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.

Shout out and thank you to...

Shout out and thank you to educators from Wenatchee School District: Tricia Craig (Special Education Director), Aaron MacKenzie (Washington counselor), Susie Choman (Pioneer Middle teacher), and John Waldren (district administrator) for attending the PBIS Coaches Training on January 27. Thank you notes can be delivered to District Office or by email.

FREE Who Cares About Kelsey? Film Screening Event

You are invited...

TOGETHER! for Drug Free Youth, Wenatchee School District, Children's Home Society of Wenatchee, and Wenatchee Learns are hosting a community event featuring the documentary, Who Cares About Kelsey? on Tuesday, March 4^th at 5:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee.  This free community screening includes a discussion panel and exhibits by local service organizations. Refreshments provided. The film is directed by Dan Habib. Habib is the Emmy-nominated director/producer of Including Samuel, which was broadcast nationally on public television. Who Cares About Kelsey? has been featured in Education Week and has been screening at film festivals, national conferences, and school districts around the country.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Kelsey Carroll has one goal – to graduate from high school – and plenty of reasons why she shouldn't. She attends a school with one of the highest dropout rates in New Hampshire and has dealt with homelessness, sexual abuse, and ADHD. As a freshman, she didn't earn a single academic credit, but she did get suspended for dealing drugs. Who Cares About Kelsey? is the story of Kelsey's transformation from a defiant and disruptive “problem student” to a motivated and self-confident young woman. Along the way, critical figures in her personal and educational life shape her coming of age and play important roles in an education revolution that's about empowering – not overpowering – youth with emotional and behavioral challenges.

Nationally, more than two million young people in the United States have emotional/behavioral disabilities (EBD). Youth with EBD have the worst graduation rate of all students with disabilities. Nationally, only 40 percent of students with EBD graduate from high school, compared to the national average of 76 percent of all students. Youth with EBD are three times as likely as other students to be arrested before leaving school; are twice as likely as other students with disabilities (e.g. developmental or learning) to be living in a correctional facility, halfway house, drug treatment center, or on the street after leaving school; and are twice as likely as students with other disabilities to become teenage mothers. Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health. (2005/2006). National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. Portland, OR: The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI).  

In Washington state, an estimated 24 percent of 10^th grade youth have a physical, emotional, or learning disability. Compared to 10^th grade youth without disabilities, Washington 10^th graders with disabilities are more likely to be bullied, harassed, feel depressed, attempt suicide, never or rarely wear seatbelts, drive after drinking alcohol, fight, and carry weapons at schools. Research has found that youth with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities to be at risk for unintentional injuries; have witnessed or experienced physical abuse; have experienced sexual abuse; smoke cigarettes; smoke marijuana or drink alcohol; and report a lower quality of life. Washington State Department of Health, Office of Healthy Communities. (October 2009). Youth with Disabilities: Risk Factors for Injury. Washington State.

Join us on March 4^th to learn how we can improve outcomes for at-risk youth and students with emotional and behavioral needs.

Learn more about the film and view the trailer at http://www.whocaresaboutkelsey.com/home

For more information, please contact Kory Kalahar, WestSide High School, at 509-663-7947

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

Film highlights PBIS success story

I am considering trying to get a community screening of the film, Who Cares About Kelsey?, in Wenatchee.

Here is the film synopsis from the website - Who Cares About Kelsey:

Dan Habib’s new film project Who Cares About Kelsey? documents the lives of students with emotional/behavioral challenges, and shows innovative educational approaches that help these students to succeed – while improving the overall school culture and climate. Habib is creator of the internationally acclaimed documentary, Including Samuel.

Film Synopsis

When Kelsey Carroll entered high school, she was a more likely candidate for the juvenile justice system than graduation. Diagnosed with ADHD and carrying the emotional scars of homelessness and substance abuse, as well as the actual scars of repeated self-mutilation, Kelsey was volatile, disruptive and, by her own admission, "not a nice person" to be around. As a freshman at Somersworth (NH) High School, she didn't earn a single academic credit, but she did get suspended for dealing drugs.
During Kelsey's sophomore year, a new school leadership team implemented Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a youth-directed planning process called RENEW, and other reforms to improve the school's culture and reduce the dropout rate. This schoolwide overhaul gave Kelsey a chance at a different outcome.
Who Cares About Kelsey? follows Kelsey through the ups and downs of her senior year. As the film delves into Kelsey's life, we watch her navigate the halls and classrooms of her school and the fraught terrain of family and romantic relationships. Kelsey interacts with a military father who questions her account of the past and dismisses her plans for the future. She manages her relationship with a mother trying to atone for past failures that set in motion some of Kelsey's most destructive behaviors. She spends much of her time with a boyfriend she cherishes but whose loyalty and support for Kelsey's newly forming independence are uncertain.
Who Cares About Kelsey? will make viewers reconsider the "problem kids" in their own high schools and spark new conversations about an education revolution that's about empowering--not overpowering--our most emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth.


Any thoughts or input?  Please comment!