In each of the last five years, Cherry Hill Public Schools has had one school receive the prestigious distinction of being name a National School of Character. Character.org gives the distinction to schools across the country who display a dedicated focus on character development.
For the first time this year, Cherry Hill had two schools receive the distinction.
John A. Carusi Middle School and Clara Barton Elementary School were both named 2016 National Schools of Character. The distinction was only given to 68 schools in 29 states participating in the Character.org program this year. Carusi and Barton were the only schools in South Jersey to earn the distinction.
Carusi Middle School gets second National School of Character designation
Carusi and Barton had different journeys on their way to earning the National School of Character title. For Carusi, it is the second time the school has received the distinction. Carusi was first named a National School of Character in 2011.
Character.org’s rules for the program allow schools to re-apply for the distinction every five years. Principal John Cafagna said there was no doubt the school would apply to the program again.
A lot has changed since the first time Carusi was named a National School of Character. For one, Cafagna and many other staff members were not working at the school at the time.
Theresa Wisniewski is one of the teachers who was at Carusi for both years it received the character designation. She said a lot has also changed with the way Carusi approaches character education.
“Since (2011), we’ve committed a committee,” Wisniewski said. “We meet together to create lesson plans. We get feedback from the teachers and find out what we want students to learn in the classroom.”
“Instead of it being a program, we actually now talk to our teachers and we look at our staff and students ourselves,” she added.
Including lessons on character is an important part of Carusi Middle School. In subjects from English and humanities to science, examples of good character are magnified for the students.
“I think our goal always is to make them better people,” student assistance coordinator Connie Spencer said. “We live it, we eat it, we breathe it.”
Teacher Nick Lampe is one of the staff members on Carusi’s character committee. He said the toughest part of being named a National School of Character a second time was showing the school had expanded its character education.
“It shows you continue with the program and you’ve shown growth,” Lampe said. “You’re always reflecting back on the program, adding to it and showing its growth.”
All of the staff members agree the students have bought into the character education philosophy. A good example of this is a student group called the Word Ninjas. This group of students surprises the school community regularly through good acts, such as leaving inspirational quotes on lockers and in the hallways.
“The Word Ninjas have surprised the entire teaching staff,” teacher Joshua Hare said. “We came out to our cars the other day and all had different messages on our cars. I stopped my car to get the paper out of my windshield wiper. I laughed and kept in in my visor because it was one of those inspiring quotes.”
Cafagna said the best part of receiving the recognition from Character.org was seeing the reaction from teachers and students.
“It’s not something that’s easy to recognize because this is something we do every day,” Cafagna said of the designation. “I was excited to tell those staff members that put their heart and soul into the application.”
Barton joins National School of Character club
Unlike Carusi, Clara Barton Elementary School was named a National School of Character for the first time. Barton became the seventh Cherry Hill school to receive a National School of Character designation since 2008.
This year was the second time Barton applied for the program. Last year, the school received an honorable mention at the state level. This year, the school beefed up its application even more through the inclusion of more service-oriented programs and additional spotlights on already existing character education initiatives.
A big part of character education at Barton is creating a strong bond between students in different grade levels. One day a month, the school has Family Days where groups of students from every grade, kindergarten through fifth, meet in a group and socialize with each other.
Bonds are also built in each classroom. Each student at Barton has a bucket to be filled with treats from other students.
“We teach the kids that filling someone else’s bucket helps to fill your own,” school counselor Diane Bonanno said.
The students also have specific character education lessons spread throughout the school year. A few times each year, Bonanno visits each classroom for a lesson called Lions Quest.
“It’s building a community, making positive decisions, making good choices, friendship skills,” Bonanno said.
In another program called Morning Meeting, Principal Sean Sweeney meets with every grade level in the school’s all-purpose room for a character education lesson.
Bonanno and Sweeney work with groups of fifth-grade students. Sweeney coordinates a group of fifth-grade boys called Watch. Bonanno similarly runs a group for fifth-grade girls called Girl’s Gab.
Sweeney believes having fifth-grade students who can be strong leaders is essential to character education at Barton.
“They’re just naturally the leaders of the building,” Sweeney said. “We let them know, from day one, you’re the role models for this great school. We want you to be great leaders and be positive role models for the younger students.”
Barton’s character education initiatives have had a tangible effect on the students. Sweeney noted the school has had a decrease in discipline issues the last few years.
“Mr. Sweeney and I are outside with the kids every day,” Bonanno said. “With the few conflicts we have, we help them work them out on their own. The teachers have said it makes a huge impact.”
Officials from Character.org noticed the work Barton has done with character education. Last week, Bonanno got to participate on a character education panel as the panel’s counselor representative. The panel was held at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“I was very excited,” Bonanno said. “It was an honor to be there. We were able to meet many people who were on the board for character.org.”
Sweeney said the National School of Character designation was exciting for everyone in the Barton community.
“It was a great sense of pride throughout the school community,” Sweeney said. “We do a lot here in our schools that goes unnoticed.”
Sweeney also credited school district administrators for supporting character education. He said administration’s support is the biggest reason so many Cherry Hill schools have received National School of Character awards in recent years.
“It makes it easy for us to really move forward with different programs, events and activities,” Sweeney said of the administration’s support.
