U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel will visit Emporia, Kan., on Tuesday, Sept. 18 for a tour of the National Teacher Hall of Fame and a discussion with students, prospective teachers, and community members at Emporia State University.
Secretary Duncan and Van Roekel will begin the stop in Emporia by visiting the National Teacher Hall of Fame, founded in 1989 by Emporia State University (ESU), the ESU Alumni Association, the City of Emporia, the Emporia Unified School District, and the area chamber of commerce.
Following the tour, Secretary Duncan and Van Roekel will lead a town hall discussion with 200 students, current and prospective teachers, administrators, and other community stakeholders.
The discussion will focus, in part, on the U.S. Department of Education’s RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching) project, which seeks to work with educators to rebuild the teaching profession along the entire spectrum of recruitment, preparation, professional development, compensation, and retention. Complementing the vision of the RESPECT project is TEACH, a public-private partnership focused on recruiting and retaining top talent into the profession and elevating the status of teaching as a competitive and prestigious career choice.
Cynthia Apalinski, a third grade science teacher from Lindon, N.J., and a 2012 Teaching Ambassador Fellow with the Department of Education, along with Michael Shonrock, ESU president, will provide opening remarks.
Secretary Duncan and his leadership team are crisscrossing the country from Sept. 12-21 for a series of events promoting the theme that Education Drives America. Besides Emporia, some of the other stops include Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Salt Lake City; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Denver; Topeka, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; Evansville, Ind.; Lexington, Ky.; Charleston, W.Va.; Roanoke, Va.; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C.
For live, up-to-the-minute updates from the road, follow the Education Drives America tour on Twitter using the hashtag #edtour12, or visit the Department’s bus tour blog. To receive media advisories, press releases, notifications about postings to the blog, and other special updates during the tour, subscribe to the Department’s Education Drives America e-mail updates by clicking here.