U.S. Education Deputy Secretary Tony Miller, Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton, and Other Senior Education Officials to Visit Lexington, Ky., as Part of 2012 Cross-Country Back-to-School Bus Tour

As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s third annual back-to-school bus tour, on Thursday, Sept. 20, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton, and senior advisors Greg Darnieder and Jo Anderson will visit Lexington, Ky., for events that will highlight education successes and engage communities in conversations about school reform, college affordability and completion, and the connection between education and jobs.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his senior leadership team are traveling across the country from Sept. 12-21 for a series of events that reinforce the message that Education Drives America. In addition to Lexington, other stops on the tour include: Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Salt Lake City; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Denver; Topeka, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; Evansville, Ind.; Charleston, W.Va.; Roanoke, Va.; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C.

Miller will visit Picadome Elementary School to discuss foreign language education during a classroom visit and a roundtable discussion with 15 local education and community stakeholders. Shelton, who also oversees the Department’s Office of Non-Public Education, will visit Sayre School – a private school that strongly utilizes technology – to talk about creating personalized learning environments and to discuss community partnerships between private and public schools.

Although the Berea College visits are closed to the press, Shelton and Darnieder will visit the Berea College Promise Neighborhood in rural Kentucky to discuss building strong communities and schools, providing cradle-to-career support for children and youth, and transforming communities through the Promise Neighborhood model. Darnieder also will hold a series of separate conversations with officials at Berea College about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Completion Project. Finally, Anderson will meet with Kentucky Education Association leaders at their Lexington office to discuss teacher effectiveness policies and issues.

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.