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NATIONAL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT DAY 1995

Project Appleseed, the national campaign for public school improvement,
has designated Thursday, November 16, 1995, as the second annual National
Parental Involvement Day.  Project Appleseed reported in November that
over 650,000 parents, many of them recruited via the Internet, pledged to
spend at least 15 minutes each school night assisting their children with
homework and volunteer a minimum of five hours each school semester.   It
is estimated that the Pledge has gernerated over 6 million hours of
volunteer time with a minimum wage value of $27 million.

The Pledge recalls President Woodrow Wilson's commitment to the nation's
schools: "I am the owner of the public school system; that as an owner, I
bear a responsibility to participate in the system; that accountability
for my public schools and its employees and its funding rests with me and
the rest of the system's owners; that my child's future depends on the
improvement of the public schools; and that this improvement depends on
my participation."

The biggest barrier to parental involvement is lack of time, according to
a 1992 survey of 30,000 parents by the National PTA. Time was cited by 89
percent, followed distantly  by such barriers as "nothing to contribute"
(32 percent) and lack of child care (28) percent.

The campaign, with the endorsement of  a wide variety of educational
groups such as  the National Head Start Association, Parents As Teachers
and the American Association of School Administrators, is engaging a
nationwide grass roots campaign to dramatically increase parental
involvement in the nation's schools.

Project Appleseed is offering the exclusive one on one advice that
parents, education groups, educators, school board members and
administrators have been demanding.  Throughout the Summer of 1995 the
campaign's leadership will be conducting four Project Appleseed Summer
Workshops at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis.  This is a comprehensive one day
seminar that you and your schools need to dramatically increase and
sustain parental involvement.

If you would like more information about the Project Appleseed Summer
Workshop  and how to participate in National Parental Involvement Day,
e-mail Project Appleseed's President, Kevin Walker, at
kswalker@artsci.wustl.edu with the message "Send Appleseed Workshop
Information".  Reservations are limited and a 20% discount is available
if you register by May 12, 1995.  Project Appleseed can be reached by
phone at (314) 644-7608.