St. Paul Superintendent Valeria Silva is in Washington, D.C., for meetings of the Council of the Great City Schools that will be include a session today hosted by President Barack Obama.
She’s one one of a dozen big-city school leaders at the meeting, which, the White House said: “… is an opportunity for the President to discuss the successes these school leaders have seen and the importance of continued investment in reforms to help all children succeed.”
Also scheduled to meet with the school leaders during the multiday legislative conference, which ends Tuesday, were: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Assistant Education Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon and U.S. Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott, of the House Education/Workforce Committee.
Others in today’s meeting led by the president:
- Oakland School District Board Member Jumoke Hinton Hodge
- San Francisco School District Superintendent Richard Carranza
- District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson
- Kansas City (Mo.) School Board Member Airick West
- Fresno School District Superintendent Michael Hanson
- Orange County (Orlando) Schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins
- Cleveland Municipal School District CEO Eric Gordon
- Boston Public Schools Board Member Michael O’Neil
- Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Darienne Driver
- El Paso School District Superintendent Juan Cabrera
- Council of the Great City Schools Executive Director Michael Casserly
The White House statement on the meeting notes that House Republicans are preparing a new budget. The statement says:
“[House Republicans] face a choice about whether to renew their top-down economics pledge to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires while starving investment in our future, or to reverse sequestration and invest in the building blocks of our prosperity, including the education of our nation’s children.”
The council, which has dozens of school district members, says its goals are:
“To educate all urban school students to the highest academic standards. To lead, govern and manage our urban public schools in ways that advance the education of our children and inspire the public’s confidence. To engage parents and build a confident, committed and supportive urban community for raising the achievement of urban public schoolchildren.”
