EDITOR'S NOTE: Multimedia journalist Ryann Blackshere Vargas spoke with the El Rancho Unified School District's superintendent about Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's visit. Click the arrow above to watch the video.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is set to conclude a two-day trip to Los Angeles County Wednesday by visiting the Los Angeles High School of the Arts at Robert F. Kennedy Community School in Koreatown.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho will join Cardona on the tour, which will include how the district is leveraging American Rescue Plan funds and other pandemic relief funds to support student learning and help students recover from the pandemic.
Following the tour, Cardona, Garcetti and Carvalho will meet with a group of parents to discuss efforts to support students’ mental health as schools emerge from the pandemic.
The trip began Tuesday with Cardona and Rep. Linda Sanchez, D- Whittier, participating in a conversation with students at Rio Hondo College in Whittier about school-based supports that help meet students’ basic needs such as housing and food security.
Later, students from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera led Cardona, Sanchez and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond on a tour of their school, including stops in various classes to learn about its Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics program. They also heard how student and staff COVID-19 testing clinics have helped to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Cardona was in San Bernardino County later Tuesday, touring De Anza Middle School in Ontario, including its Wellness, Arts and Technology Center, and the Chaffey College Industrial Technical Learning Center in Fontana.