Kerns and coach Keith Vinson recently traveled to Detroit, Mich. to experience a “Challenge Day” – where about 70 students and 40 adults spent all day doing ice breakers, games and then more serious, compassionate and honest discussions.
Kerns envisions Middletown’s character program including a Challenge Day, as well as other activities.
“It was very, very emotional, touching, inspiring. A lot of deep-rooted feelings were brought out,” he said. “When it’s all said and done, some things you might not be exposed to in a year’s worth of time, you’re exposed to in an afternoon.”
Some community members and school officials have said the district is in need of such a program. Many feel a lack of character among some students contributes to discipline problems in schools.
Kerns has hosted a community meeting on developing a character education program and plans to have more meetings this summer.
He wants to bring what he’s been doing in the classroom and on sports fields and expand it into a districtwide program that would feature speakers and frequent character-building activities.
“If you just do the program, that’s going to be very impacting. But to really sustain it all the other things need to be in place,” he said. “It’s something that lives and breaths and it’s part of your every day culture.”
Nearby district is model for character ed
Kerns is looking to a nearby urban school district, Hamilton City Schools, as a model to create a character program.
He recently invited Hamilton coach and program director Jim Place to Middletown to share the successes and challenges of creating the program, which teaches honesty, compassion, respect, personal responsibility and acceptance.
“All the people down in Hamilton cannot speak enough about the success,” Kerns said. “I think we’d be foolish not to take a look at those things.”
Hamilton spokeswoman Joni Copas said Superintendent Janet Baker is the driving force behind the program, which teaches students to take ownership of themselves.
“Not only do we need to teach them to read and write, we need to teach them to be good people as well,” she said. “We feel if they pass the (Ohio Graduation Test), or if they graduate, but they’re not good human beings, then the district has failed.”
Copas said the district doesn’t have any hard evidence of success yet. But she said staff members have stories that show a difference, including more students opening doors for each other.
Hamilton has no budget for the program, which Copas said is done at a minimal cost with the only expenses being for signs or character bracelets given to the students to wear.
Place, who formerly coached the Middies football team for six years, said Hamilton has a special day and week dedicated to character development, along with including the teachings in every lesson and classroom.
“The thing we’re most pleased with is the students really buy into character education, they really want it,” Place said. “We feel very strongly it’s been successful.”
Bringing efforts together
Middletown has not been without character education in individual buildings and classrooms.
Kerns himself has been teaching values for years as a coach and teacher, but wants a more universal approach in Middletown.
“It’s something that’s been there all along and now I just want to take it to the next step so we can impact positively a lot more people,” he said.
Middletown’s Janet Leahy facilitates character programs on the request of buildings, said district communications specialist Debbie Alberico.
Elmon Prier, a teacher, minister, counselor and coach has spent most of his 40-year career developing character education materials, even writing a book on the topic and a poem that spread nationwide.
Now as Middletown High School’s pupil services facilitator, Prier has character words posted on the walls of his office as a visual reminder to the students who are referred to him.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for character education to come, but since it was not a priority for so many years, I just continued developing materials to at least help those I came in contact with,” he said.
Prier has presented at Hamilton’s character education days, where he said the students really listened.
“The overall status of our kids is getting lower when we don’t have character education to help them,” he said. “It’s up to us to teach them. If we embrace it as a district, we can only get better.”
Board supports character programs
Members of Middletown’s Board of Education say they are supportive of teaching character development, though they are hands off of this effort.
Board member Chris Fiora said in general he supports character education.
“I feel that Middletown system needs to not only address intellectual needs, but also needs to address the whole student. This would definitely include some form of character education,” he said.
Board Vice President Katie McNeil said she is excited by the enthusiasm of the teachers. McNeil said she is in favor of character programs, and said it should be led by individual school buildings, not the school board.
Board member John Sauter applauded Kerns for his effort. Sauter did attend the informational meeting, which he said was “very positive.”
“I like the idea of the overall goal to improve the character of every student,” Sauter said. “I think anybody, anyone can benefit from a program like that. Anything you can do that helps you make the right decisions in life is a good thing to be involved in.”
Sauter said he doesn’t know what the next step is to implementing the program in Middletown.
Kerns is planning more meetings and developing a proposal, which he hopes to bring to the school board at a later date.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.
About the Author