[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 14 (Monday, April 9, 2001)]
[Pages 568-571]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Leadership Forum in Wilmington, Delaware

April 3, 2001

    The President. Thank you, Mr. Jones. I'm honored to be here. Thank 
you all.

[[Page 569]]

    Claven Jones. Before we all get started here, can I ask you a 
question?
    The President. You can do anything you--it's your building, you can 
do anything you want. [Laughter]
    Mr. Jones. What did you think about those Power Hour kids upstairs? 
Weren't they great?
    The President. I loved seeing the Power Hour kids. I know societies 
can change one person at a time. And while those of us in Government are 
trying to do the best we can with budgets and taxes, what we can't do is 
make people love one another. But what we can do is encourage loving 
people to help. And so I saw the Power Hour as an opportunity for 
children to improve themselves, but I also saw it as an opportunity for 
people to give something back in our society.
    And so I want to thank you for giving me the chance to come. I want 
to say a couple of things. First, I'm honored to be traveling with the 
Delaware delegation, the two United States Senators: Senator Biden and 
Senator Carper. These are smart, capable people. I just hope they do it 
the way I think they ought to be doing it. [Laughter]
    We will find--I will assure you this--we'll find areas where you can 
agree. I noticed Senator Carper dropped a strong charter school bill--
and I was at Maurice's school earlier in the year. And Tom and I come 
from the Governors ranks; we worked a lot together; there's a lot of 
areas where we know we can work together to improve public education. 
And there's going to be some times we don't agree, but my pledge to the 
American people and the people of Delaware is, when we disagree, it will 
be done in a way that's respectful, where we can treat each other with 
respect, where we don't have to have this needless name-calling and 
finger-pointing to get ahead.
    And I respect these two Senators. I may not like every vote. Of 
course, they may not like every proposal. But I can assure you that 
we're working hard to change the attitude of Washington, DC, so there is 
a more respectful attitude and so there can be a more civil debate about 
where this country ought to go.
    And then, of course, I was pleased to see that I got 100 percent 
support on one of my proposals from the Delaware delegate, and that is 
Mike Castle. And one thing I love about Mike is that he is a very 
thoughtful Member who stays focused. And his focus is education, amongst 
a lot of other things, but his main drive right now is to make sure we 
get the education bill right.
    And the education bill that we're trying to get out of the House, 
and eventually the Senate, mirrors much of what you've done here in 
Delaware under the leadership of then-Governor Carper. And I see members 
of the legislature here as well. It really says, every child can learn; 
it's important to trust local people to run the schools; and we must 
have accountability to determine whether or not every child is learning. 
And if children are learning, we'll praise the teachers and principals 
and superintendents. But if not, instead of just moving children through 
the system as if they don't matter, we address the problems early, 
before it's too late. Strong accountability systems lead to reforms.
    Senator Carper, then-Governor Carper, recognized that. I think I got 
some credit for recognizing that in the State of Texas. And the whole 
cornerstone of the reform movement that we're trying to get out of the 
Senate and the House says that if you receive Federal aid, you, the 
State, must devise an accountability system to let the folks know 
whether or not children are learning.
    And oh, by the way, let's also have a reading--national reading 
program that starts teaching children to read early. Let's have after-
school programs called 21st Century Programs that not only are run by 
public school institutions, if that's what the local community wants, 
but also says, programs--community programs or faith-based programs are 
just as capable about running programs as anybody else is. And so all 
the Federal money, as far as I'm concerned, for after-school programs 
ought to be opened up to every program in the State of Delaware.
    And so I'm here to say thanks for what you do. It's good to see--I 
was going to say old friends, Maurice--friends I've known for a while--
not all that old. Maurice runs a great charter school here, as you all 
know, and he's done a fantastic job.

[[Page 570]]

    Mr. Jones--I told him earlier that I wrote a bestseller--actually, I 
didn't write it; they say--they claimed I wrote it--called ``A Charge To 
Keep,'' and it's actually about me. So if you're having trouble sleeping 
at night, you may want to pick it up. [Laughter] At any rate--but all 
the proceeds are going to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs and 
Boys and Girls Clubs of America, because I believe so profoundly--I 
believe so strongly in mentoring, and I believe so strongly in helping 
children understand somebody loves them. And Government can't do that, 
but what Government can do is facilitate programs and allow faith-based 
programs to access Federal monies so that they can help change hearts.
    I don't believe we ought to fund religion, but I do think we ought 
to fund a person, and that person should be able to choose whether or 
not to find help at a faith-based program or a secular program.
    I view the Boys and Girls Clubs as faith-based programs, by the way, 
programs based upon the universal concept of loving a neighbor just like 
you'd like to be loved yourself. And for that, I'm grateful. I want to 
congratulate the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of 
Delaware for having such a profound impact. One in seven children in 
this State are members of the Boys and Girls Clubs, for which I know you 
all are most proud.
    Rather than falling into the legislative tradition of filibustering, 
I will now end my remarks by thanking you all for your hospitality, and 
I look forward to hearing from you.

[The forum began.]

    The President. How old is your charter school?
    John Taylor. Our charter school is in its first year.
    The President. Great. How's it going?
    Mr. Taylor. It is going well. It is going very well.
    The President. Did you have many applicants for your charter school?
    Mr. Taylor. Yes, we did have quite a few applicants.
    The President. And what grades?
    Mr. Taylor. We are currently servicing children between kindergarten 
and fifth grade.
    The President. Oh, great. Big jump. Thanks for teaching.

[The forum continued.]

    The President. Thank you for encouraging mentoring. You know, the 
great strength of the country takes place when somebody walks across the 
street or raises their hand and says, ``What can I do to help? What can 
I do to help somebody in need?'' And it's the cumulative kindness of 
America that really makes our country so different from everyplace else. 
And it's really important for all of us to understand the power of 
mentoring and what it means, because really what it means is recognizing 
that America will be changed one soul at a time.
    And I want to thank you for encouraging the Kiwanis to become 
mentors. And pass the word that the President and the Senators and the 
Congressmen really do recognize the limitation of Government and 
recognize the power of love and faith and hope.

[The forum continued.]

    The President. One of the things we've all got to do in our society 
is to encourage and herald the education entrepreneurs all across the 
country. And the idea of change and recognizing each student--an 
accountability system recognizing the talents and needs of each student 
is an incredible part of reform. And that's what the legislation we're 
working on in the Senate and the House is going to foster.
    And what triggered my thinking is, there's a lot of times where 
public schools don't change; their systems are inert; they just won't 
move. And yet, we've got three schools that are new--four--four new 
ideas, which shows that the State of Delaware has got a system that 
encourages change when change is needed. And that's the message we're 
trying to get to Members of the Senate and Congress who don't want 
change.
    One thing--we're going to spend more money, and that's important, 
but as well, there needs to be a systemic change to not only encourage 
parental involvement but to recognize that the systems have got to be

[[Page 571]]

geared on a child-by-child basis. And good accountability measures do 
that.
    We were at a--I saw a computer--I'm sorry to get going here, but we 
saw a computer upstairs that was able to take a child, figure out its 
level of learning, and the program adjusts immediately to that child, 
and then another child gets on, the program adjusts to the learning 
capacities of that particular child. That's what education systems need 
to evolve toward, individualized learning, as opposed to lumping kids 
into groups and just kind of shuffling through the system.
    And I appreciate what you're doing.

[The forum continued.]

    The President. Thanks. Let me say one thing--Lucretia talked about 
partnerships. Senator Biden reminded me that some of the money in the 
program here came from Microsoft and AOL--the point being that corporate 
Delaware or corporate Texas or corporate America can play a major role 
in making sure that we match assets with needs, particularly in programs 
that focus on our youth.
    And I want to thank corporate Delaware and your company, as well as 
others who have heard the call that part of making sure that capitalism 
runs the full gamut is not only to be able to make a good bottom line, 
which we all hope for, but also to put something back into the system. 
So if you're calling for people to put more back in the system, I'm 
calling right with you.

[The forum continued.]

    The President. Yes, I want you all to hear--it's an interesting 
thing he just said. He said the tutorials take place in the church. That 
doesn't mean that--let me start over. It means that we need to focus on 
the child and not on the process.
    How sad would it be if our system said, ``You can't have tutorials 
in churches because of the legal process''? And it's important for our 
society to keep in mind, every child matters. And we ought to be 
heralding the Reverend Johnsons of the world, as opposed to trying to 
thwart the Reverend Johnsons of the world. That's what the whole Faith-
Based Initiative in Congress is about.
    I appreciate what you do. Keep doing it, like I know you will.

Note: The President spoke at 11:20 a.m. in the Bears Den Gymnasium at 
the H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club. In his remarks, he referred 
to Claven Jones, director, H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club; 
Maurice Pritchett, principal, Bancroft Elementary School; Lucretia 
Young, director, Warner Street YMCA; and John Taylor, principal, and 
Rev. Clifford I. Johnson, founder, 
Marion T. Academy.