Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993 TAG: 9312170060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The donation was expected to total $500 million, $135 million more than the $365 million that Annenberg gave to three universities and a prep school in June.
Details were not announced. Formal announcement was expected at today's White House ceremony with Annenberg, President Clinton, Education Secretary Richard Riley and others.
Recipients of the grants were expected to include the National Institute for School Reform, located at Brown University, and the New American Schools Development Corp.
Theodore Sizer, director of the institute, and David Kearns, chairman of the New American Schools Development Corp., planned to appear with Riley at a news conference after the White House ceremony to discuss details of the grants.
It was not immediately clear whether any other organizations would be among the recipients.
Steve Wechselblatt, with the New York-based public relations firm handling details of the announcement, described Annenberg's gift as the "largest grant ever made to public education."
A White House official said the grant amounted to "big, big" money.
An official at the Annenberg Foundation in Pennsylvania said details were being handled by Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Brown University spokesman Mark Nickel said he could not comment on the amount or the recipients.
Sizer's group is a nationwide network of middle and secondary schools committed to restructuring education.
The New American Schools Development Corp. was formed in 1991 at then-President Bush's request to raise money for improving education in America. Annenberg was among those appointed to the first board of directors.
by CNB