All public school administrators feel increasing pressure to take on more and more roles beyond teaching children academic subjects. Our role has shifted from reflecting and supporting the values and morals taught at home to being largely responsible for selecting and instilling these values. This is not a role for which we are equipped, or one we can reasonably be expected to fulfill.

More and more children come to us each year without a solid set of core values to use as a reference point in interacting with others and making choices about their behavior. The Weekday Religious Education program fills this gap for many students by giving them the moral compass they are seeking. It also helps them explore alternatives to anger and violence when interacting with other students.

Our efforts to teach students good citizenship skills at school are supported and expanded in the WRE program. This year’s group of sixth grade students is the first to have had the opportunity to participate in WRE for three consecutive years. More than 80 percent of these students participated in the program. I have had fewer discipline problems with this class than with any sixth grade class in my tenure as principal. I have had no major discipline incidents this year; no fighting, no bullying, no violence, no theft, no vandalism. While I am not claiming this is entirely due to the WRE program, I do see the influence of the program in helping students make good decisions.

Probably every public educator in America today feels increasing pressure. We are expected to teach more to children who come to us less ready to learn with constantly dwindling resources. Given this pressure it may seem difficult to justify 30-45 minutes out of the classroom each week for religious education. However, I have found that the time the students are out of the classroom is not educational down time. Several of the activities that occur each week reinforce the Indiana academic standards for language arts. The WRE program as it is taught locally provides opportunities for memorization and recitation, cooperative group work and oral presentation, and activities that stress listening and reading comprehension as well as higher level thinking skills.

In a climate of increasing pressure to do more for our children with decreasing support from all quarters, the WRE program has been a positive addition to our school as its leaders partner with us to meet the needs of our students and enrich our school community.

Sincerely,

Linda K. Epeards, Principal

Patricksburg Elementary School