VENTURA : Schools to Offer Program on Values
A program teaching moral character to Ventura students will begin this fall at 10 of the 23 schools in the Ventura Unified School District, Supt. Joseph Spirito said this week.
The program, which will teach honesty, tolerance and respect, is being initiated at the 10 schools because they have experience with a similar but less comprehensive program, Spirito said.
The program will go districtwide in second semester, starting in January, Spirito said.
The district hopes the character-building program will reverse the general attitude of rowdiness and disrespect among Ventura students, Spirito explained.
The program focuses on 36 words, teaching one a week. The “word of the week,” such as courteousness , tolerance and self-discipline , will be discussed 10 minutes a day in classrooms and appear on bulletin boards and even cafeteria place mats. At Friday assemblies, students will act out the word in skits.
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