A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

       FOR RELEASE                                          Contact: Jim Bradshaw     September 25, 1996                                            (202) 401-1576

Jan L. Paschal Appointed Secretary's Regional Representative

Jan L. Paschal, a former Tilton, N.H., high school teacher, has been promoted by President Clinton to be Education Secretary Richard W. Riley's representative for a six state region headquartered in Boston.

As the secretary's regional representative, Paschal will serve as a liaison to state, local and private education organizations and an advocate for the administration's education policies.

Since February 1994, she has been the secretary's deputy regional representative for Region I, which comprises New England. Paschal replaces Brenda Dann Messier, who left to take a position at the Education Department's regional education laboratory at Brown University.

"Jan's experience as a classroom teacher and her work as a deputy regional representative give her an excellent combination of skills to help promote educational excellence in New England," Riley said.

Region I of the Education Department includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Before joining the department, Paschal taught health education and home economics in the Winnisquam School System in Tilton where she had been since 1980.

She has also been a teacher in Ashland, N.H., Binghamton, N.Y., and Hot Springs, Ark. From 1970 to 71 she was head dietician at the State University of New York Binghamton.

As a teacher in New Hampshire, she began a special program at halftime of basketball and football games called, "Stand Up for Education."

She would arrange for students to be honored for academic achievement and introduced to crowds at the games. The students would receive gifts and other forms of recognition for their accomplishments in the classroom.

In Connecticut, Paschal has also helped launch "Every Child is Ours," a project that encourages students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds to work together for educational excellence.

Paschal graduated from Henderson State College in Arkadelphia, Ark., in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in home economics. She and her husband live in Meredith, N.H. They have three children.

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