U.S. Education Secretary Visits Elementary School

Second-graders at International Elementary School in Long Beach were prepared for U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley’s visit. They had been coached not to look back when the lights blinked from the hordes of news cameras present.

Riley, who is spending nearly a week in California to discuss President Clinton’s education initiatives, walked into one of the campus’ portable classrooms Thursday with Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill to read a book to the 15 students seated on the floor.

Introduced as the man who is in charge of all the schools in the United States, Riley, 65, read half of “Tomas and the Library Lady,” a story about a young Mexican boy in Texas who visits the library for the first time. O’Neill read the other half.

Long Beach school and city officials later briefed Riley on reforms in the city’s schools, including mandatory uniforms in elementary schools, mandatory reading levels for third-graders and a special school for students who receive more than one F in their second semester of eighth grade.