Beginning in May 2006, we embarked on an intentional effort to raise the level of character and diversity education on campus. We asked Dr. Thomas Lickona, a nationally-known expert in the field of character education, to help us begin assisting Episcopal students, parents, faculty and staff in raising our level of courtesy and respect for one another, on- and off-campus. Our Christian education tells us to love (agape) one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter where we are and no matter how we might - or might not - affiliate religiously. We believe that being responsible members of our community includes evaluating our actions and holding ourselves accountable for them.

Dr. Lickona met with faculty, staff, and parents to renew our commitment to our founders’ vision of the Episcopal student. The Report of the Episcopal High School of Jacksonville Planning Group, February 1966, (which we lovingly call “the purple book” because of its purple binding), the founding document for Episcopal High School, reads, “...We stress ability, character and the potential for Christian leadership” (page 18). Dr. Lickona gave us some very good ideas about helping to develop a stronger home-school partnership, which we believe to be even more important than ever for our next forty years of service.

Also in May 2006, the chaplain, in his capacity as deputy alternate to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, attended training in their anti-racism curriculum, Seeing the Face of God in Each Other. These materials were so good that they have become an integral part of the character education strategy at Episcopal. In June 2006, the School began a with the social justice officer of the Episcopal Church conversation which led to two things:

  1. First, we contacted Ms. Margarita Sarmiento of Tampa, a professional trainer who was contracted to adapt the adult curriculum for use with youth. We have contracted with her to work with us on developing program which can be reviewed under Presentation to students, where the various components of our strategy may be seen…i.e., Unity Days, Class Fridays, study circles.
  2. Second, the Chaplain attended a “train the trainers” workshop in October 2006. While this curriculum does focus on anti-racism, the materials translate easily to any majority/minority issue. This makes it all the more valuable to us in our task of training our students as Christian leaders.

In March 2007, we held a prototype of Unity Day, and in May 2007, our first Unity Day took place. We are planning the first STFOGIEA retreat in August 2007. All of this is a step in faith, because the funding needed is not entirely in place!

 

Please continue to visit this site, because we will update our progress in developing an ethical learning community here at Episcopal.