U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will visit the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, on Thursday, May 12, to hear about issues impacting Native American students. During remarks, he will discuss some key provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that support Native youth. William Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, will join King.
King will begin the day at Red Cloud Indian School, where he will observe cultural presentations of drumming and dance by Red Cloud students and give remarks. Later in the afternoon, King will visit Wolf Creek School. He will attend an assembly and give remarks.
Pine Ridge is the second largest Indian reservation in the United States with 13 public, private, parochial and Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools that serve approximately 4,700 students.
NOTE: Secretary King and other Department officials are available for media interviews while in South Dakota. Please contact [email protected] to schedule a time.