Valley Hears Report On Positive Behavioral Intervention System
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE - Like 5,000 other schools in 42 states, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. is using the Positive Behavioral Intervention System.
Monday night at the regular school board member, Valley's full-time school psychologist Jon Ekhoff gave a presentation on PBIS.Superintendent Brett Boggs told the board Ekhoff also was appointed as the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp.'s PBIS coach for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. To allow Ekhoff to take on this added responsibility, Boggs said one day per week was added to the contract of part-time psychologist Amy Bode. The additional expense for the PBIS coaching position is covered by funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
PBIS is a behavior intervention system used to achieve socially important behavior changes in students, Ekhoff said. It's been proven to reduce the number of discipline referrals in school. Discipline referrals take a lot of time out of the school day for administrators and teachers. PBIS also improves the school climate, Ekhoff said. It teaches expected behaviors and rewards students for following and exceeding expectant rules.
Ekhoff said PBIS has been shown to reduce the number of office referrals, reduce suspensions by 66 percent, increase attendance rates and instructional time, and help decrease the number of drop outs.
PBIS has three levels - Universal, Secondary and Tertiary. In Universal, all students benefit. Secondary aims for specific groups of students who may not have responded well to the program. The third level, Tertiary, targets specific students who need more individualized attention.
All schools in the TVSC are at the Universal level and have a PBIS committee in place. Each school is at a different point of the PBIS, with Akron Elementary further along because they were first to begin the program.
"I think we've come up with some really good ways to change school behavior," said Ekhoff.
The goals for the 2009-10 school year include to move from the Universal level to a secondary level. Ekhoff said they want to reduce the number of discipline and office referrals, and to have a self-sustaining reinforcement system.
"Hopefully, we can follow through with that and have some really good behavior changes," Ekhoff said.
After Ekhoff's presentation, Boggs commended Ekhoff's leadership with the program. Boggs said PBIS will change the climate culture of Valley schools and make it a more positive place where kids want to be.
"I think it's a very, very good thing for Tippecanoe Valley Schools," said Boggs.
Boggs then gave a report on H1N1.
Valley had a vaccination clinic Oct. 22, a non-school day, at Akron and Mentone elementary schools. Boggs said there were 500 vaccinations given at Mentone, and 130 given at Akron.
Boggs thanked the Fulton and Kosciusko counties health departments, Mentone officials, school nurses and volunteers for their work in organizing and implementing the vaccination clinics. He also thanked Akron Elementary Principal Blaine Conley and Mentone Principal Katie Miller for their efforts.
Prior to the clinics, Valley saw attendance rates drop down a bit, but they have improved since the vaccination clinics.
"I feel pretty fortunate we've not been hit harder than we have been," Boggs said.
Once more vaccinations come available, Boggs said he hopes they can have more vaccination clinics. He said he'd also like to offer the vaccinations for staff members who want one.
In other business, the school board:
n Announced the school board was named a Master Board by the Indiana School Board Association. Boggs said Valley is one of 17 school boards in the state that received the honor.
n Approved Margaret Carter, Tammy Freeman and Lisa Hammond as instructional assistants at Mentone Elementary, and Kimberly Long as a part-time custodian at Tippecanoe Valley High School.
n Approved Kalynn Cumberland as the eighth-grade girls basketball coach at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School.
n Accepted the resignations of Debbie Craig, cook Akron Elementary; Shelly Feldman, seventh-grade assistant boys basketball, TVMS; and Angie Gast, instructional assistant, TVHS.
n Approved the retirement of Susan Eller, and the maternity leave requests for Tabitha Floor and Hayley Whitaker.
n Reviewed changes to school board policy regarding Family Medical Leave. Boggs said there have been changes to the Family Medical Leave Act that necessitate changes to the school corporation's policies.
n Heard the 15th annual Education Summit, sponsored by the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce is Nov. 17 at Lakeland Christian Academy from 7 to 10:30 a.m.
The theme this year is "Education and Technology at the Crossroads: Where do We go from Here?"
n Announced upcoming board meetings will be Dec. 14, Mentone Elementary School; Jan. 18, Burket Educational Center; and Feb. 8, TVMS. All meetings are at 7:30 p.m.
