This Friday, January 28th at 10 am, US Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, will meet virtually with a panel of middle and high school students from Norwalk Public Schools.
NPS Superintendent Dr. Alexandra Estrella invited Dr. Cardona to Norwalk and will host and moderate this online event.
The event can be watched live on the NPS YouTube Channel. It will also be recorded and available for viewing later.
Norwalk middle and high school students will talk with Secretary Cardona to learn more about his own journey as a student, and to talk about his career and current responsibilities at the US Department of Education.
Student Panelists: High School
Katherine Chavarriaga, Center for Global Studies
Allison Figueroa, P-TECH Norwalk
Maria Fe Luque, Norwalk High School
Ramses Perez, Brien McMahon High School
Student Panelists: Middle School
Luis Emilio Acosta Chinchilla, Ponus Ridge STEAM Academy
Arden Estanislao, CMS K-8
Yubleiska Gutierrez, Roton Middle School
Daryl Jimenez-Cascante, West Rocks Middle School
Roy Roc, Nathan Hale Middle School
All NPS students and staff will take part in this event by participating in classroom lessons this week to learn about Dr. Cardona and the Department of Education, and by submitting questions for the panelists to pose. Students at all schools will watch the session live in their classrooms.
We are so thrilled that Norwalk students will have this extraordinary opportunity to have an engaging discussion with Secretary Cardona!
Secretary Cardona previously served as the Commissioner of Education in Connecticut, a position he held after being appointed by Governor Ned Lamont in August 2019.
In this position, he faced the unprecedented challenge of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and led the safe school reopening efforts in Connecticut. To do so, Secretary Cardona and his Department provided school districts with the balance of guidance, local autonomy, and oversight needed to ensure equitable and meaningful educational opportunities for students while also prioritizing public health mitigation measures.
WATCH THE LIVE STREAMING PROGRAM WITH DR. CARDONA HERE AT THE NPS YOUTUBE PAGE
Secretary Cardona and the State of Connecticut focused on equity by arranging for student access to technology to support remote learning, helping the state become the first in the nation to provide learning devices to fulfill the identified need for all students.
Recognizing the increased importance of providing resources for the social-emotional health of students and staff, Secretary Cardona and his team collaborated with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and other stakeholders to provide free social and emotional learning courses.
Secretary Cardona's approach to leadership in Connecticut focused on partnerships: within his Education Department; between State agencies; and with local boards, educator unions, school administrator associations, child advocates, and most importantly, students and families. He attributes his success in Connecticut in part to the strong backing of those partners, as well as support from the members of the Connecticut State Board of Education and his staff at the Connecticut State Department of Education.