The Positive Actions thru Character Education (P.A.C.E.) program was created and designed to enhance awareness, influence choices, and educate grade six students in the areas of Internet safety, social media, peer pressure, bullying, violence, and drug abuse. The ten-week character-based program is taught to all grade six students from the Cypress School District, as well as two schools from the Savanna School District and two private schools (totaling approximately 900 students) using components of the Josephson Institute of Ethics' "Character Counts!" ®

The emphasis of the P.A.C.E. program is to guide students to become persons of good character and behavior while concurrently forging a positive relationship with the Police Department. While students learn to make virtuous and responsible decisions they will be instructed to recognize and resist the many direct and subtle pressures that may influence them to experiment with drugs, bully others, and/or commit other acts of violence which are deemed as socially unacceptable.

The program content of P.A.C.E. is organized into ten 45-minute lessons. The program offers a variety of interactive, group participation and cooperative-learning activities which are designed to encourage students to interact with the instructor and to make good decisions to solve problems of major importance in their lives. Participation in the P.A.C.E. program culminates with an assembly to recognize the students for their commitment to be a person of good character.

The PACE program is taught by the department’s civilian Community Outreach Officer.