Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, kicked off a national back-to-school tour last week in St. Louis, joining forces with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for a visit to an elementary school. Mr. Duncan was in town to meet with school officials on his own listening tour about the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
In St. Louis, Ms. Weingarten also highlighted programs to support the provision of social services in schools and the district’s new peer-assistance and -review system for supporting novice teachers.
Ms. Weingarten and other AFT officials will visit Baltimore; Boston; Houston; Kenmore, N.Y.; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco to meet with community leaders, teachers, and administrators about initiatives that union and district officials have developed jointly.
