America Goes Back to School, 1998

Proclamation 7118 of September 9, 1998

America Goes Back to School, 1998

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

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. 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.

The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education is
taking a leadership role in this important endeavor.
The partners in this effort include the Department of
Education and more than 4,000 schools, colleges, and
universities; community, cultural, and religious
groups; businesses; elected officials; policymakers;
and the men and women of our Armed Forces. They have
pledged to support our initiative, entitled ``America
Goes Back to School: Get Involved! Stay Involved!''
Across the country, the Partnership is working to
encourage family and community involvement in
children's learning and to create innovative solutions
to education issues at the grassroots level.

I have set ambitious goals for America's educational
system, and we must pursue them with vigor if we are to
prepare our Nation for the challenges and possibilities
of the next century. We must have strong standards of
achievement and discipline and well-trained, dedicated
teachers in every classroom. We must work to reduce
class size so all our children get the individual
attention they need, especially in the critical early
grades. We must build new schools, modernize existing
ones, and expand public school choice by strengthening
Federal support for charter schools. We must bring
computers, communications technology, and the latest
educational software into the classroom so that every
American student is technologically literate and can
take advantage of today's information revolution.

My Administration is also committed to making our
schools safe and orderly places where teachers can
teach and children can learn. With the Safe and Drug-
Free Schools program, we have supported schools and
communities that offer antitruancy, curfew, school
uniform, and dress code policies. We have strictly
enforced the policy of zero tolerance for guns. Last
year alone, more than 6,000 students had guns taken
from them and were sent home. This month, we will begin
distributing a guide--Early Warning, Timely Response: A
Guide to Safe Schools--to help all schools prevent
violence before it starts. At my direction, the
Secretary of Education and the Attorney General
developed this guide to help school officials recognize
and respond to the early signs of student violence.
Later this fall, we will hold the first ever White
House Conference on School Safety to develop effective
strategies to keep our schools safe, disciplined, and
drug-free.

My Administration also supports legislative initiatives
that encourage literacy and learning at every age--from
expanding the Head Start program for preschoolers to
providing trained reading tutors to elementary school
children to offering college aid for low-income
students. We are working with the Congress to fund the
Administration's proposal to strengthen teacher
training programs and provide scholarships to 35,000
well-prepared teachers who commit to teaching in
underserved urban or rural schools.

The quality of America's educational system will
determine the shape of our children's future and the
success of our Nation. As America's students go back to
school this year, let us renew our commitment to
ensuring that the doors of every classroom open onto a
future bright with possibility for every child.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim September 6 through
September 12, 1998, as a time when America Goes Back to
School. I encourage parents, schools, community and
State leaders, businesses, civic and religious
organizations, and the people of the United States to
observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and
activities expressing support for high academic
standards and meaningful involvement in schools and
colleges and the students and families they serve.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-third.