A November election at Westborough's Fales Elementary School this year will build character.

Who will be the school's first mascot?

"It being an election year, we thought that that would be a fun activity," says Principal Maryann Stannard, who is in her third year here.

"Fales has never had a mascot. So, we just thought that that would be the right time to do it."

The Westborough public schools' first day of school is Aug. 29.

The mascot election will allow students, as their parents prepare for the November presidential and state elections, "to see how the process works, a little bit," Stannard says.

The election also will be part of character-building efforts at Fales this year, Stannard says.

The school "developed a character education council last year, kind of following in the footsteps of all the wonderful work that Mill Pond has done in character education," she notes.

All students will be taught the Code of Character that Fales developed last year, she says. And, character education will be discussed during the opening school meeting Sept. 14.

The faculty also will be working on aligning its curriculum with the state's Common Core, Stannard says.

"Math will continue to be an ongoing conversation," she says.

"And then, in the area of English/language arts, I would say non-fiction text will be a big focus, as well as writing."

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