By Mark Tallman

One of just three Kansas schools honored for the character education programs, Remington Elementary School, Remington USD 206, was recognized as an Honorable Mention School of Character in spring 2023.

As Remington Elementary School principal Tammy Sweatland explained, “The last few years we have seen, just a big increase in those social emotional needs. Our staff has come full circle in realizing that if those needs aren't met first, then kids can't be expected to sit and do reading, math, and everything else. We've just done so many things to focus on how our kids really are from the moment they walk in the door and help them get to that point where they're ready to sit down and learn.” That’s where character education and other social and emotional efforts come in.

Remington’s school counselor, Kathy Headrick, put the relationship between character education and social emotion support the best way I’ve heard it.

"The social-emotional piece is understanding that kids come into our building from a variety of different situations and home backgrounds. Sometimes they come from places of chaos and sometimes from places of calm. Some kids are better at walking into the building and just experiencing the structure of school and some kids aren't. The social-emotional part helps kids deal with their own emotions, learn how to regulate their own emotions,” she said “We kind of ask kids to compartmentalize their emotions. Whatever is happening outside of school, it's okay to forget about that while you're here, and just kind of relish the safety. In order for kids to learn, they have to be able to regulate their emotions; their brain can't process all the things it has to process if they're in a state of unrest or uncertainty or heightened emotions.”

“But once that’s done, the character piece is we want to create good citizens,” she said. “We want to create not just kids that are well behaved but kids that engage in their school experience and take some ownership of it and feel some responsibility to make their school a better place for themselves and for other people.”

Principal Sweatland said the program, in part, grew out of the school’s participation in the State Department of Education school redesign project, which encouraged schools to consider changes in how they operate with a higher degree of input from staff, parents and community members. “When we did our initial surveys with the community and what they expect from high school graduates, we found those soft skills are so important. If I'm really good at math, or I'm really good at reading, but I can't communicate, and I can't show up on time and I treat people poorly at my job, I'm not going to keep that job. That was something that came from our community.”

Using a program called “Core Essentials,” Remington Elementary identified three overall character traits: Treat others right. Make smart decisions. Maximize your potential. Then, every three years, the students are asked to define those into performance goals. For example, currently under “Maximize your potential” are the goals of “Try new things, even if it makes you nervous,” “Believe you can do hard things,” and “Keep trying, even when it’s tough.”

Those ideas are ingrained in everything the school does, up and down the halls, in every classroom. “Our staff uses these terms,” said counselor Headrick. “You'll hear teachers passing in the hallway, maybe correcting a student, and they use those words: are you treating others right? Or are you making smart decisions? I've heard kids say, when I ask them about something that happened here, I wasn't making smart decisions, and then they can tell you why.”

Remington Elementary uses student groups across grade levels called “FAB Families” - Families Across Buildings” - to provide character instruction in each class by grade. A big part of the program is developing leadership skills in fourth graders, the oldest students in the building.

“We see our fourth graders as being leaders, and I think before we send kids to middle school, it's important to send them with some motivation to engage,” said Headrick. “We give them an opportunity to learn a little bit about the importance of taking some ownership of your experience. What we've created for them is a leadership program called Saddle Up using our mascot name (the Colts).”

Saddle Up allows students to participate in several services teams throughout the year. This includes a digital team for photography; a mentoring team that goes into the grade levels for mentoring and relationship building with younger grades; a school service team for kids to help clean up the school or put up posters. There is a greeter team to welcome students and a quiet zone team for kids who may be overwhelmed or overstimulated and meets in the library. The magnet makers team makes individualized refrigerator magnets as awards for outstanding students.

To get on a team, students have to fill out an application so they're learning about some job skills. They’ll have an interview after they fill out the application then go through training for their specific job. I got to watch four students training for the magnet makers team, which included a “contract” they’ll sign with their responsibilities, including the need for confidentiality about who wins awards, which is supposed to be a surprise. The goal is to develop leadership skills, jobs skills and a sense of community responsibility.

“I hope we have here is kind of a microcosm of adult life,” said Headrick. " I talked to the kids at the beginning of fourth grade when we start talking about these teams, how they all have parents or aunts and uncles or grandparents that coach a football game team or teach a Sunday school class or help run concession stands at the baseball game. They all know grownups that are engaging in their community and because of that, they're able to do more things. I want them to feel that same way about school. The more things they involve themselves in and the more ownership they take, the better place our school is.”

KASB has featured all three Kansas districts honored through the Kansas State Schools of Character Recognition Program. The program is sponsored by Character.org, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and the Smoky Hill Education Service Center. Click here to read more about the history of character education in Kansas public schools and the other districts recognized in 2023.