By Nicole Falco
SAVE legislation was passed two years ago, followed by the federal No Child Left Behind Law, enacted last year. District 24 students had been participating in an anti-bullying/anti-violence program developed by Quest International. Maureen Florio, an educational consultant for the district, facilitated the Quest program in the Brooklyn Avenue, William L. Buck and Robert W. Carbonaro schools over the past four years.
"District 24 is definitely an innovator in implementing these types of programs," said Florio, who has worked with Quest for more than a decade. "They are a district ahead of their time."
Together with Diana Pirrone, assistant superintendent for administration, instruction and learning, Florio has guided two dozen district teachers toward the completion of a manual designed to instruct teachers on how to teach character education, including anti-violence and anti-bullying themes.
"We believe that by helping to create the program," Pirrone said, "the teachers are going to support it in their classrooms and in their particular schools. We knew that if the teachers were not involved in implementing the program themselves, there could be limits to the continuity and consistency of concepts that needed to be learned."
Beginning last year, one teacher from each grade level from each of the three schools either volunteered or was asked to participate in the creative process. The teachers met once a month during the school year. This summer, one teacher from each grade level was asked to work three days a week toward the manual's completion. Some of the participating teachers piloted the program last year. Workshops for parents were also held throughout last year.
"Our goal was to have parents know what is being taught in the classrooms so we could get feedback from them and ideas from them," Florio said.
Vincent Milano, a second-grade teacher at Carbonaro, volunteered to help create the manual. "I think [character education] is a necessary component of a child's natural development," he said.
Milano said he is looking forward to seeing the students use what they are taught in a positive way. "I'd like to see the results," he said.
Patti Werner, a fourth-grade teacher at Brooklyn Avenue, said one of the biggest challenges teachers faced when creating the program was trying not to be repetitive from one grade level to the next. "We had to make sure we were keeping things as fresh and innovative as possible," she said.
The district's new program will be taught at each grade level. It is divided into eight topics, including controlling anger, thinking of the consequences, respect for others' feelings, substance-abuse prevention, and decision-making and problem-solving. Each topic is subdivided into four lessons. The program will be taught throughout the year and is sequential. A key part of the program is integrating lessons into other curriculum areas, including social studies and literature.
"I'd like to commend the district for taking the initiative and giving us the opportunity to implement this," Werner said. Like Milano, Werner volunteered.
According to Florio, the focus on the prevention of violence in schools increased after the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. "After Columbine, my philosophies and services became recognized, because it was realized it is the victim who erupts, not the bully," she said. "The world has changed. We don't know today if a child says they are going to bring a gun to school if they are or not."
Statistics show that 10,000 children nationwide don't go to school every day because they are bullied, Pirrone said. "We're interested in [character education programs] and we see them as an important need in the world today, in which violence has escalated and research has shown that preventative strategies can be developed in children as early as 3 to 4 years old," she said.
Florio and Pirrone have worked together before. In 2000, the two made a presentation at Oxford University in England on anti-violence and anti-bullying. And in 1999, the educators received a grant from the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls to present an annual gender-equity program at Stony Brook University.
"Both Diana and Maureen, through the years, have believed so strongly in a character education," said Dr. Edward Fale, superintendent of District 24 schools. "They kept the momentum going. They made sure the district never lost sight of this program.
"This is a valuable program and in many ways one of the more valuable programs in the district."
