By Tamra Taylor, Superintendent Live Oak School District
The Live Oak School District is excited to welcome students to the new school year! I’d like to use this month’s column to discuss our district-wide effort to implement a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system at each school site. PBIS is an internationally recognized, school-wide system that supports the social/emotional needs of students and reflects the individual culture of the school in which it is implemented. It also represents a systems change process for an entire school by teaching behavioral expectations in the same manner as any core curriculum subject. We began our implementation of PBIS last school year, as a result of our goal around Wellness.
Each school site has a team of teachers and administrators that meet for an hour a month and attend trainings at the County Office of Education throughout the year. Last year, each team identified three to five behavioral expectations for their school, which are positively stated and easy to remember (such as: Respect Yourself, Respect Others, and Respect Property).
In other words, rather than telling students what not to do, the school focuses on the preferred behaviors, thereby creating a different paradigm wherein students are recognized frequently for positive choices they make, rather than only visiting the school office for disciplinary purposes. The site-based team then designs interactive experiences for students around these positive behavioral concepts.
At elementary sites, assemblies include interactive role-playing of expected and non-expected behaviors. District-wide, students are explicitly told about their school’s incentive system for displaying positive behavior and how they can access these awards. For example, at one elementary school, students are given tickets when they are “caught” doing something right by any member of the school staff, not just their own teacher. Once they have received 10 tickets, they may go to the office for a reward such as a Popsicle.
Teachers also receive training on PBIS to support their use of the system in the classroom to create a warm, welcoming environment for students. They encourage students to build meaningful relationships with each other, respect their peers, and care for their community. PBIS also extends outside of the classroom, into areas such as the lunchroom, playground, hallways, etc.
In this second year of implementation, motivating signs will be seen throughout the campus, so students can be reminded of what they are working towards. Also new in the second year is our use of a universal screening assessment (the Systematic Screener for Behavioral Disorders) which will identify students that would benefit from social/emotional support in small group settings with our mental health counselors.
We recognize that we are but one partner in a network of parents, community members, and agencies in developing the social/emotional health of our students, but we believe strongly that the school environment is an ideal setting for students to practice these real-life skills and behaviors that are essential as they move on to high school, as well as college and career.