Tulare County Office of Education

A Message from Jim Vidak
Tulare County Superintendent of Schools

I knew CHARACTER COUNTS! was something special the first time I saw Michael Josephson interact with our court and community school students. It was magical to watch him develop their decision-making skills as he challenged them to explore positive options.

I asked Michael to train all but one of our community school sites so we would have a control group to assess the program's success. When the control group teachers saw what the CHARACTER COUNTS! program was doing for the students in the other schools, they begged to receive the training! As I watched the positive character growth in our court school students -- kids who many felt would never change -- it became obvious to me that this training should be available to everyone. Thus, the Tulare County Office of Education became the lead agency in this endeavor, hiring a full-time coordinator to assure the program reached throughout the county.

We have exceeded our goal of making Tulare County a CHARACTER COUNTS! community. As the demand for the Tulare County Office of Education's expertise grows, our efforts are now making a difference in lives nationwide as others adopt our model program. Our trainer travels far and wide to help others with character education. It is with pride we share our success and help others bring CHARACTER COUNTS! to their schools and towns.

The photo above shows standing in front of Pillar Square in Mooney Grove Park -- County Superintendent of Schools Jim Vidak; Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute; and John Forenti, former CHARACTER COUNTS! coordinator for Tulare County.

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A Message from Jim Vidak Tulare County Superintendent of Schools

A Message from Jim Vidak
Tulare County Superintendent of Schools