A Third grader questions Obama at town hall meeting but gets no answer

(CNN) — For a brief moment Thursday, President Obama wasn't the star of his own town hall meeting in Los Angeles.

Ethan Lopez, an eight year old third grader asked the final question during a townhall meeting.

"Hi," says the boy, "my name is Ethan, President Obama. Our school is in big trouble because of budget cuts. Twenty-five of our teachers have already been fired to get pink slips, and the whole school, my class, we made this." He gestures to the envelope.

"Are those letters for me?" asks Obama. "Is that your mom? She looks very nice."

Obama assures Ethan that he plans to do all that he can to "protect teachers," but also uses the moment to plug his school construction program, which he says he forgot to mention earlier. Then he realizes he is still talking to a third-grader.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" the president asks the boy.

"A cop," says Ethan with finality.