The Daily Times staff

FARMINGTON — The U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary will visit Cove Day School in Arizona on Thursday.

Sally Jewell is expected to tour the school and talk about the process of reorganizing and reforming the Bureau of Indian Education, according a press release from the Interior Department on Tuesday.

Cove Day School is one of 32 BIE-operated schools on the Navajo Nation.

During the visit, Jewell will be joined by school staff, acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Lawrence Roberts and Bureau of Indian Education Director Charles “Monty” Roessel.

The visit is part of the Generation Indigenous Initiative, which President Barack Obama launched in 2014 to remove barriers that stand between Native American youth and their opportunities to succeed.

On Friday, Jewell will be joined by Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael Black and leaders of the Pueblo of Isleta for a signing ceremony to finalize the tribe's land-into-trust application.

The secretary will also highlight the Obama Administration's commitment to strengthening tribal economies through self-determination and the goal of restoring tribal homelands.

Jewell’s visit is part of the “State of the Union: Cabinet in Your Community” road tour.

Cabinet officials started the tour on Wednesday, a day after Obama delivered his final State of the Union address, to interact with residents in communities across the country, according to the press release.

Officials are focusing on discussing advancements made by the Obama Administration and on the issues and challenges the country faces.