PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SECRETARY OF EDUCATION TO CO-HOST DC VOICE’S WARD 5 TOWN HALL MEETING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 16, 2009

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SECRETARY OF EDUCATION TO CO-HOST DC VOICE’S WARD 5 TOWN HALL MEETING

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Listening Tour makes a stop at DC VOICE’s final meeting as part of the Ready Schools Project District-Wide
Town Hall Series

Washington, DC— In Ward 5, Luke C. Moore Academy Senior High School will be the setting for DC VOICE’s final town hall meeting of the November Ready Schools Project Town Hall Series, with the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joining the conversation. The Secretary has been touring the nation on a Listening and Learning tour to meet with members of various communities, and has chosen DC VOICE’s Ward 5 town hall as a way to engage D.C. community members’ thoughts and concerns regarding public education in the District.

The Ready Schools Project Town Hall Series kicked off in Ward 4 on November 9th with Councilmember Bowser and State Board member Sekou Biddle. The Ward 6 town hall on November 10th included Councilmember Tommy Wells and State Board President Lisa Raymond. And this past Saturday, November 14th, Councilmember Yvette Alexander and State Board member Dorothy Douglas joined us for our Ward 7 and 8 town hall.

During her remarks at the Ward 7 and 8 town hall, Councilmember Alexander proclaimed, “I take the information DC VOICE provides seriously…[w]hen I hear from DC VOICE, it truly is the voice of the residents in D.C.”

These town hall meetings allow community members to learn current school data collected through DC VOICE’s 6th Annual Ready Schools Project where over 100 school principals were interviewed by almost 200 trained community members. Secretary Duncan will be on hand to discuss federal education initiatives, and will join the smaller breakout table discussions during the town hall meeting. He will also be joined by Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., the Ward 5 Council on Education, as well as other education groups in the District as co-hosts for this meeting.

The fourth town hall meeting in the five part series will be for Ward 1 and 2 held this Friday, November 20th at 9:00am at All Souls Church, 1500 Harvard St., NW, followed by the final town hall of the series with Secretary Duncan in Ward 5 at Luke C. Moore Academy SHS, 1001 Monroe St., NE at 6:30pm.

To RSVP for an upcoming town hall meeting, please send an email to skashim@dcvoice.org.

Our mission is to inform and mobilize the public to hold both the schools and the community accountable for providing high quality teaching and learning for all.

1436 U Street, Suite 401, NW, Washington, DC 20009

Phone: 202.986.8535 * Fax: 202.986.1243 * dcvoice@dcvoice.org

Contact:

Jeff Smith
Executive Director
202-986-8535
smith@dcvoice.org

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