U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric H. Holder were expected to meet in Chicago this week with community members, as well as officials and students from a high school attended by a 16-year-old honors student who was brutally beaten to death last month.
A graphic video of the afternoon melee, made on a cell phone, emerged on local news stations, showing the violence against Derrion Albert, a sophomore at Christian Fenger Academy High School, who was walking to a bus stop after school when he got caught up in a mob fighting in the street. More than 30 students were killed in Chicago last school year.
Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, said Mr. Duncan and the attorney general would use their visit “to talk about the issues of school violence and youth violence,” which he said are problems nationwide.
The announcement by Mr. Gibbs, in the daily press briefing on Oct. 1, came as President Barack Obama was preparing to head to Copenhagen to support Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
