Mission: Leave No Parent Behind
The core of Project Appleseed?s national award winning work to promote parent involvement is our learning compact called the Parental Involvement Pledge. Based on the words of President Woodrow Wilson, the Parental Involvement Pledge is the most widely distributed compact in the United States. By signing the Pledge, parents agree to ?take personal responsibility? for their children?s education by promising to help their children with homework fifteen minutes each school night and to volunteer at their local school at least five hours each semester. Project Appleseed recruits and organizes parent help and support in local schools and school districts by providing schools with Project Appleseed?s Parental Involvement Toolbox through the organization?s web site.
Leave No Dollar Behind
Project Appleseed has established a model 10 year, $50 million capital campaign to renovate the historic University City High School in St. Louis. This project serves as a national model for alumni fund raising in public high schools. Alumni gifts to public schools can generate billions of dollars to renovate America?s schools. As public school districts deal with more and more budget shortfalls, organized parents, community members and educators are turning to alumni philanthropy to finance school construction and staff augmentation?just as America?s public universities have done for more than a century.
Abington Junior High School is very excited about Project Appleseed! We have been able to expand our parent volunteer groups substantially. As a result of Project Appleseed, new parent/adult committees have been formed. Our success can be measured by our committee work and by our amazing school-wide projects. We are very proud to be members of the Project Appleseed family of schools!
I am also proud to report that Abington Junior High School recently hosted guests from Singapore. The purpose of the visit was to review our Character Education and School-Wide Behavior Programs (P.R.I.D.E.) and Project Appleseed. The visiting teachers heard about our success and were eager to learn about how we are utilizing such programs here in the United States. We were thrilled to host the teachers from Singapore and to share our accomplishments through the use of Project Appleseed!
Sincerely,
Nicole Cicci Kazarian
Spanish Teacher / Abington Junior High School, Abington, Pennsylvania
