Brentwood Middle Awarded for Character

Brentwood Middle School received a major honor this week.

The school is one of 12 in the St. Louis area (and 44 nationally) to be named a state School of Character by the Character Education Partnership, an honor given to schools that pass a rigorous application process based educating students to have strong characters—not just strong academic skills.

“We are just darn proud,” said principal Dr. Julie Sperry. “We worked really hard to get here.”

(News, blogs and events delivered right to your inbox as you prepare your morning coffee. Sign up for our morning newsletter: www.maplewood-brentwood.patch.com/newsletters)

Sperry’s staff spent days completing the laborious application and building a portfolio demonstrating the school’s commitment to character education. When the time came for a site visit verifying the school's application, Sperry asked student leaders to guide officials—not teachers or parents.

“There are many schools that look at the application and go, ‘Wow, we are not even close to doing any of these things,’” said Suzy Ward, Missouri’s School of Character coordinator at CharacterPlus. Ward called it a “testament” to the middle school that staff completed the application process and an “honor” to earn the statewide accolade.

This accomplishment puts Brentwood Middle School on its way to being named a national School of Character. The partnership that organizes the program will announce in March which schools qualify.

Until then, Brentwood Middle School has “made the first hurdle, which is fantastic,” Ward said.

“When I think where we were 13 years ago,” when Sperry started at the middle school, “to now, just the change and the peace and the way the kids get along… I’m just really proud of them. They take leadership. They’re proud to be here. The staff has really stepped up to the plate.”

Of the 44 state schools honored, 14 are in Missouri. “Missouri just has a lot of synergy and is really engaged in character education more than other parts of the country,” Ward said.

As a Missouri School of Character, Brentwood Middle School will now serve as a model and mentor for other school cultures.