Elev8 Hosts Federal Education Tour of Baltimore

Elev8 Baltimore was proud to host a two-day visit in late September by U.S. Department of Education officials who met with students, educators, parents and community partners from across Baltimore.

 Mr. Retana speaks at the Town Hall Forum

The tour brought Alberto Retana, the department's director of community outreach, into six Baltimore schools, including a stop at Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School, an Elev8 site. About 100 students and more than a dozen parents took part in a rousing Town Hall Forum that featured videos, student-created posters and student-led presentations on the importance of school attendance and on what it takes to be ready to succeed in high school and college. Tench Tilghman eighth-grader Rodney Burtwell won an essay-writing contest and the chance to speak at the Town Hall on the value of good attendance.

Proud family members, including his mother, sat in the audience as Rodney answered probing questions from Mr. Retana, other officials and his peers.

A key focus at several stops was finding ways to strengthen parental engagement that can lead to improvements in their children's schools.

The stop is one of many that Mr. Retana's office is making around the country. His office is compiling feedback from the tour to help inform legislative strategies for meeting President Obama's goal of dramatically increasing college and workforce preparedness by the year 2020.