Gratitude and Support

I hope you will take a moment to offer your gratitude and support to the teachers and administrators working toward achieving full implementation of PBIS and providing a positive learning environment for our children.  Three more Wenatchee schools are participating in PBIS implementation training this week.  Three schools are working on their 2^nd year of PBIS.  One school has been practicing PBIS without Make Your Day going on their 3^rd year.  Full implementation of PBIS with fidelity often takes a school 3-5 years. 

Wenatchee School District and PBIS

One of the objectives in the Wenatchee School District's Strategic Plan reads: Design a new approach to creating positive learning environments based on healthy relationships and behavior support.  

Thank you to the Wenatchee community for providing feedback and support in developing this objective via Wenatchee Learns, letters to the Board of Directors and Superintendent, and feedback on parent survey forms.

If you missed the Wenatchee School Board workshop on Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS) on March 11, 2014, you can read the minutes and view the presentation materials (pages 9-17) at the following link: http://home.wsd.wednet.edu/sites/default/files/03_11_14_workshop_minutes.pdf 

 

Questions?

If you have any questions about the presentation or the district's progress on PBIS, please contact John Waldren at the school district office (663-8161).

School Summary

If you have any questions for the schools currently working on PBIS, please contact:

Tim Sheppard, Principal

•  Lincoln Elementary has established three school-wide expectations and is focusing on teaching and practicing hallway expectations.

Bill Eagle, Principal

•  Columbia Elementary has established three school-wide expectations, is teaching and practicing these expectations in five areas, and is using Second Step Social Emotional Learning curriculum

Alfonso Lopez, Principal

• Lewis & Clark Elementary is in their second year of working on full PBIS implementation and is using data to drive decisions and practices. Check & Connect, a research and evidence based method, is supporting students that need behavior intervention. Second Step Social Emotional Learning curriculum is used. Lewis & Clark Elementary no longer uses Make Your Day.

Dan Wilson, Assistant Principal

• Pioneer Middle has established three school-wide expectations and is focusing on teaching and practicing hallway expectations.

Thank you to these schools and their PBIS teams for their work.  Parents, staff, and community members: Please continue to support and encourage these schools as they progress towards full PBIS implementation.

Which schools will be next to attend PBIS team training?

Please encourage and support the following schools attending PBIS implementation training this spring and summer:

•  John Newbery Elementary
•  Washington Elementary
•  Foothills Middle School
•  WestSide High School

How can I get involved?

The PBIS approach encourages and needs parent and community involvement. If you are a parent at one of these schools and would like to get involved in the process, please contact your school's administrator to find out how. 

School Board Workshop on Positive and Safe Learning Environment

Would you like to learn more about Wenatchee School District's vision focus for key objective: More positive and safe learning environment? Attend the School Board workshop on Tuesday, March 11 at Mission View Elementary school. The presentation will start at approximately 4:00 p.m. and will include the PBIS action plan.

Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for Wenatchee School District educators!

Please support Columbia Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, and Pioneer Middle School in their latest PBIS[*] training and implementation efforts.  Please continue to support Lewis & Clark Elementary School.  L&C is working on their second year of full implementation of PBIS after dropping Make Your Day in 2012.

All four of these schools sent educators to the NorthWestPBIS annual conference in Spokane, Washington on November 7^th and 8^th.  Please consider offering a verbal or written thank you to each of the educators on the list below.  A thank you can go a long way at providing the positive spirit that PBIS brings to Wenatchee and over 20,000 schools across our country. 

Please support all the efforts made in Wenatchee School District schools to provide a more positive environment for our students.  Many schools are working on providing grade level Social Emotional Learning and/or character connections.  Several schools are using GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) teaching strategies.  These programs and curriculums align well with the PBIS framework.

Columbia Elementary School

·         Principal Bill Eagle

·         Kelli Ottley, counselor

·         Alison Haug, 5^th grade teacher

·         Maggie Martinez, kindergarten teacher

Lewis & Clark Elementary School

·         Principal Alfonso Lopez

·         Gio Jackson, counselor

·         Nancy Navarro, 1^st grade teacher

·         Cliff Bull, music specialist

·         Adelita Sollis, 1^st grade teacher

Lincoln Elementary School

·         Principal Tim Sheppard

·         Jim Bowen, counselor

·         Susan Miller, 3^rd grade teacher

·         Denese Sollom, special education

·         Camille Jackson, physical education specialist

Pioneer Middle School

·         Vice Principal Dan Wilson

·         Thomas Tilton, counselor

·         Dawn Wood, 8^th grade teacher

Other Educators

·         John Waldren, district special programs

·         Anna Riggan, substitute teacher

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[*] PBIS is an acronym for Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports

Lewis & Clark Elementary PBIS program

Lewis & Clark Elementary School in the Wenatchee School District dropped the Make Your Day program last school year choosing to completely adopt the PBIS framework.  For more on this change, please see post on PBIS in Wenatchee 10-7-12.
 
Tonight I attended the curriculum night at Lewis & Clark Elementary School and received the following brochure.  Thank you and way to go, Lewis & Clark staff!  I sure am proud to be a Trailblazer parent!

WSD Parent Survey 2013

Wenatchee School District Nine Characteristics Survey is available for parents to fill-out via either the survey form or online. 

Notice that the Make Your Day questions are absent from the survey this year.  As Wenatchee School District moves towards full implementation of PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports), many of the new questions consider the essential elements of the PBIS framework.

Although all Wenatchee schools are working toward implementing the PBIS systems approach, most K-8 schools continue to use the Make Your Day program for behavior. 

Questions 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, & 41 deal directly with the implementation of the Make Your Day program (most Wenatchee K-8 schools) and the PBIS model (Lewis & Clark Elementary and Valley Academy of Learning).

PBIS also supports questions 1, 3, 4, 14, 22, 32, 34, & 35.  If you would like to know more about the essential elements of the PBIS framework, see my blog post from October 7, 2012.  Also, check out the PBIS section on the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) website or NWPBIS website About PBIS section.

Please fill out your survey before May 3, 2013.  Whether or not your school is using Make Your Day, working toward implementing PBIS, or using PBIS, the feedback is important knowledge for Wenatchee school's board of directors, administrators, and educators.

Thanks for your support of Wenatchee Schools!

Success at Lewis & Clark Elementary School

Principal Alfonso Lopez along with two teachers presented the change from Make Your Day to PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports) at Lewis & Clark Elementary School at a Wenatchee School District Board meeting.  Below is the recap of the presentation at the March 26, 2013 school board meeting taken from the minutes.  Way to go, Trailblazers! 

1) PBIS Update at Lewis & Clark:

Principal Alfonso Lopez introduced fourth grade teacher Angelita Jagla and

kindergarten teacher Donna Limon and they all updated the board on the

progress of the PBIS discipline program at L&C.

Highlights of update:

•

More time is needed during classroom time for dual language; PBIS

allows them that time over the MYD program. After starting last year it

was decided to go full PBIS over MYD.

•

Teachers show; demonstrate positive behaviors and the students follow

their example.

•

Reward system for the students provides additional positive interaction.

•

Blazer Bucks are earned for different activities or items.

•

Time for academics has increased dramatically.

•

Reinforcement for positive behaviors

•

School is more “fun” overall

•

Fewer referrals to the principal

•

We celebrate the “Student of the Month”, never had time for that before

•

Data collection is helping to decide what direction we are taking and what

we need to change to reach our goals, etc.

•

Rules: Respect – Solve Problems – Make Good Decisions, we show these

examples to the students and practice these

•

Three Tier Model: Discipline Strategies = 5% High Risk, 15% At Risk,

80% School Wide System of Support = SUCCESS

•

Matrix in all areas in school and the most impact in the classroom

•

Broken into categories = Minor and Major (Minor taken care of by

teacher in classroom and Major sent to office for principal to handle.)

•

Office Referrals System broken down into details and we collect data,

which is in a Chart showing time of day and kind of disruption. It helps

us to manage and understand the causes of the disturbances. Then we

can address them and change the situation.

www.swis.org

•

Teachers shared their experiences in the classrooms. There is a lot of

teacher collaboration going on to share ideas that work while keeping the

benefits of the students in mind.

•

PBIS shares with the students and shows the expectations to them.

•

PBIS helps teachers feel like they are making a difference in the students’

life.

•

The teachers are working with the principal to make things happen in a

positive way in all areas of the school. But L&C is still learning to make it

work better.

•

The board was invited to come into the classroom and see how it works.

•

Students are going beyond and above expectations and using the program

as a teamwork project to earn points to share in the classroom.

The board expressed their pleasure in hearing about the positive results and the

data collection methods used. They asked questions about input time used and

outcome of data, what it changes. The board also asked for parent input results.

Mr. Lopez and the teachers shared a lot of parent support and how happy they

are with the results in the classroom. More academics are taking place in the

classroom now. Mr. Lopez shared that a coach will be coming to help them with

areas they need to work on to help make PBIS even better. The board thanked

them for the excellent update.

Bloggers comment: PBIS is not a program.  It is a systems approach to teaching behavior, providing a response to intervention (RtI), and using data to guide decisions.

Positive Behavior Support progress in Wenatchee schools

Over the past month, I have met with two Wenatchee School District leaders: Superintendent Brian Flones and John Waldren, Director of Special Projects.  Based on these meetings, I have a prepared a report on the progress of implementing the framework of Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS) into all the schools within the district.

For those just tuning in, PBIS is a school-wide behavior model which is the compilation of over three decades of research and data collection by numerous scholars and educators.  The fundamental elements of PBIS are developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education.  The research is ongoing.

So, what is happening in Wenatchee School District?

·         John Waldren has presented an awareness overview of PBIS to the staff at every school in the district.  The goal is to have the PBIS framework developed in each school building by 2016 or 2017.

·         A PBIS district level committee (formerly the Make Your Day cadre) meets on a regular basis and is working on understanding the research and benefits of PBIS for all students.  This committee is composed of representatives from schools and parents.

·         Superintendent Flones and Mr. Waldren presented PBIS at the administrator meeting on March 14, 2013.    

·         The Superintendent is supporting schools that are early adopters of PBIS.  What does this mean?  Schools are encouraged to send a building team to PBIS training this year.  The district provides the funding.   

What is a building team?  How does PBIS training work?  In order to prepare a school for implementing the framework of PBIS, the following timeline is recommended. 

a.       Form a building team typically composed of a representative from each grade level, a counselor, and an administrator.  Note: This might look different for middle/high school.  A typical team is 6-8 educators.

b.       Team attends spring PBIS training.

c.       Team presents information to all building staff.

d.       Team attends summer PBIS training before the start of the school year.

e.       Building staff prepare to teach behavior expectations and collect data. 

f.        PBIS trainer visits school at least two times throughout school year to observe implementation and offer suggestions.

Please see my blog post from 10-6-12 to see how Lewis & Clark Elementary adopted PBIS. 

This is great progress!  The Wenatchee School District has a plan, has set goals and deadlines, and is moving forward.  Thank you to the Wenatchee School Board, Superintendent Flones, John Waldren, the District PBIS committee, Principal Alfonso Lopez, and Principal Greg Lovercamp for supporting the implementation of PBIS in Wenatchee schools!

written by

Jennifer Talbot

3-23-13