The Ignacio School Board has approved Middle School Principal Chris deKay's request to implement the Character Counts program at his school. He wants the program to expand to the entire community, for adults as well as kids.
DeKay told the school board on April 24 that the proposal comes out of a community multicultural committee that he sits on. The committee includes students and representatives from various community organizations - Ignacio Chamber of Commerce, Boys and Girls Club, town board, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Sun Ute Community Center, SUCAP, and others.
"Our mission is to do things with the community," he said.
The schools have different programs to promote positive behavior by students. DeKay cited a goal to have the same expectations at all schools.
"We tried to develop one that wouldn't be just school-wide but community-wide. Rocco (Superintendent Fuschetto) mentioned Character Counts about a year and a half ago. We looked at that and would like to move in that direction."
The multicultural committee voted unanimously to recommend adoption of that as part of the positive behavior support system, he said.
"The members of the committee will go out to the community... We want to gather support from the whole community so the whole community would benefit," he said. The same behavior expectations would apply in school, at the bowling alley, and at the Shur Valu.
At school, kids are rewarded for positive behavior with Bobcat Bucks that can be spent on school supplies. There will need to be a way to reward kids for positive behavior in those non-school settings, and a way to reward adults too, he said.
"The mission is to improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal behavior," deKay said.
The Six Pillars of Character Counts are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Each of the pillars has a list of behavior qualities.
"We would reinforce these K-12 to create good citizens by the time they leave high school," deKay said. Character education will become part of academics.
"The goal is to have it in place for next fall (2014) as a school district," he said.
Six Pillars of Character Counts is a national program. DeKay said there is a cost to join the national organization and for materials. "If we are going to do it community-wide, it's $30,000 to $40,000," he said. The district's cost will depend on how much the other multicultural committee entities contribute.
Superintendent Fuschetto said, "We're approaching the other entities who participate in the training, based on the number of people they send."
He indicated he will seek grant funding. Curriculum Director Kathy Pokorney added, "We can use Title (federal) money for professional development for things like this."
Asked how teachers will fit this into their schedules, deKay said, the district already promotes the positive behavior support system.
"We could do one pillar per month. The Boys and Girls Club can do it in the summer. They'll train with us. I like the idea that there are resources already available, and it's not very far from what we're already doing."
Character Counts already has curriculum and promotional materials available, deKay said.
Board members approved Troy Webb's motion to adopt the proposal "with the understanding that Title money will pay most of the district share, and the other entities will pay their own way."
