With the midterm elections approaching, the Council of the Great City Schools will feature a discussion on “Politics and Public Education” at its annual town hall meeting on Oct. 21 in conjunction with the coalition’s 66^th Annual Fall Conference, Oct. 19-23, in Orlando, Fla.

The town hall will be moderated by Beth Frerking, the editor-in-chief for Education Week. A veteran journalist who has worked as a top editor, reporter, and journalism educator, Frerking’s achievements include being named a magazine innovator by the Folio: 100 Awards and two National Headliner awards for her work covering children, families, and education.

The 90-minute town hall meeting will feature these panelists:

• Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon;

• St Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams;

• Orange County school board member Teresa Jacobs;

• Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero;

• Philadelphia school board member Joyce Wilkerson;

• Council Strategic Advisor and Former Executive Director Michael Casserly; and 

• Orange County high-school senior Makenzie Riggins

The national town hall meeting will be the pinnacle event of the Council’s 66th Annual Fall Conference, hosted by Orange County Public Schools.

Social Justice Activist to Speak

Social justice activist, educator, and writer Brittany Packnett Cunningham will deliver the conference’s keynote address on Oct. 20.  She is an NBC News and MSNBC contributor and host of UNDISTRACTED, an intersectional news and social justice podcast. A former elementary teacher, she was a member of President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task Force and the Ferguson Commission.

The conference will also feature immigration advocate and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas and CNN Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta. To register for the conference, access the Council’s website at www.cgcs.org.