U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Senior Advisor Delegated the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Education John King, White House Cabinet Secretary and Chair of the My Brother's Keeper Initiative Broderick Johnson; and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro will visit Patterson Elementary School at 9 a.m. ET, on Wednesday, Oct. 7. They will be joined by D.C. Public Schools Chief of Schools John Davis; and Patterson Principal Victorie Thomas in an awards ceremony to honor students for increasing their school attendance rate and to announce a national initiative to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism. A media availability will follow the awards ceremony.
The initiative is being launched in response to President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Initiative, a call to action to improve the lives of all young people. Led by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice, the Obama Administration will announce new tools and resources, as well as public-private partnerships to help states, school districts, schools, and communities combat chronic absenteeism.