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# U.S. Department of Education Announces Return-to-School Road Trip to Spotlight Safe Return to In-Person Learning

# U.S. Department of Education Announces Return-to-School Road Trip to Spotlight Safe Return to In-Person Learning

September 14, 2021

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
**EDITOR’S NOTE**: On Sept. 20, stops in the “Return to School Road Trip” bus tour were updated. The tour now includes a stop in South Bend, Indiana and no longer includes a stop in Kendallville, Indiana.

On Monday, Sept. 20, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will launch the “Return to School Road Trip,” a bus tour to showcase students and communities safely returning to in-person learning. Throughout the tour, Secretary Cardona, Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten, and local school leaders will join students, parents, educators, and school communities for events that highlight schools and communities that have safely welcomed students back to  in-person learning.

The “Return to School Road Trip” will feature stops in:  Eau Claire, Madison, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Palatine and Chicago, Illinois; South Bend, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; and Mt. Pleasant, Lansing, Detroit, and  Canton, Michigan. Secretary Cardona will visit students from pre-kindergarten  through higher education, highlighting how students, families, and the educators and staff who serve them across the country are excited and ready for safe in-person learning this fall.

“The best part of fall is welcoming students back for a new school year, and I’m thrilled to be traveling across the Midwest to celebrate the return to safe in-person learning,” said Secretary Cardona. “The return to  school this year is more special than ever, after many of our nation’s students  have been disconnected from their peers, educators, classrooms, school communities and learning routines for over a year. I’m excited to kick off our Return to School Road Trip next week, where we will meet with students of all  ages, dedicated educators and school staff, and community leaders doing critical work to bring students back to in-person learning safely this fall.”

Last month, the Department released its “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to  support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return  to safe, healthy in-person learning and emerge from the pandemic stronger than  before. The Roadmap includes three “Landmark” priorities that schools,  districts, and communities are encouraged to focus on to ensure all students  are set up for success in the 2021-2022 school year. These include: (1)  prioritizing the health and safety of students, staff, and educators, (2)  building school communities and supporting students’ social, emotional, and  mental health, and (3) accelerating academic achievement.

Many of the schools and communities featured in the tour  have successfully implemented the priorities within the Roadmap and have used  federal pandemic relief funds to support these efforts.  

The American Rescue Plan provided more than $130 billion  in K-12 emergency relief funds that can be used to support the safe return to  in-person learning, including by improving ventilation systems, encouraging  vaccinations, performing testing and contact tracing, and using CDC-recommended  strategies like universal indoor masking; as well as address the academic,  social, emotional and mental health needs of students.

Additionally, the American Rescue Plan provided $40 billion in relief funds to institutions of higher education to provide direct relief to students and support the safe reopening of colleges and universities  across the country. The Road Trip will highlight how those resources have  enabled communities to bring students back into classrooms where they can reengage  with their classmates and teachers, participate in extracurriculars, and access  the critical social, emotional, and mental health supports that schools  provide. 

In addition to the Roadmap and the passage of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration has taken a series of steps to  help schools and communities recover from the pandemic and build back better:
- Prioritizing vaccine access for school staff, by issuing a directive making teachers eligible in March, setting a goal of getting all school staff who wanted the       vaccination to be able to get at least one shot in the month of March, and resulting in about 90% of educators vaccinated today.
- Expanding access to the vaccine for young people, by issuing a call to school districts to host on-site, with collaboration from  Health and Human Services , pop-up vaccination clinics at schools, in partnership with the federal pharmacy program; and incorporating COVID-19 vaccination into sports physicals for student athletes.
- Requiring  staff in Head Start programs,       Department of Defense schools, and Bureau of Indian Education-operated       schools to be vaccinated.
- Called on  all states to adopt vaccine       requirements for all school employees.
- Announced a  new grant program  to provide additional       funding to school districts that have been financially penalized for implementing strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as universal indoor masking.
- Published a  Safer Schools and Best Practices Clearinghouse , which includes over 200 examples of schools and communities safely returning to in-person learning.
- Held a  National Safe School Reopening Summit .
- Providing  $122 billion in support through the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund  for   K-12 schools.
- Released over $3 billion in  IDEA funds  within the American Rescue Plan to support infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities impacted by the pandemic.
- Released $800 million within the American Rescue Plan to support  students experiencing homelessness  who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
- Awarded nearly  $40 billion in funding for institutions of higher education  within the American Rescue Plan, about half of which will provide direct aid to students at postsecondary institutions.
- Released a report on the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on underserved students.
- Published released  Frequently Asked Questions  on effectively using American Rescue Plan funding to support evidence-based, full-service community schools and related approaches.
- Collaborated with HHS to Published a  resource  detailing strategies for using       American Rescue Plan funding to improve ventilation systems and indoor air quality in schools.
- Published a  resource  detailing strategies for using American Rescue Plan funding to address the impact of lost instructional time.
- Launched an  Equity Summit Series  focused on       addressing school and district inequities that existed before, but were made worse by the pandemic.

Preliminary details about bus tour activities are listed  below. Additional information and exact timing for each site will be released  the day prior to the tour stop. Many of the events will include a press  availability with Secretary Cardona and local leaders.

To RSVP for stops on the tour, please email press@ed.gov. Follow the bus tour on social  media at #BackTogether.

**EVENT 1 TOPIC:** Return to School pep rally  WHEN: Monday morning, Sept. 20 WHERE: Eau Claire, Wisconsin

**EVENT  2 TOPIC:** Celebrating public service   WHEN: Monday afternoon, Sept. 20 WHERE: Madison, Wisconsin

**EVENT  3 TOPIC:** Celebrating teachers and support staff  WHEN: Monday evening, Sept. 20 WHERE: Milwaukee

**EVENT  4 TOPIC:** Spotlighting academic excellence   WHEN: Tuesday morning, Sept. 21 WHERE: Palatine, Illinois

**EVENT  5 TOPIC:** College access, opportunity, and career development  for students  WHEN: Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 21 WHERE: Chicago

**EVENT  6 TOPIC:** K-12 education   WHEN: Wednesday morning, Sept. 22 WHERE: South Bend, Indiana

**EVENT  7 TOPIC:** Youth sports and extracurricular events   WHEN: Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 22 WHERE: Toledo, Ohio

**EVENT  8 TOPIC:** Support for Tribal Colleges and Universities   WHEN: Thursday morning, Sept. 23 WHERE: Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

**EVENT  9 TOPIC:** Early childhood education   WHEN: Thursday afternoon, Sept. 23 WHERE: Lansing, Michigan

**EVENT  10 TOPIC:** Family literacy  WHEN: Thursday evening, Sept. 23 WHERE: Detroit

**EVENT  11 TOPIC:** Return to School visit   WHEN: Friday morning, Sept. 24 WHERE: Canton, Michigan
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