Vice Presidential Pool Reports of May 10, 2023

VP Pool Report #1 — Swearing-in ceremony

Your VP pool was ushered into the Indian Treaty Room at 11:32 am ET to find the soon-to-be commissioners seated at two long tables, one of which was placed on each side of the room. There was also a large screen at the back on which several other would-be commissioners were watching on Zoom.

At the opposite end of the room from your pool was a podium on which a small lectern adorned with the Vice President's seal had been placed next to a stand with a covered glass of water.

Behind the lectern was Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who was delivering remarks.

As pool entered the room, the Secretary was recounting a time when he began speaking in Spanish to several fellow Cabinet members (including Homeland Security Sec'y Mayorkas and SBA administrator Isabel Guzman) before a cabinet meeting. The Secretary said the "code switching" they engaged in at the time was "natural" but noted that it wasn't lost on him that they were doing so under a portrait of George Washington.

He added that "representation matters, equity matters, or multilingualism and multiculturalism matters".

The Secretary also told the group that the commission they are joining is not a symbolic one, but one "tasked with advising the President United States through our White House Hispanic initiative … about how we can advance educational equity and showcase excellence because there are pockets of excellence in our country that we need to lift up".

Quoting the musical "Hamilton," he told the soon-to-be commissioners: "Remember, history has its eyes on us" and began introducing the Vice President, who he noted was "the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, a graduate of Howard University, the University of California Hastings College of Law former Attorney General for California [and] United States Senator" before finishing the introduction in Spanish.

The Vice President said we are "fortunate" to have Sec'y Cardona as the
leader of "one of the most important functions in government," education.

She praised the soon-to-be commissioners for having "all stepped up in the midst of your whole leadership in so many other ways, in the midst of busy schedules and all the priorities that you have to come together and volunteer your time, your expertise [and] your perspective and dedication and hard work" to "this working committee".

She said the commission "is about staying motivated by what we face" but also "speaking truth about obstacles".

The VP also spoke about the difference between "equality" and "equity" and said while equality means "everyone deserves to be treated equal," equity "understands that not everybody starts out on the same place".

She asked: "If you're given everybody an equal amount, but you're starting on different bases, are they really going to have the opportunity to compete and achieve?"

"That's why we purposely as an administration, the President, myself, the Secretary, and everyone in our administration are so dedicated to a specific principle … we must be true, we must be clear-eyed, we must see who's not in the room who's never been in the room, where are the resources going, who needs what kind of resources to do what? To have equal opportunity to achieve," she said.

Ms Harris encouraged the members to "give us feedback" and "give us direction" about "how we … fully understand the challenges and opportunities".

She said it was her "great honour" to swear in the commission and administered the oath to the commissioners at 11:49 am ET.

The commission having been duly sworn in, the portion of the event open to the pool concluded and the pool was ushered out at 11:50 am ET.

On background from the VP's office:

Today, the Vice President will ceremonially swear-in the Commissioners for the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.

Participants:
- The Vice President
- Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Department of Education
- Jules Buenabenta, Chair, CEO, Jules and Associates, Inc.
- Leah Beth Katz Hernandez, Senior Manager, CEO Platform & Communities, Office of the Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
- Havidán Rodríguez, President, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
- Regina T. Montoya, PLLC, & Executive Director, Tricolor Foundation
- Teresa Leyba Ruiz, Senior Vice President, Chief Advocacy and Programs Officer, Education Forward Arizona
- Noel Candelaria, Secretary-Treasurer, NEA
- Enrique G. Murillo, Jr., Full Professor, California State University, San Bernardino
- Renata Soto, Founder & President, Mosaic Changemakers
- Juliana Urtubey, Teacher, Program Director and Teacher Residency Instructor, Northern Arizona University
- Evelyn DeJesus, Executive Vice President, American Federation of Teachers
- Amanda Renteria, CEO, Code for America - Cid D. Wilson, President & CEO, Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR)
- Ana Maria Garcia Blanco, Executive Director, Instituto Nuevo Escuela (INE)
- Maria Angela Reyes, Global Workforce Innovation & Development Manager, Google
- Magda Yrizarry, Senior Vice President – Strategic DEI Initiatives and Supplier Diversity, Verizon
- Olivia C. Irlando, Teacher and Grandchild of Cesar E. Chavez
- Cristóbal Rodríguez, Associate Professor, Arizona State University
- Andrea Zayas, Director of K-12, Ballmer Group
- Ana Marie Argilagos, CEO, Hispanics in Philanthropy (virtual)
- Pedro Antonio Noguera, Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean, USC Rossier School of Education (virtual)
- Anne María Chávez, President & CEO, Arizona Community Foundation (virtual)

That's it from me. As always, please check quotes against the official transcript.