He walked into the room in work clothes dirtied by his job at W.R. Grace and Company. He was a man who worked hard, so hard that some nights he barely could stay awake through evening dinner. He would rather break his leg than ask for a favor, but he had asked his boss for 2 hours off from his job to do something important.

A working man who had left share cropping to give his family a better future in Baltimore, he was losing wages he couldn't afford, and that worried him. The concern showed in his hurried glance at the large, government-issue clock on the wall as he moved quickly to take his place.

He looked around the crowded room and spotted his wife and children. He smiled at them, but just for a moment. He didn't want to appear too casual. They were there for serious business....

Forty years later, I still can close my eyes and see the factory worker walk into that room filled with parents, teachers and neighbors. I can remember the scene so well because the man who had sacrificed to be there with his son was Mr. Robert Cummings, my father.

The demands of tenant farming had consumed his childhood, leaving no time for formal schooling. As an adult, my father realized how much he had lost; but he is the kind of man who responds to loss by giving. My school became a very important place - second in honor only to our church.

He took the time to be there for me that evening when I received my first "perfect attendance" pin at our school’s P.T.A. meeting, and he would play an important part in all of my school events over the years. Although I was "at risk" as a student when my father pinned that first award on my sweater, my parents’ constant support and encouragement gradually would transform me into the good student they knew I could become.

Committed parents and a very active P.T.A. at Roland Park Elementary School did the same for my older daughter, Jennifer. These life experiences have convinced me that parental involvement is essential to our children’s education.

Parents, neighbors and the entire Baltimore community are crucial players in the rebuilding of our public schools. Although I believe that the Partnership program and similar school-support efforts now underway are creating a solid community base, far more support for Baltimore’s school system will be required.

Along with my colleagues in the Maryland Legislature, I will continue my work in the Congress for increased financial support for well-trained teachers, modern technology and school buildings which show our children how much we value their education. Informed by the memory of what my parents and childhood neighbors did for me, however, I feel a sense of obligation to do more.

After discussions with Baltimore City School Board Chairman, Dr. J. Tyson Tildon, I have decided to return to the campaign trail next Spring, helping to further a movement where our children will be the winners. Our’s will be a grass roots campaign - people who care about children rebuilding Baltimore as a "community of learning."

Neighborhood schools must be at the center of our new Baltimore. They must become the town halls of our neighborhoods. We also must return our children’s education to prominence within the larger community. We must create a healthy, safe place of learning in every church, on every playground and within every home. We must establish a city of classrooms in which our children - and we - can learn from each other.

To assist us in our effort to re-create Baltimore as a community of learning, the Governor's Special Secretary for Children, Youth and Families, Dr. Linda S. Thompson, and I intend to bring Dr. James P. Comer to Baltimore for a series of town hall meetings next May. Dr. Comer is the creator of Yale University's School Development Program, and his educational strategies have helped local school systems throughout the United States, including schools in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The Community of Learning educational meetings will be open to all local educators and the general public. Once teachers, parents and neighbors decide how they can cooperate more effectively in our ongoing school reform effort, I will work for implementation of the community's decisions. That is the appropriate role for me to undertake as a Member of Congress.

I do have one strong suggestion. I remember how important my parents and their P.T.A. were to my success. If we are to re-create our local schools as places of learning which work for the neighborhoods they serve, each school will need a community-based, organizational structure which can sustain long-term neighborhood participation.

Many of Baltimore’s best schools have active parent-teacher organizations, but organized parental involvement is not universal, and even those schools where parents are making a difference can use more help. When people join our campaign, as I believe they will, we can achieve the goal of supporting a functioning, effective P.T.A. in every school before December 31, 2000.