Archived: Satellite Town Meeting -- Schools as Safe Havens: Discipline, Safety, and Truancy Prevention

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

Family Involvement

Schools as Safe Havens: Discipline,
Safety, and Truancy Prevention
Tuesday, November 19, 1996
8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (ET)

The November Town Meeting will focus on ways that schools and communities can work together to discourage truancy while ensuring student discipline and safety. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley will welcome a panel of local education and community leaders who will share success stories and advice on how to:

Involve parents in truancy prevention and school discipline and create meaningful incentives for parental responsibility;
Make sure that students at risk of truancy or disciplinary problems are actively engaged in learning;
Ensure that students face consistent sanctions for truancy or disciplinary problems;
Establish truancy prevention programs in schools; and
Involve law enforcement and social service agencies.

To participate, all you need is to locate a facility with satellite downlink capabilities. Or, call your local cable access station or school board and give them the satellite coordinates:


C-Band Galaxy 9 Transponder/Channel 1 Vertical Polarity Downlink frequency 3720 MHz Orbital location 123° West	Ku-Band SBS-6 Transponder/Channel 15 Horizontal Polarity Downlink frequency 12068 MHz Orbital location 74° West
Audio subcarriers: 6.2 (Spanish) and 6.8 (English)

Note: Galaxy 9 at 123 degrees West is in the orbital position formerly occupied by Telstar 303 or T3. Check with your technician to ensure your satellite dish is reprogrammed regularly. Also, please note that satellite coordinates are subject to change. Register your participation to ensure you will be notified of any changes by calling 1-800 USA-LEARN. For technical assistance during or after the program please call 202- 463-5912.

What is the Satellite Town Meeting?

Each month, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley hosts a live, interactive video teleconference for communities working to achieve the National Education Goals. National experts, community leaders and educators discuss current issues in education, offer practical advice for community action and interact with participants throughout the nation. Major national television outlets, including The Discovery Network, and Channel One, as well as public access stations and school board channels, carry the Satellite Town Meeting each month. Satellite Town Meetings are also available on many local Public Broadcasting System stations. Past topics have included: school violence, standards, arts in education, school-to-work, and parent involvement.

How can our community benefit from the Satellite Town Meeting?

The Town Meetings are an excellent opportunity to organize your community and involve new partners in your school improvement effort. You can also plan your own local community meeting prior to or after the Town Meeting to discuss your community's progress and challenges in relation to the month's topic. The Satellite Town Meeting brings together people from across the nation with the same commitment to building community partnerships for learning.

How do we participate?

Find a downlink facility
You can take part in the Town Meeting with a group or at home by contacting your local Public Broadcasting System member station or public access station. Call and give them the show's name and topic, date, time of the broadcast, and coordinates. Also, be sure to ask if the program will be aired live or rebroadcast at a later time. A number of national organizations encourage their local affiliates to serve as downlink sites for the Satellite Town Meeting. Contact your local Public Broadcasting System member station, Chamber of Commerce, or Johnson Controls branch office and ask if your group can use the facility. Your local school system, public library, or community college may also have the satellite equipment necessary to provide the downlink. Other possible sites are local cable television stations, universities and technical schools, local government offices, hospitals, businesses, hotels, or even private residences with backyard satellite dishes.
Make a list of invitees
Invite those who are working on your community's reform effort: parents, members of the business community, educators, members of the local chamber of commerce, and other key community leaders. In short, invite everyone who is interested in learning more about education and the National Education Goals. Notify participants as early as possible.
Call Us
A 1-800 number is provided during the program for participants to call-in and talk with the Secretary and his guests.

Call 1-800-USA-LEARN to register your participation.

The Satellite Town Meeting is produced in partnership with the National Alliance of Business and the Center for Workforce Preparation with support from The Bayer Foundation, the Procter and Gamble Fund, Microsoft, Inc., and SC Johnson Wax. Broadcast and cable partners include Discovery Communications, the Public Broadcasting System, and Channel One.

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