THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 80 lines
Posters shout the messages from classroom walls at Georgetown Primary School.
Be a good friend. Pay attention. Be honest. Keep your word. Share with others. Take care of yourself.
To keep the advice from just blending into the school scenery, teachers spend 15 minutes each morning reinforcing the lessons. At Georgetown, learning values for life is a major priority, along with reading, writing and arithmetic.
``We're growing citizens,'' said Rebecca B. Young, a counselor at the school.
Last week the entire Chesapeake school system joined Georgetown's effort, celebrating Character Counts, a program that focuses on six traits of good character: trustworthiness, fairness, responsibility, caring, respect and citizenship. The program was co-sponsored by the Chesapeake division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Students heard inspirational speakers, drew posters and decorated school hallways with artwork extolling the need for them to develop such virtues.
``If character is something that's being acknowledged in schools, then maybe all of a sudden character will be cool,'' said Shirley H. Forbes, chairwoman of the Chesapeake chamber's education committee, which helped organize the Character Counts week.
Forbes said she hopes character lessons eventually will be taught all year long at all schools, as Georgetown Primary is doing now.
Chesapeake, like other school systems nationwide, is responding to a public concern that many students are growing up without being exposed to the basic principles of good citizenship.
Schools increasingly are trying to take up the slack, without stepping into the delicate territory of religious beliefs or parents' rights to determine their children's values.
In Hampton Roads, school officials and regional Chamber of Commerce representatives will meet today to discuss ways to give students more information about character.
``I believe that character is something that's a part of our daily lives,'' Forbes said. ``I don't believe it's something that just should exist when you're in church on Sundays. I don't believe it's something that should exist just at home.
``We are having our school system reinforce the importance of character,'' she said. ``To me, isn't that great for Mom and Dad, who are trying to teach that at home?''
And for children who are not fortunate enough to get guidance outside of school, she said, ``Isn't it wonderful that they can get it in school?''
At Georgetown Primary, all 760 students get some kind of message about positive behavior every day.
Thursday, just before most children donned Halloween costumes and collected their annual ration of cavity-causing candy, students learned the value of keeping their teeth clean. It was part of a larger unit on physical and mental wellness.
Over the course of the school year, children will learn lessons like managing time, money and energy, treating others respectfully, completing school work, obeying and cooperating.
Every day, teachers post goals for their classes, such as: ``We will raise our hands and wait to be called on to share with the class.'' Classes that meet their goals are rewarded with balloons and special tokens.
The school has been using the Positive Action curriculum for six years, and Principal Glen E. Brown said it works.
Parents like it so much, he said, the PTA has agreed each year to pay the $2,000 annual cost to renew the program.
``I'm not a big proponent of programs to just teach self-esteem for its own sake,'' Brown said. But this program goes hand-in-hand with lessons of classroom order that teachers must use anyway, he said.
``The teachers have told us, in the long run, this saves them time,'' he said.
Teresa K. Mizell, a second-grade teacher whose daughter also attends Georgetown, said the program has made a big difference in her classroom and in her daughter.
``I love it,'' she said. ``I'm glad that my daughter is a part of it.
``It's almost like how a family has to teach values and morals so the whole family can get along. In the classroom, you're like a family for a whole year.''
KEYWORDS: VIRTUE CHARACTER CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS by CNB