Achievement with Integrity: Social and Emotional Character Development as an Investment in the Nation’s Future

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It is the mission of the New Jersey Alliance for Social-Emotional and Character Development (NJASECD) to develop life-long learners who are responsible citizens prepared to enter the global society. The Alliance assists educators and all other stakeholders in their efforts to foster ethical, responsible and caring people as they model and teach the social-emotional skills and core ethical values that lead to good character.
Mission Statement of the New Jersey Alliance
for Social-Emotional and Character Development

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On Monday, March 22, 2010, the New Jersey Alliance for Social-Emotional and Character Development held its third annual conference at the Rutgers University-Busch Campus Center in Piscataway. The event was titled Making The Links: Achievement With Integrity and was sponsored by the Center for Social and Character Development at Rutgers University, Educational Information & Resource Center and the New Jersey Education Association.

As a leadership and security educator dedicated to character education, it was my pleasure to attend this event. The keynote was delivered by Dr. Philip M. Brown who used the different strands of DNA as an analogy to show the prosocial development interconnectedness of moral sensibilities (empathy and fairness) and the social sensibilities (self regulation and obligation to others) that work together in a person's life. Dr. Brown also stressed that the natural development of a student requires the nurturing that only a culture of character can satisfy.

After the keynote, I attended three breakout sessions:

Providing a Student Voice

This was conducted by educators from Colonia High School and it examined service- learning activities that were directed by the students of the school, including a survey conducted by the students. This facilitated a unification of values which were adopted by the school including respect, responsibility, caring, family and trust. Students became more involved with character education advisory groups in the school which included the:

• Superintendent
• School Board
• Youth Leadership Council
• Goodwill Ambassadors
• Middle States
• Student Forums
• Surveys
• Service Learning Projects

Implementing the Power of Professional Learning Communities as a Change Agent

This breakout, conducted by the Superintendent of the Pequannock Township Schools empowered faculty members to take the lead in promoting student achievement and implementing change in school and districts through professional learning communities. It highlighted leadership as an evolutionary process and encouraged educators to start small and grow and to choose good team players who have the best interests of students and colleagues at heart.

Collaboration rather than cooperation was also encouraged as well as expecting high professional standards, open communication and a constant focus on student learning.

Transitions: Building a New Program for Grade Nine Students

The principal and a team of educators from Ramapo-Indian Hills High School conducted this program which allows ninth-graders, as mentored by twelfth-graders, to promote positive decision-making, effective coping skills, good character and citizenship in the school. The effectiveness of this program included:

• Dramatic drop in freshman referred for drug screening
• Increased self-esteem among students
• Decrease in disciplinary referrals
• Increase in academic success
• Decrease in attendance problem meetings
• Reduction of referrals due to academic concerns

At the conclusion of the day was the 2010 State Schools of Character Award Ceremony and Reception.

Character education is vital to the welfare of the nation as a concrete response to a crisis of leadership. The New Jersey Alliance for Social-Emotional and Character Development is to be commended for their dedication to character education initiatives in the schools of New Jersey.

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EIRC	Click here to visit site
Center for Social and Character Development	Click here to visit site
New Jersey Alliance for Social-Emotional and Character Development	Click here to visit site
Vincent Bove Character Education Blogs	Click here to visit site

Ohio State University Murder: Background Check Missed 5 Year Prison Term of Hired Killer

According to a published report in The Columbus Dispatch, a wrong birth date might have concealed that Nathaniel Brown, a custodian who killed his supervisor, shot and wounded another boss before shooting himself to death on March 9, 2010 had a criminal record. The report stated that he did 5 years of prison time for receiving stolen property but this was missed in the pre-employment background check.

This tragedy underscores once again the criticality of comprehensive background checks and hiring protocols which must include fingerprinting, social security numbers, department of motor vehicle reports, drug testing, previous employment verification, multiple interviews/staff approvals and document authenticity assessment of anyone that will have access to a school or campus community.

Excerpt reprinted from dispatch.com

A killer's lie missed
OSU wouldn't have hired Nathaniel Brown had
check revealed his past

Thursday, March 11, 2010

BY KATHY LYNN GRAY
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Brown answered "no" on his OSU job application to the question of whether he'd been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Ohio prison records show he'd been in prison for five years, from July 1979 to March 1984, for receiving stolen property in Stark County.

OSU employment policy says job candidates who lie about criminal convictions won't be hired.

But OSU's background check on Brown didn't uncover his conviction.

Openonline, a records-research firm, completed a screening report on Brown for Ohio State before he was hired. The company checked Franklin County Common Pleas and Municipal courts and found no criminal records, its report shows.

The company, whose Columbus office is on Lake Shore Drive, also did what it calls a National One Report, which checks 524 criminal sources nationwide, according to the company Web site. That includes 308 county courts, 54 municipal courts and 52 sex- offender registries. The site does not list the courts covered.

In an e-mail response to questions yesterday, Angela Bosworth, the company's executive vice president, said it's possible the criminal record wasn't found because "there is a discrepancy between the date of birth reported by Mr. Brown and used for his pre- employment screening and the Department of Corrections record that has recently come to light."

Bosworth went on to say that "applicants with a criminal past have been known to provide incorrect date of birth information," which can cause errors in checks.

Bosworth couldn't be reached after the e-mail to ask whether applicants are checked other ways, such as by their Social Security number.

Bernard Kerik: Commissioner to Convict

Bernard Kerik, former NYPD Police Commissioner, was sentenced on February 18, 2010 to four years in federal prison and must surrender on May 17th. He is the first commissioner in over 100 years to be found guilty of corruption.

Kerik pled guilty in November 2009, to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying after his nomination for the Homeland Security post.

Imposing a sentence greater than the recommended two to three years, the judge stated that federal sentencing guidelines did not account for Kerik's violation of the public trust while chief law enforcement officer for America's largest city. The judge also considered Kerik's lying to White House officials while attempting to secure a cabinet position as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I think its fair to say that with great power comes great responsibility and great consequences," said Judge Stephen C. Robinson.

As a leadership and security educator who has been privileged to be involved with outstanding law enforcement officials on many leadership, public safety, community policing and crime prevention initiatives, it is particularly disappointing to see their noble profession exploited by Kerik's crimes. His abuses of power are a contradiction to the extraordinary service, dedication and honor of law enforcement personnel in the NYPD and throughout the nation.

Concerned for years about the culture of corruption throughout society, I had an article published in The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine in December 2005 titled American Leadership in an Age of Scandal. It is my hope that these words will some day ring true and character will resound as the quality of our great nation:

Individuals within privileged levels of authority must realize that their positions are of sacrosanct trust and demand conduct beyond reproach. Positions of trust within both the public and private sector must walk along a pathway that is dedicated to service and highlighted by personal character, wisdom and integrity.

... Lincoln serves America to this very day as a model since the higher he rose and the greater the power, the worthier his conduct became. Lincoln's legacy holds the key to reversing the current scandalous trend of a public and private pestilence of corruption since he was not only a great man of profound authority but a man of unquestionable character. His character is inseparable from his thought, word and action and can be concisely understood from his words on February 27, 1860, "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Hear and understand Abraham Lincoln well, all who are in positions of power and authority over the people of America.

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American Leadership in an Age of Scandal	Click here to visit site
Scandal and Corruption Blogs	Click here to visit site