Lead 5th grade teacher Melanie Williams, right, greets students as they arrive during the first day of school on Thursday, August 13, 2015 at Battle Academy. The nation's top education official, U.S. Secretary of Education John King, will stop in Chattanooga later next month as part of his Opportunity Across America bus tour.
King will be at Battle Academy on Sept. 13 to highlight teacher leadership opportunities taking place in Hamilton County.
"Teachers have firsthand knowledge and can help provide solutions to many of the problems in the district," said Jill Levine, chief academic officer for Hamilton County Schools. "We are thrilled Secretary King has chosen to visit Chattanooga to learn about and celebrate our recent initiatives around teacher leadership."
During the stop, King will give opening remarks, moderate a panel discussion on teacher leadership and listen to presentations from local teachers about leadership opportunities here, Levine said.
This is the last bus tour of the Obama administration and King's first bus tour since replacing Arne Duncan as secretary of education earlier this year. During the tour, King and Department of Education officials will visit six states and make 12 stops - four of which are in Tennessee.
The Opportunity Across America tour will tout the administration's key initiatives over the past eight years, and how schools and districts have worked to advance students' opportunity and success in pre-K, K-12 and post-secondary.
Along with stopping in Chattanooga, the tour will hold an event at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville highlighting Tennessee Promise, which became the blueprint for the president's America's College Promise proposal. The new federal-state partnership grant, like Tennessee Promise, foots the bill for two years of community college.
The bus tour is also visiting Bristol, Tenn., and Memphis, and King will discuss the growing number of students with access to high-speed broadband and the College Scorecard at these stops.
Jared Bigham, director of Chattanooga 2.0, said King's visit in Chattanooga provides a chance to help the community connect with innovative education strategies taking place across the country.
"It's [also] a great opportunity to highlight the commitment and urgency this community has concerning public education right now," Bigham said.
Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at 423-757-6592 or krainwater@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @kendi_and.