Senior Trump Education Official Visiting Billings, Crow Reservation

A retired Army general and senior Trump Administration official from the Department of Education is visiting Montana on Tuesday.

Dr. Mitchell "Mick Zais" is a retired US Army Brigadier General who now serves as the Deputy Secretary of Education in the Trump Administration:

Prior to his election as South Carolina's state superintendent of education, Mick served as president of Newberry College for 10 years, from 2000 to 2010. During his tenure, enrollment nearly doubled and, during the last three years of his administration, U.S. News and World Report named Newberry College one of America's best colleges.

According to an advisory from the Department of Education, "As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2019 National Back to School Tour, U.S. Deputy  Secretary of Education Mitchell Zais will travel to Pryor and Billings, Montana, to visit unique schools working to meet the needs of students—Plenty Coups High School, Arrow Creek Elementary and Skyview High School.  Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen will join Dr. Zais for the school visits."

Dr. Zais and Superintendent Arntzen will be visiting Plenty Coups High School in Pryor around 9AM Tuesday, September 17th. A visit to Skyview High School in Billings will take place Tuesday afternoon.

Here's more information from the media advisory:

First, Dr. Zais will meet with school leadership and tour Plenty Coups High School, a comprehensive school on the Crow Reservation, to learn about the progress they have made in improving student achievement. He will also visit Arrow Creek Elementary School. They will discuss the implementation of 2-year kindergarten for 4-year-old students, technology upgrades, online and dual credit, as well as a house building project for the shop class. During the tour, Dr. Zais will observe the kindergarten students designing a playground, the shop class home build project, a science class participating in a physics activity and a Crow language class.

In the afternoon, Dr. Zais will visit Skyview High School in Billings to tour the school and participate in roundtables with students. They will discuss their career and technical education program and how their school is preparing them to successfully enter the workforce.  This program is just one of many state-based solutions that could be strengthened by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’  Education Freedom Scholarship proposal currently before Congress.