Community Update

No. 61, October 1998
U.S. Department of Education

Designing Schools for the 21st Century: National Symposium to Offer Ideas and Models for New Learning Environments
October 1, 1998

A national panel of educators, parents, architects, school board officers, community planners, technology experts, and others has drafted a set of basic principles to serve as guides for communities in designing new learning environments. The principles suggest that school designs should...

1. Enhance teaching and learning and accommodate the needs of all learners. New school designs can offer the space and facilities that support hands-on, project-based, and interdisciplinary learning.

2. Serve as centers of the community. Schools can be places where creative configurations of space can accommodate both early learning and adult education; where learning can occur after- and before-school, on weekends and during the summer; and where links with businesses and collaboration with colleges and cultural and arts programs are encouraged and supported.

3. Result from a planning/design process involving all stakeholders. Schools should be planned by a representative group of the people who will use them -- including educators, parents, students and members of community, senior citizens, civic and business organizations. To ensure fully informed participation of all stakeholder groups in the design process, adequate time and resources must be allotted for getting their input.

4. Provide for health, safety, and security: Schools also need to be designed to promote the health, safety, and security of students, staff, and other users. For example, installing adequate lighting throughout the building and eliminating obscured areas help ensure safety.

Make effective use of all available resources. Making the best use of the physical environment means creating flexible spaces that can serve both small and large groups, or ensuring that facilities such as offices and maintenance areas serve both educational and operational functions. Maximizing the use of technological resources can support more effective teaching of the basics and advanced skills as well as practical applications of skill and knowledge.
6. Allow for flexibility and adaptability to changing needs. Designs need to accommodate local and sometimes changing needs, and remain open to possible changes in the community's ideas about what constitutes a good school environment.

A portion of the "National Symposium on School Design: Schools as Centers of Communities," scheduled for October 4-5, will be available via satellite from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. For coordinates or registration information, or to receive copies of conference materials, call 1-800 USA-LEARN.

Modernized Schools with Technology Will Be the Focus of the October Town Meeting

The October Satellite Town Meeting will discuss how schools and communities are getting technology into the classroom and explore the need for school construction and renovation and smaller class sizes with well-prepared teachers as ways to improve our children's education. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley will welcome a panel of educators, parents and business and community leaders who will explore how schools and communities can work together to advance schooling toward the 21st century. Entitled "Modernizing Schools: Updating Technology, Buildings and Classrooms," the hour-long program will air on Tuesday, October 20 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The U.S. Department of Education produces the Satellite Town Meeting series in partnership with the National Alliance of Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with support from The Bayer Foundation and The Procter & Gamble Fund. Broadcast and cable partners include Discovery Communications, the Public Broadcasting Service and Channel One. The program will be closed-captioned and simulcast in Spanish.

The coordinates are as follows:

C-Band: Galaxy 3R, Orbital Location 95 degrees West; Transponder 18; Vertical Polarity; Channel 18; Downlink Frequency 4060 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).

Ku-Band: SBS6, Orbital Location 74 Degrees West; Transponder 4; Vertical Polarity; Channel 4; Downlink Frequency 11798 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 (English).

To participate in the Satellite Town Meeting, ask your local Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station or Chamber of Commerce if your group can use the facility as a downlink site, or call your local public, education, or government access channel. For additional information or to register your participation, call 1-800-USA-LEARN, visit http://www.ed.gov/inits/stm/, or e-mail Satellite_Town_Meeting@ed.gov.

New Publication Can Help Prevent Violence in Schools

"Schools remain among the safest places for young people, yet even one incident of violent crime in a school is too many," U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said. "This guide is a practical resource for schools and communities to use to reduce the likelihood of violence and improve existing prevention and intervention efforts."

The 1997-98 school year was a dramatic wake-up call to the fact that guns do come to schools, and students will use them to kill. Unfortunately, school communities across the country have been forced to face the fact that no school is immune to violence. Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools offers research-based practices designed to assist school communities to identify early indicators of troubling and potentially dangerous student behavior and develop prevention, intervention and crisis response plans. The guide includes sections that highlight:

• characteristics of a school that is safe and responsive to all children;

• early warning signs;

• getting help for troubled children;

• developing a prevention and response plan;

• responding to crisis; and

• resources.

Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools is available by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS or by visiting http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html.

Americans Across the Country Support America Goes Back to School 1998

"Across America, millions of children are beginning a new school year with a sense of excitement and anticipation, taking another important step toward their future," President Clinton said. "As caring parents and responsible citizens, we must work together to nurture their love of learning and to ensure that the education they receive provides them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the 21st century."

Listed below are examples of America Goes Back to School events across the country. For more information about the America Goes Back to School initiative, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

• Back to School Fair. For the second year, the Central Kitsap School District in Washington invited the Puget Sound community to go "back-to-school." More than 3,000 people participated in the fair that focused on improving of academic achievement through parent and community involvement and home safety.

• Memphis, Tennessee Goes Back to School. On October 19, the Memphis City Schools and the Partners in Public Education will sponsor a back-to-school campaign featuring the second annual "CEO Principal for a Day;" demonstrations of national school redesign models; the Adopt-A-School program; and the launch of "Building a Better Way," a symposium for safe and drug free schools. The event will also inaugurate a new youth-directed city-wide "Teens for Peace" initiative.

• Project PACE (Parents and Children in Education). The John J. Pershing Intermediate School in New York will host a kick-off breakfast for the Project PACE Satellite Learning Center. The center is opening under the aegis of Pershing's Beacon School Program, and offers parents and their children an opportunity to develop literacy skills, and provides quality after-school care and a comprehensive health and wellness facility.

• Telephone Pioneers of America. Telephone Pioneers of America will take the "I Like Me!" reading program on the road to 64 schools in the San Antonio, Texas Independent School District. The Telephone Pioneers has a partnership with Kindergartners Count to instill in youngsters a love of reading and learning.

• Technology Innovation Zone (TIZ). The Newport News Public Schools in Virginia are kicking-off a partnership that will establish research and development schools to help move the district to higher levels of academic achievement and produce safe and orderly schools. The program will provide infrastructure wiring to connect schools and the community; lead to the acquisition of almost 500 computers; and develop K-12 articulation models, a teacher support system and a staff development program.

• R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Back to School Rally. The annual rally held at the Alabama State Fairgrounds was used as a forum to share information about school programs and services offered through the Birmingham Public School System. The rally also promoted the city's participation in the America Reads Challenge.

Spotlight on Newport News Shipbuilding

The company brings to the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education a tradition of forging and sustaining business-education partnerships with local schools. The shipyard has developed a unique partnership with Heritage High School because of the school's focus on engineering and technology and its location near the shipyard.

Shipyard employees serve as members of the Magnet Advisory Board and provide information about the curriculum and course sequences for specific engineering and technology careers. Partnership activities include computer courses for shipyard and school division employees, exchange of facility usage (classrooms, auditorium, gym, and football fields), career speakers, donation of computer software, student field trips, mentors and tutors, and incentives for students to improve attendance, grades and school pride. For more information, e-mail Dr. Opal LeMaster at lemaster_oh@nns.com.

Announcements

• Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., a charter member of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, brought the America Goes Back to School message home to its faith community as schools opened for the year. Parents were encouraged to "get involved -- stay involved" with the America Goes Back to School initiative throughout the school year. For more information, visit http://www.shilohbaptist.org or call (202) 232-4200.

• The Trust Insurance Company of Taunton, Massachusetts, a member of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, will be granting full scholarships for five staff members of its on-site Child Care Center to pursue master's degrees in child development/early childhood education at Wheelock College. Trust Insurance Company is extending this commitment to ensure high-quality care for the children and to promote lifelong learning among its employees.

Congratulations! By now we hope you've finished your successful America Goes Back to School event. Keep the momentum going for building school-community partnerships and continue to reach out to families and community members by involving them all year long in your school.

Senate Committee Falls Short on Critical Education Investments

Listed below is President Clinton's request for his FY 1999 priority education programs versus the corresponding figures from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. For more information on the U.S. Department of Education's 1999 budget request, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Program	President's Request	House Committee	Senate Committee
America Reads Challenge	$260 million	0	0
After-school 21st Century Community Learning Centers	$200 million	$60 million	$75 million
Extra Help in the Basics (Title I local Grants)	$7.767 billion	$7.375 billion	$7.676 million
Technology Teacher Training	$75 million	0	0
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund	$475 million	$425 million	$425 million
Safe and Drug-free Schools (state grants and national programs)	$556 million	$556 million	$556 million
Safe and Drug-free Schools Coordinators	$50 million	0	0
Educational Opportunity Zones	$200 million	0	0
Raising Standards in Goals 2000 Reform	$501 million	$246 million	$496 million
Upgrade Teacher Skills -- Eisenhower Professional Development	$335 million	$285 million	$335 million
Math and Science Research Initiative to Improve Achievement	$50 million	0	0
School to Work	$125 million	$75 million	$125 million
High Hopes for College	$140 million	0	$75 million
Work-Study	$900 million	$850 million	$900 million
Teacher Recruitment and Training	$67 million	$2.2 million	$2.2 million
Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships	$30 million	$0	$10 million

America Links Up: A Campaign to Promote Online Safety for Children

America Links Up: A Kids Online Teach-In is a broad-based awareness campaign to ensure that every child in America has a safe, educational and rewarding experience online. The U.S. Department of Education has joined a diverse group of education and community organizations and businesses to support the campaign and to encourage active involvement of parents, teachers and others in children's on-line experiences. The events featured U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, as well as teachers, parents, librarians, kids, industry leaders, and government officials.

"While the wealth of information makes the Internet a valuable resource, there are land mines in cyberspace that we want all children to avoid," Secretary Riley stated at the National Town hall Meeting. "This can be tricky or even intimidating for parents whose children are the most computer-literate members of the family. That's why parents and teachers must monitor their child's online access and take steps to safeguard their child's well-being."

The Turner educational forum was aired nationwide on local cable stations and will be distributed to sponsoring education and parents groups. The Turner program also featured an Internet tour of a number of kids' favorite sites.

The following safety tips can help build awareness about safety on the Internet:

• Take the time to see what your children are doing online and what their interests are.
• Teach children never to give out information to people they meet online, especially in public places like chat rooms and bulletin boards.
• Instruct a child never to plan a face-to-face meeting alone with on-line acquaintances.
• Tell your child not to respond when they receive offensive or dangerous e-mail, chat, or other communications.
• Establish clear ground rules for Internet use for your children. Decide whether or not to use parental control tools or protective software.
• Place your computer in the family room or another open area of your home. Or use the computer together in a library, school, or community center.

A grassroots toolkit, as well as a Web site, public service announcements (PSAs) on Internet safety, and a safety video were launched at the National Town Hall Meeting. The toolkit was designed to provide communities with the curriculum, tools and resources needed to plan their own teach-ins. The Web site was designed to help make the Internet a safe and rewarding place, and contains safety tips for parents and children. The PSAs draw attention to the need to guide children online, and the safety video will be distributed to schools across the country through the National School Board Association.

Over 200 events in more than 30 states have registered to participate in the America Links Up campaign. For more information, visit http://www.americalinksup.org.

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