Dr. Mumin, who has served in various capacities as a teacher, dean of students, principal and administator is touring schools across the Commonwealth to assess the needs of students and educators and see the impact of state educational investments.

“I get out to be able to tell the story around what the impact of the investments will look like,” said Mumin, who received a warm welcome from Robb Elementary School students who lined the halls to give him and other administrators high fives.

“This visit is so important because when you’re dealing in Harrisburg, and you work on investments in education, you can get caught up in, it’s Philly, and it’s Pittsburgh,” said Mumin,

“I want to get visits in all 67 counties because what the numbers are telling me when we start talking about equity gaps in funding… (is that) the one word that is paramount across all these districts is the ‘Big P’ — poverty.”

PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid Mumin poses with administrators holding the banner the Pennsylvania Department of Education made for Robb Elementary educators for Teacher Appreciation Week. From left to right: Dr. Khalid Mumin, Principal Tyler Barth, Instructional Coach Leslie Skrtish, School Board Members James "Butch" Knauff and Jeff Johnston. HUNTER SMITH / THE EXPRESS

According to the Future Ready PA Index, 55 percent of students enrolled in Keystone Central School District are economically disadvantaged. The district is one of many in the state that receive Title 1 funding. Title 1 is a federally funded supplemental education program that provides schools financial assistance to improve educational opportunities.

“Being in Central Pennsylvania, you know, we’re sort of out of the spotlight of the Harrisburg eye sometimes, but it really shows the importance that he puts on education in all areas of state for him to be here and see all the great things that our students are doing,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Randy Zangara.

Zangara emphasized how he hopes this visit, and others like it, will demonstrate that educational funding, specifically in the rural areas of the state, is something that should be a priority in Harrisburg.

Instructional Coach Lesley Skrtich shared that she hopes Dr. Mumin took away from the visit an idea of all the support educators here are offering elementary students.

“We would love for him to see all of the wonderful things that happen here at Robb, all of the amazing students that we have. We have close to 400 students and they come from all different backgrounds, and we want him to see how we support them through everything,” said Skrtich.

PHOTO PROVIDED PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid Mumin speaks with Central Mountain Career and Technical Center staff.

Robb has implemented a multiplicity of programs to provide interdisciplinary support for students. The school, which uses a multi-tiered system of support, dedicates times for targeted need-based instruction, offers consistent behavioral interventions based on student screeners with a community and school based behavioral health team and a science of reading structured literacy approach, among other programs.

Such initiatives have led to a 26 percent decrease in Student Assistance Program referrals, a 45 percent decrease in major office discipline referrals and an increase in regular school attendance by 10 percent since last year.

“All students want is to be seen, heard and loved, and we try to do that for them every day. We don’t just teach to the academics, we teach to the whole child. We worry about their social-emotional learning, their mental health and academics, of course,” said Skrtich.

During the visit, the secretary watched Mrs. Mosier’s second grade students learn how to code using Ozobots, a programmable robot that uses sensors to follow lines and read ‘color codes’ that command the robot to complete specific operations.

“I was so excited about the STEM program that was happening down in the second grade classroom because those are the careers of the future,” he said.

HUNTER SMITH / THE EXPRESS PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid Mumin talks with Ethan Moore, from Ms. Strouse's 2nd grade, in Mrs. Mosier’s class where students were learning to code with robots.

Before leaving to tour Central Mountain Career and Technical Center, Dr. Mumin congratulated educators and administration for creating such a positive learning environment.

“This building, you can tell the culture is great, that the students love one another. And you have students from various backgrounds, ethnicities, learning styles. They’re all together, they love this family, so I really applaud what you’re doing here,” he said.

Concluding the visit, in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, Mumins on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, gave Robb Elementary staff a signed banner thanking them for their hard work and dedication to educational excellence.

“All of you should be very proud,” he said.