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Little School On The Hill Aims At Big Kindness Goal
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Knights Ferry School Superintendent/Principal Janet Dr. J Skulina, far right looks on as students demonstrate a dont during an assembly introducing their peers to the Everyday Kindness Campaign. Teresa Hammond/The Leader

The 2016-17 school year promises to be the ‘kind’ that Knights Ferry School students and staff may remember for years to come.

Recently, assemblies were hosted by School Superintendent/Principal Janet “Dr. J” Skulina, introducing the students to a movement she happened upon late last year, Everyday Kindness.

“I received an e-mail from the Association of California School Administrators related to this program,” Dr. J said of the kindness campaign. “It came at just the right time as I was already seeking something like this for our school.”

During the assembly Skulina shared with the students that Knights Ferry School was the seventh of the over 40 schools now registered to participate.

The campaign is sponsored by ACSA and Keenan. It was launched in early 2016 aimed at providing communities with a turn-key program to not only raise awareness of kind acts, but inspire action.

“I wanted to do something structured related to positive behavior interventions,” the Superintendent said. “We have very few issues with student behavior, but there are times when unkind words lead to hurt feelings and more unkind words.

“When I saw the Every Day Kindness program, it seemed perfect: simple, positive and focused on the big picture of school wide positive behavior intervention.”

A group of student volunteers utilized role playing for their classmates to demonstrate positive and negative behaviors related to kindness.

“I want you to listen and think how you can show kindness,” the superintendent said to the students attending the assembly.

The students were encouraged to visit the website with their parent’s permission and document acts of kindness. A goal of 5,000 acts was set for the school year.

“If all of us here, students and all the adults did one act of kindness every single day, which I know you can,” Dr. J told the students, “that would actually be over 24,000 acts of kindness.”

Following the assembly Dr. J shared the biggest challenge will be with counting and recording the acts, stating, “That part is a bit laborious so we’re counting acts of kindness without putting the specific acts into the website.”

She’s hoping all students will get involved and believes they will.

“Kindness is a beautiful thing,” she said, “and we have the perfect campus in which to emphasize that.”

She also noted the community may get involved as well. Persons witnessing an act of kindness may go to the website (www.everyday-kindness.org) and submit an act directly onto the school’s website.

“This isn’t just about the kids either, as parents and community members can “see”, “count,” and be “celebrated” for acts of kindness as well,” Dr. J stated.