It is thanks to all of you who have worked so hard on this observance that we were able to reach such a large number of students (a number that we know to be significantly greater than just those who reported). We are in the process of setting our goal for this year, and I would appreciate your input. In 1998, our goal was 1,000,000 pledges signed and reported. Last year, our goal was to double that number. Do you think we should increase our goal by another million this year, or should we double the number we hope to get? Or, given that this is the start of a new century and new millennium and symbolizes the hope of a future without gun violence, should we become really ambitious and try for five million or ten million? Please send me your thoughts on this. We want to be both realistic and ambitious.

We want to know how many students have taken part in the national Pledge drive because we want them to feel that they are part of something big - something that suggests their collective power to provide the next generation a legacy of safety from gun violence. The more students who sign the Pledge-and the more students who know about all the others who have joined them in making the same commitment, the more powerful the observance becomes.

Therefore... Please report your school's tallies! You can do it directly on the web site: www.pledge.org

If at all possible, centralize the reporting. If schools use the Pledge in individual classrooms, have someone in each school who will total the tallies for the school and report them at once. If a whole district is taking part, designate one person in the district to receive all the schools' totals so that the number from the district can be reported as a collective tally. Centralized reporting will make it possible to reach our national tally much more quickly than we have been able to do for the last two years.

Getting help in collecting tallies:

Student Council representatives have taken on the job of collecting and reporting tallies in many schools. Since the National PTA, as an organization, has been very supportive of the Pledge, perhaps local organizers might invite local PTA members to help in the task of collecting and tallying Pledge totals. (Remember that we do not record the names of the Pledge signers. We collect and tally the pledges but return the Pledge itself to the student to keep as a reminder of the commitment s/he has made.)

Working with other organizations:

The observance this year is strengthened and reinforced by falling in the middle of Safe Schools week, October 15-21, a week-long series of activities coordinated by Safe Schools, Safe Students. For more information about them, go to their web site: stwnews.org The Day of National Concern also falls within the Y's "Week Without Violence."

Avenues of dissemination: We continue to work closely with our educational partners: the National Association of Student Councils, the AFT, the National School Boards Association, the National PTA, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. These are groups that have been much more than endorsing organizations but want to be real partners in coordinating dissemination networks. We are pleased that the NEA is becoming more involved as well, and we will continue to work in cooperation with the American Association of School Counselors.

Because of Minnesota's US Attorney, Todd Jones, the network of US Attorneys has also been extremely helpful.

Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton of Minneapolis, once again, has kindly agreed to write to her colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Superintendent Terry Hillard, Police Chief of Chicago, has written to all the Major City Chiefs, telling them about the Chicago Police Department's involvement in the Day of National Concern efforts, and urging their departments to support the initiative in their cities as well.

In 1998 Governor Roy Romer, a Democrat from Colorado, and Governor Arne Carlson, a Republican from Minnesota, wrote to all of their fellow governors, urging them to support and publicize the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence in their states. There was a very positive response to their letters, but since they left office, we have not had a governor take their place. We are currently talking to the office of one state governor who, we hope, will take over this important avenue of outreach. (If we are not successful with this governor, we would welcome suggestions about others we might approach.)

Involving others in planning Day of Concern activities
Planning a common event can be a wonderful to bring together many different people and organizations in a community. The Day of Concern has been a good community builder, sometimes joining prevention efforts of the schools with those of local law enforcement or local city health officials. In Minnesota, for example, we have a Student Pledge planning group whose participants include representatives of the Minneapolis Public Schools Office of School Safety; Education Minnesota (representing the state's NEA and AFT chapters); the State Department of Children, Families, and Learning; the State Commissioner of Public Safety's Office, the local Time-Warner station, the Independent Schools of Minnesota, the US Attorney's office, and the Office of Public Safety from the St. Paul schools. Support has also come from the Minnesota Timberwolves, a local public relations firm, several private corporations such as US Bank and Honeywell that have helped finance billboards and posters with Kevin Garnett saying "Shoot hoops, not each other. Sign the Pledge," and the Twin Cities Metro Transit System, which has displayed the posters.

Student Leaders Wanted!

Each year, more and more students have taken a leadership role in the national Pledge drive. We would like to have at least one student Pledge leader or spokesperson in each state. Please help publicize in any way you can that student leaders are WANTED!

A new staff member at the Student Pledge
I want to introduce you to the wonderful young woman who has been working full-time with the Student Pledge since July. Her name is Melinda Laine; she's originally from Seattle, and she graduated from Carleton College in June. She was in the group of students my husband and I took with us to China last spring, and she showed a particular interest in learning about the Student Pledge. When she found out that I was looking for someone full-time to help with this ever-growing observance, she applied for the job. She had some exciting job offers in Washington, D.C. so I feel lucky to have her. It's an excellent fit.

Zach Pruitt, the remarkable student intern who answered all your inquiries while I was away, has also graduated and is now the Youth Development Coordinator in Northfield. He will continue to be connected with the Pledge and will help us identify other student volunteers.

Send us your ideas

As has been true for each of the last four years, there are always more people and organizations working on this initiative than we ever know about. Sometimes we learn about some truly major efforts almost by accident. Some wonderful ideas get passed along through cross-pollenization, so do let us know what has worked in your schools and communities and what you are planning for this year.

Things are moving more and more quickly as the date approaches. We will send several more updates between now and October 17.

With best wishes and admiration for the good work that you are doing,

Mary Lewis Grow, National Coordinator