U.S. Education Secretary Visits Mobile

The top man in U.S. education went to school in Mobile Friday afternoon.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is visiting a dozen schools in the country to honor them for extraodrianary achievement.
He arrived at George C. Hall Elementary School in a big blue bus.
Duncan came to honor the staff at Hall for turning around a school that went from having the worst test scores in the state eight years ago, to some of the best now.
Duncan said, "What we see at schools like George C. Hall, I'm convinced can happen all over the nation."
Listen to how Principal Terri Tomlinson described the school when she arrived eight years ago.
First, what happened to the schools assistant principal.
Tomlinson said, "Miss Bolden was threatened in a drive-by (shooting) one afternoon. The teachers' lives were threatened at different times by members of the community. Dead cats were hung around the building. The building was fished: they took dead fish and rubbed it on the brick in the buildings. "
This is what a parent told Superintendent Duncan about what Hall is like now.
Angela Pompey said, "To me, my children are safe. I came here and I explained to them that the kids were walking and throwing rocks. The next thing I knew, the teachers were walking the kids home from school."
Tomlinson said, "We had no extra staff. We had the same foundation units and the same funding as every other school. I think the key is the commitment of the faculty."
One teacher said, "Once we were all together as a faculty, they let us come together and we decided what our motto was, and our mission and what we believe we wanted to do."
Before visiting Mobile, Duncan made stops in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.