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It was really wonderful to meet with tribal leaders in Elko, Nevada today. We had a great
opportunity to have a conversation about the many challenges that they face, but most importantly
also to hear about some of the great work going on between school districts and communities.
We have students in Washoe County School District from Alaskan villages. We have students from
[inaudible] tribe from Massachusetts. We have over 1500 American Indian students within
our county. So, it's really refreshing to hear about some best practices that we could
actually learn from and most especially share with other communities so they can best meet
the needs of their children. It was wonderful. We saw things across the spectrum. We started
with meeting with the Council of the Deans of the Colleges of Education. I think Utah
is the only state in the country where every single month the Deans of every College of
Education in the state get together and share best practices, share problems, share advice.
They also meet with the State Superintendent of schools so they are really talking a lot
about what he needs, he can ask them for expert advice on problems or policies he is wrestling
with. It was really fascinating and it's a model that I think would be well copied in
other states. And then from there, we moved on to Glendale Middle School. Here, we saw
some great teaching. We saw a community of partners, parents, teachers, students, business
and the mayor was here, the labor union was here, the National Education Association played
a fundamental role in turning around this school so that every student in this school
has the opportunity to achieve with great teachers in the classroom. Get ready [classroom
response] Why are we polite? [classroom response] The quality is what this whole is about and
it was a pleasure to be here. Thanks.