President-Elect Joe Biden has chosen his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut.  (Photo credit: Associated Press)

President-Elect Joe Biden has named his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut. During his campaign, Biden had pledged to select a schoolteacher to serve as his education secretary. Dr. Cardona fits the category, starting his career nearly two decades ago as an elementary school teacher in Connecticut before becoming a principal. Since August, 2019, he has served as his state’s top education official.

Dr. Cardona is a product of public schools. In fact, when he started school, a kid from the projects in Meriden, Connecticut, he was unable to speak English. But succeeding in school was important to young Miguel. He graduated from Wilcox Technical High School. In 1997, he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University. He completed his Master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, and he also completed a program in Administrator Preparation, his Doctorate in Education, and a certificate in the Executive Leadership Program.

Dr. Cardona has worked as a dedicated public school teacher, an administrator, and the parent of students in public schools. In 1998, he inaugurated his career as an educator when he accepted a position as a fourth grade teacher. By the time he was 28, Dr. Cardona became the youngest principal in the state before working his way up the ladder to Assistant Superintendent of the district. In August, 2019, just months before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March, Dr. Cardona was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont to the position of Connecticut State Commissioner of Education.

When the state’s schools shifted to remote learning, Dr. Cardona scrambled to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state so they could study from home. Since then, he has increasingly worked toward the safe reopening of his state’s schools. Now his priority will be returning students back to school safely nationwide.

“He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality. universal pre-K for every three and four year old in the country,” declared Biden.

To read more, see this article published online by CNN.