As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 164,500 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken. Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISD employs 19,234 employees including 10,500 teachers in 218 schools.
1 Oct 2001
Respect Is Key Pillar of Character for Students at Lisbon Elementary School
DALLAS—The principal of Lisbon Elementary School recently was presented with a $1,000 award to be used to further character-developing activities at the school as part of the 2001 Character Counts School Award, a program sponsored by the Dallas Coalition on Character and Values. Principal Cheryl Malone, who was presented the award on September 20th at Southern Methodist University, said the relationship the school's 510 students have with their teachers was one of the main reasons they received the award.
"At Lisbon Elementary we have been working hard for the past five years or so to use the Character Counts program to make a difference at our school, and we are seeing some very positive results," Malone said. "We have seen such a positive impact because of the program, that students do not even keep locks on their lockers and they are willing participants in classroom decision making."
Malone said the work in the program goes on throughout the year. She said every six weeks students focus on one of the six pillars of the Character Counts curriculum—respect, responsibility, caring, trustworthiness, fairness and citizenship. Malone said students at her school spend 15 minutes each day discussing them as part of the curriculum.
"Our students are very respectful of their teachers and of each other, and that is reflected in the overall environment at Lisbon Elementary," Malone said. "Teachers also have been positively affected by this program because it is hard to teacher good character traits and not exhibit them yourself."
Malone said Lisbon Coach Solomon Espie has been instrumental in promoting the program in the school by organizing events to kick off the program and a pep-rally that highlights the six pillars of character.
"Through Character Counts students learn that 'please,' 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry,' should be part of play as well as classroom behavior," Malone said. "We think this is a very strong program that is having an impact on our students that will be with them for years to come."