Bounty Survey Finds 94% of Teachers Say Students Learn Better in a Clean Classroom - Leading to Nationwide Effort to Help Clean Up Schools

CINCINNATI, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Teacher: Educator or Custodian? On top of planning spelling quizzes and geography lessons, The Procter & Gamble Company's (NYSE: PG) Bounty® brand surveyed 1,000 U.S. school teachers and found 42 percent of these busy teachers report they add cleaning to their list of daily duties.  In the survey conducted with Wakefield Research, Inc., Bounty found that 94 percent of teachers believe students learn better in clean classrooms. As an extension of the Make a Clean Difference campaign started in 2010, Bounty is now launching its "We Love Our School" Week, together with school partner PTO Today, to help provide clean, creative learning environments for children across the country.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110215/NY48146 )

Bounty is teaming up with 2011 Golden Globe nominee and mother of two Julianne Moore and dozens of local volunteers to launch "We Love Our School" Week at a Manhattan public school. "I'm thrilled to roll up my sleeves and join Bounty to kick off 'We Love Our School' Week with the parents and children in New York City," said actress Julianne Moore.  "As a mother of two young children, I know first-hand how important it is to foster creativity and hands-on learning at a young age, and what better way to show love this week than by helping to improve your child's learning environment."

According to the survey, 51 percent of teachers report avoiding certain in-class projects or activities because they dread the clean-up afterwards.  This fact, along with cleaning supplies becoming a top wish list item on many teachers' classroom lists, led Bounty to form this program with PTO Today to address these requests and help alleviate some of the costs.  Launched in schools this Valentine's Day, February 14, the cleaning program is helping to mobilize volunteers in 1,000 schools and 2,500 classrooms nationwide through Friday, February 18. PTO Today, as an organization focused on filling un-met school needs through parent-teaching partnerships, has provided their extensive, national database of schools for participation in the clean-up effort. Each of the "We Love Our School" Week's participating schools will receive a Bounty Clean Kit with enough Bounty and Mr. Clean product to clean all of their classrooms.

"The clean learning environments provided through Bounty's 'We Love Our School' Week program are needed now more than ever," said Dave Lee, Procter & Gamble North American Bounty delivery brand manager.  "It's surprising to learn that more than half of teachers surveyed acknowledged that the need to clean their classroom interferes with teaching. Through this program, we aim to help provide clean learning environments that allow students to learn uninhibited by messes."

"As an organization dedicated to supporting PTOs and PTAs nationwide, we see every day the many still-unmet needs in our schools and are thrilled to partner with strong brands like Bounty to encourage action in local communities," said Tim Sullivan, Founder & President, PTO Today.  "Effective parent involvement is a key part of all successful schools. We love how this program is helping parents make a difference for their schools and their teachers."

Schools interested in taking the pledge along with Bounty can find out more by visiting the Bounty Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/Bounty) and clicking on the "We Love Our School" tab.  Schools making the pledge will be entered into Bounty's "We Love Our School" sweepstakes for a chance to win a celebrity-designed $50,000 school makeover. The first 500 schools to take the pledge will also receive a Bounty Clean Kit to utilize in their own school cleaning event.  

For information on this program, Bounty's Make a Clean Difference initiative and to learn more about how to get your local school community involved, visit www.Facebook.com/Bounty.  

The Bounty "We Love Our School" Teacher Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between January 26th and February 7th, 2011. For this research, 1,001 telephone interviews were fielded among American elementary and middle school teachers.

About Bounty

Bounty has been America's most popular paper towel for more than 30 years.  In the U.S., P&G offers the following premium two-ply paper towel products: Bounty Select-a-Size; Bounty White; Bounty Extra Soft; and Bounty Fun Prints.  Additionally, P&G offers Bounty Basic, a quality one-ply paper towel as well Bounty Quilted Napkins. For more information on Bounty, visit www.facebook.com/bounty.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 127,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About School Family Media, Inc. & PTO Today

Since 1999, School Family Media, Inc., through its PTO Today, Inc. property, has been connecting with PTO and PTA leaders and school families at every public and private K-8 school nationwide - more than 83,000 schools - through its print, online resources and school-family event programs.  School Family Media is focused exclusively on helping parents and schools help children succeed by promoting and enabling practical and meaningful parent involvement at school.  School Family Media's parent-focused, out-of-the-classroom programs and resources, such as School Family Nights^®, Parent Education Nights, Healthy School Kids^®, Back2School and SchoolFamily.com, offer school families the widest possible range of opportunities and resources for strengthening the connection between the parent, student and school community.  Learn more at www.schoolfamilymedia.com.

SOURCE P&G/Bounty