President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige will celebrate Sept. 17 as Constitution Day by participating in the "Pledge Across America," a nationwide patriotic observance by America's students.  President Bush and Secretary Paige will join students across the country in reciting a synchronized Pledge of Allegiance during their visit to East Literature Magnet School in Nashville.  Secretary Paige has urged the nation's more than 100,000 schools to give their students the opportunity to participate in this nationwide observance on Sept. 17. 

"This nationwide observance offers students and teachers the opportunity to focus on the words of the Pledge of Allegiance and on the principles and freedoms they reflect," Paige said in encouraging educators to involve their students in the "Pledge Across America" on Tuesday.  "This Tuesday is the 215th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, and I hope that students around the country will join President Bush and myself in marking that day with discussions about American history and the democratic principles that make this country great."

The synchronized Pledge of Allegiance will begin at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. CDT; noon, MDT; 11 a.m. PDT; 10 a.m. in Alaska; and 8 a.m. in Hawaii.

The Pledge Across America is being organized by Celebration USA, a nonprofit organization whose "purpose is to teach children the basic principles of American democracy and to invigorate patriotism."

For more information about the Pledge Across America, please visit www.ed.gov or www.celebrationusa.org.

###

Top

Back to September 2002