Education Drives America – Bus Tour Stops in the Midwest

Leaving the Rockies behind, this year’s Education Drives America back-to-school bus tour will head through the Great Plains and on to the Midwest with stops in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Here are the details released today:

Topeka – Sept. 18

ED's back-to-school bus tour--which includes a bus slightly larger than a school bus--will visit both rural and urban areas across the country.

With 1,800 miles of the tour down and 1,100 to go, Secretary Arne Duncan will start this leg of the tour with a visit to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kan. Duncan and guests will honor the legacy of hope and courage represented by the U.S. Supreme Court case that ended legal segregation in the nation’s public schools.

Emporia – Sept. 18

After Topeka, Duncan will join National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel for a tour of the National Teacher Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kan. Duncan and Van Roekel will also hold a discussion with students, prospective teachers and community members at Emporia State University.

Kansas City – Sept. 18

Secretary Duncan and other senior Department officials will travel to Kansas City, Mo., where they will host a town hall on education and the Hispanic community at the Penn Valley campus of Metropolitan Community College. Read about additional events in the Kansas City region.

Columbia – Sept. 19

Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller and Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton will travel to Columbia, Mo., where they will participate in a video conference and roundtable discussion with local rural educators and participants in the eMINTS program (enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies). The discussion will be held in the Ellis Library on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.

St. Louis – Sept. 19

Following the visit to Columbia, Miller will host a town hall with community leaders, representatives of faith communities, school officials and students to discuss college access and affordability, especially for African-American students. The town hall will take place at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis. He will highlight the Department’s efforts to support communities, states and local schools to reduce dropout rates and increase academic success for African-American students. There are many more events in the St. Louis area, read more.

Mt. Vernon – Sept. 19

Deputy Secretary Tony Miller and Sue Liu, special assistant for community colleges in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, will travel to Continental Tire’s production facility in Mount Vernon, Ill., where they will tour the facility and lead a roundtable discussion with representatives from the company, Rend Lake College, and other local business and education leaders.

Evansville – Sept. 19

Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller will visit Glenwood Leadership Academy on Wednesday, Sept. 19 in Evansville, Ind., for a panel discussion on labor management collaboration and community partnership in education. The panel will include Miller, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, and local school officials. The audience will include teachers, union leaders, parents and community members.

Tomorrow we’ll be releasing the details of the bus’s final stops. For up-to-the-minute updates from the road, subscribe to our Education Drives America e-mail updates by clicking here.

Cameron Brenchley is director of digital engagement

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