the press conference, Mr. Binney and our assistant principal, Jennifer Arnold, had an opportunity to meet the President. Ms. Arnold is new to the Vineyard and new to the job. I asked her if she had any idea ahead of time about the job’s perks.

Vineyarders get used to the comings and goings of the powerful, influential and extremely wealthy, yet I confess to cringing every time someone refers to the Vineyard as a “playground for the rich and famous.” The truth is many people living here struggle significantly to make ends meet, and the irony is that two weeks after a popular President makes headlines from our school cafeteria, we may not have the funding to pay a custodian to keep that same cafeteria clean for our children.

Kate Feiffer is a children’s book author who lives year-round in Oak Bluffs. Her latest book is Which Puppy? about the search for the Obamas’ puppy.