Kaine’s wife, Anne Holton, leads panel in education talk at Nevada State College

By Chris Kudialis

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 | 4:28 p.m.

Offering a more well-rounded public education for children, and a greater variety of technical and vocational-based study at community colleges will help the United States continue to lead the global economy, said speakers at a Hillary Clinton campaign-sponsored panel at Nevada State College today.

“We’re seeing increases in the gaps between haves and have-nots and we need to change that,” said former Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton, the wife of Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine, about the current education system in the United States. “A Clinton administration would help smooth those pathways for all.”

Holton joined American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, Nevada CD3 Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen, Nevada State Education president Ruben Murillo Jr. and Nevada State student president Desiree DeCosta at the panel, which also featured moderator Michael Thorsteinson, a teacher at Basic High School, asking questions.

Weingarten criticized what she called current failures in public education for focusing too exclusively on test scores. Under a Clinton administration, students in U.S. public schools would be taught “more realistically,” she said.

“If we start thinking about who are kids are and their actual needs, we will allow them to start engaging in real powerful learning” Weingarten said. “We need to meet them where they are.”

Holton’s visit is one of several recent stops in Las Vegas from politicians pushing early voting before Election Day on Nov. 8. She encouraged about 30 participants on-hand today to “get out and vote” multiple times during the 30-minute panel.

President Barack Obama also rallied Clinton supporters at Cheyenne High School on Sunday evening. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak in Las Vegas on Saturday for the second time in 10 days.