Alamo Heights ISD highlights Character Strong lessons, morning meetings at Cambridge Elementary

At Cambridge Elementary, Alamo Heights ISD staff described the district's long-running focus on character education and demonstrated a classroom "morning meeting" built around the Character Strong program.

Dr. Kristin Ascentio, director of testing and counseling for Alamo Heights ISD, said the district created a mission statement about 15 years ago emphasizing character and citizenship. "So, about 15 years ago, our district embarked on creating a mission statement that talked about, educating and empowering students to have impeccable, character and to become citizens of character," Ascentio said.

Dana, the program host, introduced the classroom visit and asked pupils to practice empathy. A fifth-grade teacher at Cambridge Elementary, Miss Brancinski, described the morning meeting as a daily ritual that "sets the tone for our classroom." "It's a time for us to come together as a family and share our thoughts and our new learnings with the Care for Strong education program that we use here at Cambridge," Miss Brancinski said.

A fifth-grade student described the meeting as a chance to share feelings: "We get to talk more about, like, how we're doing and, like, how, like, how we feel and get to share more personal stuff." The teacher added that the format gives students "an opportunity to share what they're feeling, what they're thinking, and it really kinda brings us all together as a family." Another on-camera remark emphasized listening: "I'm listening. I wanna hear what you have to say, and you gave me value. You gave those speakers value, so thank you so much."

The segment focused on classroom practice and the district's stated mission; it did not include any announcements of policy changes, funding decisions, or formal board actions. No votes or motions were recorded in the transcript segment provided.