i did write to arnie duncan perry dead -- to arnie duncan. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i will say one positive thing. joanne lead a great project, and i am looking forward to this in the fall of 2012. i want to tell you what went on. this summer of the transcripts were not sent on time to the colleges. it must have been an i.t. problem. how do i know? so many e-mails over the summer. i am worried. we work with these students, and they are nervous, and it did not happen, and that was the beginning of fall whole experience. it was awful what happened, and i want to say i felt like you might as well have given us a chisel and a hammer and we would have done the same job may be better because when it freezes we cannot even use it. at least a hammer and chisel you can use. this is coming seven days before the rest of the faculty, and we work hard, and we wind up with schedules with 12 classes on them because the system did not work. it was crazy at our school. you're number one job is to make sure the schools are open smoothly. that is the no. 1 job. that was not the only t

i did write to arnie duncan perry dead -- to arnie duncan. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i will say one positive thing

secretary of education, arnie duncan. from the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> in the south bronx, my kid who is don't speak english need an extra vocabulary and phonics block. i need extra time to do test prep, but we have a union contract who said the school day is from 8:20 to 3:30. >> live in new york for education nation. the united states wants a world leader in public education and it's now failing our children. of the world's 34 developed economies, american students ranked 24th in math, 17th in science, 10th in literacy. the public knows this all too well. in the "wall street journal" poll, an astounding 77%, more than 3/4 of the question give our schools a c, d, or an f grade. the man with a daunting challenge is here with me now. education secretary arnie duncan. for for participating in the conversations for education nation. as the key leader, you are showing us the way. let's talk about the rankings. finland, south korea singapore have 100% ratings of getting the top third students to choose to be teac

. >> one of your guests today, the secretary of education, arnie duncan, said education should be one of the main things people look at when they are choosing a candidate. do voters place this as a priority? it's not the sexy topic sometimes when we look at terrorism and other things. >> i think that's such an interesting point. if you do poll ople, we know education ranks so high, but "waiting for superman" the film that's out this weeke undersres this. you scratch your head and say, gosh, this is a mess. it seems so big. one of the ings i want to do this morning is cut to the core of the problems, a, to talk about what's working and how to break down the problems to start addressi them. what's the bottom line? doe have the bes teachers in front of our kids? gettingi into that point is wha the reform movement is about. >> the president's weekly radio address talked about the pledge for america, the republican pledge that they have released. one thinthey talked about was repealing the health care bill. but most people not only don't want it repealed they want more added to it. do repu

they're going to include education secretary arnie duncan, randy wynne guarden and the mayor of boston and two journalists featured in "waiting for superman," jonathan alter and jay matthews. that's next monday, september 27th only here on msnbc. >>> now to politics -- because fresh off of a trip to iowa, sarah palin is now saying for the first time that she may run for president. unless someone with the conservative credentials she thinks are right with america gets into the game. >> if nobody else wanted to step up, i would offer myself up in the name of service to the public, but, i also know anybody, anybody can make a huge difference in this country without a title, without an office, just being out there as an advocate for solutions that can work to get the country on the right track. that's where i am now. it's a comfortable place to be. >> democratic strategist tad divine and vin weber joins us now. vin, you heard sarah palin say, if nobody else wanted to step up, do you think that's the case that nobody else would step up. >> she left herself a very big out. first of all, a lo

. >>> education secretary arnie duncan was at a d.c.hool to announce this year's list of blue ribbon schools. they are being recognized for efforts to raise achievement levels of disadvantaged and minority students. 300 schools were named. you can see the full list on our website tonight at nightly.msnbc.com. we also learned today u.s. fighter jets were nearly launched last month to shoot down an unmanned navy drone that had gone astray in the air space near the nation's capital. the admiral in charge of the northern command said he was in the operations center when controllers lost contact with the drone on radar and it flew into restricted air space. just as the fighter aircraft were about to launch apparently the navy managed to reprogram the drone and bring it back. >>> on wall street today, stocks finished modestly higher on a very light trading day. the dow finished up just over 28 points. when our broadcast continues tonight from new orleans, making a difference by helping kids here capture the spirit of this city five years afte

education secretary arnie duncan vowed to make sure that his department -- take a guess. what?rove graduation rates? no. improve test scores? no, no. he vowed that his department would work to make american children into good environmental citizens. watch. >> a well educated citizen knows we must not act in this generation in ways to endownger the next. they teach students about how the climate is changing, they explain the science behind climate change and how we can change our daily practices to help save our planet and role in preparing students for jobs in the green economy. >> glenn: there is no green economy. america, this is your job as a parent. did you ask your schools to make your child a green environmental citizen? then the assistant secretary of energy who recently talked about the administration's four tactics for the deployment of clean energy. the first three were government subsidiaries. the last one, quote -- you're going to love this. she says "it's where we have a mandate, where we can actually just issue regulations and do market transformation." hang on a

i'll ask the education secretary arnie duncan, he was here in "the situation room." >>> and a soldier'somecoming turns into a police i want. >>> in "the situation room" happening now, an ominous discovery under the water. researchers now think they know what happened to all of that oil gushing to the gulf of mexico. brian todd is investigating. stand by for his report. >> the former british prime minister tony blair is in the situation room. does he have thoughts about going to war ? . >>> president obama is putting students front and center on this day in the second back-to-school address. he's pushing the nation's kids to work hard and stay focused on their grades even if it gets touched. >> my grades were slipping. i hasn't started my college applications. i was acting, as my mother put it, sort of casual about my future. i was doing good enough, i was smart enough that i could kind of get by. but i wasn't really applying myself. so i suspect there's a conversation that will sound familiar to some students and some parents here today. she decided to sit me down and said i had to chan

a big hour ahead with andrea mitchell speaking with arny duncan and the american federation of teachers and blackberry have teamed up to keep your business moving. introducing the blackberry torch. at&t. rethink possible. introducing the blackberry torch. and word is people really love got our claims service.ffice gecko: 'specially the auto repair xpress. repairs are fast and they're guaranteed for as long as you own your car. boss: hey, that's great! is this your phone? gecko: yeah, 'course. boss: but...where do you put...i mean how do you...carry... waitress: here you go. boss: thanks! gecko: no, no i got it, sir. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. >>> right now, the crisis in schools. president obama tells matt lauer we all have a job to do. >> malia and sasha are great kids and great students. if you gave them a choice, they would be happy to sit in front of the tv all night every night. at some point you have to say your job right now, kid, is to learn. i'm going to check with your teachers and i'm going to make sure that you are doing your homewo

i will introduce to you arnie duncan in a couple.ve important lessons for us to learn. >> thank you, a pleasure. >> coming up next from cradle to college, more with geoffrey canada. updating the breaking news, the carter center said jimmy carter is resting comfortably after developing an upset stomach on the flight to cleveland. he was taken to the hospital for observation and expected to resume his book tour later this week. i jumped the gun. he is 85 for another day and a half. he turns 86 on friday, october 1st. we'll be right back. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law. bankers are known to be a little bit in love with themselves.. trust me. are we goin

joining rhee are secretary of education, arnie de duncan, for d.c. city administrator robert bobb and president of the american federation of teachers randi weingarten who has butted heads with rhee in the past. you can watch it here at 10:30. >>> a manassas neighborhood now knows what cause add fire that ripped through theircommunity. on thursday flames jumped from house to house on tillett loop destroying three homes and damaged five othe. darcy spencer got reaction from neighbors after they learned what sparked that fire. >> reporter: fire investigators have determined the blaze that destroyedhree homes in manassas on thursday was caused by a resident who threw a cigarette butt in a potted plant on his deck. >> potting soil is not dirt. potting soil is organic material. the mulch that is in these potted plants sometimes is shredded timber. >reporter: the fire marshal says the blaze in the sumner lake community spread from the potted plant to the deck to the nyl siding a then to adjacent homes. 's been ruled an accident. the fire marshal says the s