“Has anyone ever been not nice to you?”

So many hands went up when Edward J. Russell Assistant Principal Richard

Girgenti asked the question to the first graders assembled in the school’s cafeteria. They were there for an interactive assembly entitled “Stop Walk Talk.”

Those are the directives when confronted by someone not being nice, Girgenti explained to the students. Then he showed the process in action, thanks to the fourth graders at EJR who wrote the scripts and the fifth graders who did the acting.

The first scenario showed a group of students playing with blocks and another student walking over and knocking it down. First thing to do – firmly say stop! Hopefully, this will diffuse the situation but if it doesn’t, the next step is to walk away. The students took the blocks and walked to another table.

“Sometimes walking away is the best thing to do,” Girgenti told the group.

It doesn’t always work, though. In the video, the student followed them and continued to interfere. The group then talked to an adult.

Stop. Walk. Talk.

“Should people be mean about the clothes someone wears, the team they root for or the holidays they celebrate? Girgenti asked.

A resounding “No” came from this group of first grade students.