U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Manual and YPAS to host a community forum on Thursday, April 23 as part of a trip to Louisville.

Secretary Duncan was scheduled to speak for one hour in the YPAS Auditorium, starting with an opening speech followed by a discussion session with educators Maddie Fennell, Natalie McCutchen, Stephanie Winkler and Dr. Ron Chi.

“We need to come together to fix No Child Left Behind,” Duncan said. “Nothing I’ve said should be a Republican or Democrat agenda.”

Duncan said he supports free community college for two years, similar to President Obama’s vision.

“Everyone loses when we have a million high school dropouts,” Duncan said. “Graduating high school is a good start, but it is insufficient to stop there nowadays.”

Duncan added that the U.S. is making progress as a whole and praised programs like 55,000 Degrees. “The best ideas don’t come from people at the top in Washington, but local teachers and community members.”