Thirteen/WNET, in partnership with New Jersey Network, will include a special leadership summit as part of a Celebration of Teaching and Learning, slated for March 24-25, in New York.

“The Schools We Want, The Schools We Need” will provide a forum for school board members, administrators, professional staff and parents to participate in an exchange of issues and ideas. The program will feature Philadelphia Superintendent Paul Vallas, who will speak on his district’s launching of a “School of the Future”; author Frank McCourt, whose latest book, Teacher Man, describes his experience in the New York City school system; and former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean.

Other sessions will focus on positive interaction with the news media, the small schools movement and improving the effectiveness of school administrators. Speakers will represent the Wallace Readers’ Digest Foundation, the Hechinger Institute and other organizations.

The Celebration will also include a Town Hall meeting on educational policy, moderated by Tom Brokaw, and featuring such panelists as New York State Education Commissioner Rick Mills, New York City United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, and educational author/scholar Diane Ravitch.