U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will address a town hall listening session with tribal officials Wednesday in Washington. The session, being held in advance of the White House Tribal Nations Conference on Thursday, is intended to give tribal officials an opportunity to engage in dialogue with the department's senior staff on improving American Indian and Alaska Native education.
Duncan will discuss his department's work with tribal officials across the country during the past year — describing what was learned during consultation meetings and how the department is responding to concerns expressed at those gatherings.
The meetings were held in such places as Window Rock, Ariz., Santa Clara Pueblo, N.M., Pine Ridge, S.D., Shawnee, Okla., Puyallup, Wash., and Anchorage, Alaska. They were an outgrowth of President Obama’s Nov. 5, 2009, Presidential Memorandum and Executive Order, which directs agencies to provide regular and meaningful consultation and strengthening of government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes.