He was thanking his education secretary for attending, and then he heaps praise on this Virginia school for it’s innovative teaching techniques.
I looked more closely, and I do not see 6th graders, so....perhaps the only ones in attendance were adults?
What instead is suggested is that the audience was composed of little kids, and his tone is puuuure politics —there is no warpath or father-like indulgence or protection at all.
If around him there are large numbers of small children, then this would be a PR disaster and would make him look foolish and out-of-touch.
According to John Derbyshire, Obama’s secretary of education’s background is as an education bureaucrat—he never actually taught. I haven’t checked but that would not surprise me.