Montgomery Reviews Character Education Program
On December 11, 2001 the Community Education Advisory Committee met in the Media Center of Montgomery High School. The committee was composed of district administrators, principals from each of the four schools in Montgomery, guidance counselors and representatives of community organizations. Organizations represented included the Montgomery High School Boosters Club, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, the Municipal Alliance, Montgomery Township Police Department DARE Officers, the Anti-Bullying Campaign and local churches.
Led by Montgomery Middle School Principal, Mr. Bill Robbins, the group held a profitable and informative discussion of the current character education programs in the district and a frank discussion of the issues and concerns that all committee members had about character education.
Highlights of the existing program included an anti-bullying program called No PutDowns at the Village Elementary School and the Middle School's campaign to eliminate bullying in the environment through classroom lessons, training in the use of "I" messages, and emphasis on the Six Pillars of Character. Other highlights include Orchard Hill elementary School's Conflict Resolution Program that provides lessons on responding to peer pressure, anger management, reflective listening and mediating conflict. At Montgomery High School each student receives a Handbook-Planner that contains a thirty-page section entitled What is Character?
As a follow-up to this meeting, a District character education curriculum committee was formed to address the issue of a comprehensive character education program for Montgomery. The committee is made up of teachers, administrators and guidance counselors from each building, as well as district representatives. The committee is chaired by Russ Walsh, Director of Language Arts. The group's first meeting was held January 29, 2002. At the first meeting the group reviewed the input from the Character Education Advisory Committee and mapped the current programs in each school, both curricular and extra-curricular. At future meetings the committee will be discussing and evaluating possible additions to the current program, as well as looking at ways to assess the effectiveness of the programs and to disseminate information to the public.
