U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona visited Donegan Elementary School Tuesday to promote key provisions within President Joe Biden’s education agenda.
Cardona, joined by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and Donegan Principal Erin Martin Medina, began his day in Bethlehem by touring the South Side elementary school. Lehigh interim President Nathan Urban and Carolina Hernandez, director of the Lehigh Community Service Office, were on hand representing the university.
Donegan is one of three university-assisted community schools in the Bethlehem Area School District (BASD) Lehigh has partnered with. In addition to providing academic support, the designation allows each school to extend their reach into the community, with students as well as their families receiving health services and social support. Lehigh’s Center for Developing Urban Educational Leaders, and the Community Service Office, partnered with BASD and the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley in creating the university-assisted community schools at Broughal Middle School, Fountain Hill Elementary and Donegan.
Biden’s proposed economic and infrastructure package, which includes government funds for education, is aimed at improving jobs and the economy through three plans—The American Rescue Plan, The American Jobs Plan and The American Families Plan. The agenda intends to create two years of universal pre-school and make higher education more affordable by providing two years of free community college for all students and expanding the maximum Pell Grant for low-income students.
Following his visit to Donegan, Cardona toured Northampton Community College and held a roundtable conversation with students to discuss the Biden administration’s agenda.