DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711140658

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   71 lines

CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL PUTS FOCUS ON STUDENT MORALS AND VALUES

Rolfe Carawan has something to say, but he's willing to wait until you're quiet and respectful - until you show a little character.

``I'll wait for you,'' Carawan, a nationally known speaker and author on character issues, told restless students at Oscar Smith High School on Wednesday. ``We have limited time and I would love to give you the full program.''

The students settled. Carawan gave them his full program, from the importance of men and women showing each other respect to the time-honored message that beauty is only skin deep.

``The one area you and I have control over is the one area that can truly make you happy and that area is character,'' said Carawan, a Chesapeake native whose speeches at each of the city's six high schools this week are the centerpiece of the district's Character Education Week.

The purpose of the week is to emphasize the importance of positive character traits to a successful life, something school systems had gotten away from in recent years, said Linda Duffy Palombo, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Throughout the city's schools there have been poster and essay contests that put a spotlight on character, but the emphasis on character education doesn't end with this week.

``We're doing it all year, it's just that this week in particular they get the big prizes,'' said Lynne Yates, a teacher who is coordinating character education efforts at Oscar Smith. She said the school is focusing on improving student attendance by offering prizes for perfect attendance. The school also is awarding kids caught showing good behavior with ``Gotcha'' cards that go into a drawing for prizes donated by the community businesses - such as gift certificates for free pizza or bowling trips.

This year, a curriculum devoting a month each to the themes of respect, responsibility, honesty, caring, compassion and citizenship has been implemented for kindergarten through second grade. Teachers receive lesson plans that they can incorporate into their social studies and English classes. Next year, a curriculum for grades three through eight will be implemented.

At the high school level, Yates said adults sometimes underestimate how much teen-agers thrive on positive attention.

``When you see a kid who does have behavior problems do something good, you want to reward it,'' she said.

And the students at Oscar Smith appreciated Carawan's moral message delivered in a down-to-earth style.

``Some people (speakers) think they're better than us, but he was on a level with us. He didn't talk down to us,'' said sophomore Aurelia Thorne, 15.

``It didn't feel like a lecture, it felt like a discussion,'' said freshman David Gibson, 14. He said Carawan's openness might help teen-agers be equally open with each other - something he says is a problem.

Jackie Sawyer, 16, a senior, said that Carawan hit it just right when he said that people tend to overemphasize physical appearance over all else.

``They do think what's on the outside is what matters and it's not,'' said Sawyer.

Will a speech like Carawan's change that?

``I think it does for a while,'' said Sawyer. ``But until they make a change in themselves and their hearts, they'll just go back to the way they were.'' ILLUSTRATION: Rolfe Carawan

is speaking to

students at

six Chesapeake

high schools

about the value

of respect

and character. KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS

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