Scott County Central receives character grant

SIKESTON - Scott County Central School District will add a little character to its curriculum next year.

Recently, the school district, along with the Bell City R-II School District, was the recipient of a character education grant awarded by Characterplus, a program of the St. Louis area Cooperating School Districts.

"Character education is something I've heard about for several years, and I was interested in it," Scott County Central counselor Jerry Brehmer said. "I decided it was something I wanted to see done in our school. I promoted the idea around the school and received a good response."

Brehmer went to a regional character education meeting last year where it was announced that character education grants were available. He sent in an application for Scott County Central and found out in February they received the grant.

The grant enables the school district to train its teachers to implement character education into their daily classroom activities and plans. With the grant money, they can buy materials needed and send their teachers to character education training, Brehmer explained.

The school is not purchasing a curriculum, they're merely shaping it, Brehmer said. Through character education, ideas are being incorporated into the existing curriculum. Teachers put a slant on the subject, he said.

"For example, in language arts, teachers could have the students write essays about how the character in a story relates to character," Brehmer said. "It also works with social studies by using historical events."

Brehmer said character education can be implemented into every subject. Character education is a set of basic ideas, such as respect, perseverance, honesty and responsibility, that a society deems important, he stated. Cooperative learning, respect, teamwork and good sportsmanship are all character traits that can be implemented into physical education, too, he added.

Each grant recipient's community must define character education before they can plan their program. That's why the school district is holding three different meetings in order to receive input from the community regarding what specific character traits should be emphasized at Scott County Central.

The first meeting is scheduled for March 12 at the community building in Haywood City; the second meeting is on March 19 at the city hall in Vanduser; and the final meeting is set for March 21 at the VFW in Morley. All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m., and Brehmer encourages the entire community to attend.

In April, Joan Davis, Characterplus site administrator, will visit the school district and serve as a guide. Once the school district develops its program, and sees where it is and what it's doing, the program can expand, Davis said.

Cathy Boren, Bell City counselor, said the Bell City school district is also very excited about receiving their character education grant and expanding their program. "It's important to supplement the students' academic learning with character education," Boren said.

Boren and Christy Scherer are the character education coordinators for the Bell City School District. Boren said Bell City has used character education in their school for about three years, but the school district has never had the money to implement the program appropriately.

"This grant is good money, and we have never had the extra money to buy materials for character education," Boren said. "This grant will allow us to do that."

Like Scott County Central, Bell City will also hold a community meeting on April 2 in the high school cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. to define character education for their school district.

The grants were made possible by an appropriation of $1 million requested by Gov. Bob Holden, supported by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and enacted by the Missouri legislature. The funding nearly doubled the number of districts already in the character education program, from 49 to 95.

"I am very pleased we were awarded the grant," Brehmer said. "It's not just about receiving money. The expertise, training and evaluation methods that come with it are just as valuable."