Students build blocks of character

All’s fair in love and Laguna, where kids at El Morro Elementary have spent the month learning about fairness.

Character Counts has become a popular program at El Morro Elementary this year, where kids have learned about a different character trait each month.

The founder of the Character Counts program, Michael Josephson, will speak at the Artists’ Theatre from 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 16. Admission is $5, and child care is available for $5 per child.

Josephson, a nationally broadcast radio ethicist, will speak on how to help kids develop strong character.

District Supt. Robert Fraisse, who heard Josephson speak, encouraged El Morro PTA President Lynn Gregory to bring him to the school; the district sponsored the PTA-organized event.

She has also taken on the mantle of Character Counts chairwoman, and developed a team of parents to bring the program to El Morro.

Each month, El Morro kids gather for an assembly, after spending the month working on a certain Pillar of Character.

A student from each classroom who best exemplified the character “pillar” of the month is awarded a certificate, bracelet and dog tag necklace.

This month, the kids worked on fairness.

“Fairness actually happens to be my favorite pillar of all six,” Principal Chris Duddy told the kids.

He described how, when he was a child, he and his friends didn’t like being treated differently from everyone else, either.

“We have a special guest today,” Duddy said. “His job is to make sure the playing field is fair.”

Soccer referee and dad Gary Bechtel strode up to the podium in full uniform.

He explained to the kids that if everyone tries to be fair, the enforcement job becomes easier.

He described future “referees” in life: school principals, police officers, judges.

“Fairness goes from the field to your car to life,” Bechtel said. “And you’ll have to use it your whole life.”

Bechtel was invited to speak by one of the organizers, whose child plays on Bechtel’s team.

“If I can teach kids fairness now, hopefully it will help them later in life,” he said after the assembly.

“What I wanted to drive home was that if they treat one another fairly, they’ll never have to have a negative encounter with authority figures.”

Students had put their suggestions for campus improvement into a fairness box; the some of their proposals were read aloud to the kids at the assembly.

The most popular included having older kids give the younger kids a chance to sit in the back of the school bus; adding heated water to the bathroom sinks; switching out the Styrofoam lunch trays for something biodegradable; longer recesses; and riper fruit.

The school had already addressed the popular bus request. Administration had spoken to the bus drivers, and were considering a rotation system where different grades gained back-of-the-bus privileges regularly.

The program has been supported school-wide. Librarian Claudia Cameron decorates the library for each month’s character trait, and chooses books that fits the characteristic for kids to read; she is in process of labeling each book by character trait, using colored dots.

The program also was implemented in another form at Laguna Beach High School, as the Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign.

For more information on the program, visit www.charactercounts.com.

All’s fair in love and Laguna, where kids at El Morro Elementary have spent the month learning about fairness.

Character Counts has become a popular program at El Morro Elementary this year, where kids have learned about a different character trait each month.

The founder of the Character Counts program, Michael Josephson, will speak at the Artists’ Theatre from 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 16; admission is $5, and child care is available for $5 per child.

Josephson, a nationally broadcast radio ethicist, will speak on how to help kids develop strong character.

District Supt. Robert Fraisse, who heard Josephson speak, encouraged El Morro PTA President Lynn Gregory to bring him to the school; the district sponsored the PTA-organized event.

She has also taken on the mantle of Character Counts Chair, and developed a team of parents to bring the program to El Morro.

Each month, El Morro kids gather for an assembly, after spending the month working on a certain Pillar of Character.

A student from each classroom who best exemplified the character “pillar” of the month is awarded a certificate, bracelet and dog tag necklace.

This month, the kids worked on fairness.

“Fairness actually happens to be my favorite pillar of all six,” Principal Chris Duddy told the kids.

He described how, when he was a child, he and his friends didn’t like being treated differently from everyone else, either.

“We have a special guest today,” Duddy said. “His job is to make sure the playing field is fair.”

Soccer referee and dad Gary Bechtel strode up to the podium in full uniform.

He explained to the kids that if everyone tries to be fair, the enforcement job becomes easier.

He described future “referees” in life: school principals, police officers, judges.

“Fairness goes from the field to your car to life,” Bechtel said. “And you’ll have to use it your whole life.”

Bechtel was invited to speak by one of the organizers, whose child plays on Bechtel’s team.

“If I can teach kids fairness now, hopefully it will help them later in life,” he said after the assembly.

“What I wanted to drive home was that if they treat one another fairly, they’ll never have to have a negative encounter with authority figures.”

Students had put their suggestions for campus improvement into a fairness box; the some of their proposals were read aloud to the kids at the assembly.

The most popular included having older kids give the younger kids a chance to sit in the back of the school bus; adding heated water to the bathroom sinks; switching out the Styrofoam lunch trays for something biodegradable; longer recesses; and riper fruit.

The school had already addressed the popular bus request; administration had spoken to the bus drivers, and were considering a rotation system where different grades gained back-of-the-bus privileges regularly.

The program has been supported school-wide; librarian Claudia Cameron decorates the library for each month’s character trait, and chooses books that fits the characteristic for kids to read; she is in process of labeling each book by character trait, using colored dots.

The program also was implemented in another form at Laguna Beach High School, as the Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign.

For more information on the program, visit www.charactercounts.com.