September 13, 2004

The U.S. Conference of Mayors for the second year joins NetDay as a partner to promote and engage mayors for the Speak Up Day for Students 2004. Last year, the Conference used U.S. Mayor and the internet to promote this annual online survey on the use of technology in education. As a result of the Conference's involvement and the interest of individual mayors, NetDay was able to have students and schools in all 50 states participate in this landmark event. Over 210,000 K-12 students from 3,000 schools were involved in the survey. There was also a similar survey of teachers that included 11,132 teachers in 1,885 schools in all 50 states.

This year, Speak Up Day for Students online survey will be available for student input from October 11-29, 2004. The Conference again encourages mayors to have students in their cities participate. Mayors should inform their school boards and superintendents about the survey and request that the school systems' students have the opportunity to go online and respond to the survey.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is working closely with San Francisco Unified School District board member Heather Hiles to have one day designated as "Speak Up Day in San Francisco." They are involved because no San Francisco public school participate in last year's survey. The day will include a media event a school to draw attention to the online survey and student participation, as well as the potential impact of the survey data results on what happens in schools using technology to enhance educational experiences.

The Conference encourages other mayors to partner with their schools to promote this survey. Additional information will be available in the coming weeks. Visit the NetDay website for additional information at www.netday.org. NetDay will launch in the next few weeks its Student Voices Resource Center, which is a comprehensive online "how-to" kit, designed to assist students in grades K-12 to become involved in how schools can use technology in education. It will be available on the website.

If any mayors do set up events or become involved in promoting Speak Up Day for Students, please contact Fritz Edelstein (fritz@usmayors.org) so we can write up mayoral involvement and leadership.