Here is Brian's summary of the PBIS portion of the meeting:
It was interesting. There was a presentation on PBIS and how it ended up in our school. The story goes, a few teachers were visiting another school about the RTI program there. They noticed the students in the school were walking in the hallways quietly. The reason... yes, PBIS. The teachers did discuss all the buzz words you mentioned - research-based, consistency, etc. They did show a matrix and how it would apply to BCS . The teachers did discuss that most of the teachers already use a reward incentive plan, now it would be uniform. They also felt that it was a good idea that now they could teach the proper behavior as a lesson so all the students knew what was to be expected (i.e. how to walk in the hallway).
Currently they only have the disciplinary side down. They do not have the reward side together. There was a suggestion that all the students receive tokens in the morning and they get taken away if a wrong behavior is displayed.
The BOE asked about the cost (which was reported as $500) and the giving of tokens and trinkets. Ms. Harrigan on the BOE declared that there was a lot of misinformation out about the program. The program also has not started yet and will not start until the rest of the teachers are trained which will be in August - so the April start date was another misrepresentation.
Mr Pettinger did say that even though many of the teachers are doing this, to have such an overhaul without notifying the parents and asking for input was not the best. There are 2 parent advisers on the group, I do not know their names. Mary Federico stated that she went to 2 PTO meetings to explain PBIS and brought back any concerns to the group.
At the end of the meeting, I did ask why we need it. We have a hand book with rules. If the problem is inconsistencies, how does PBIS change this? With problems on the buses for years, who is going to enforce it and why is not that person doing it now? Are they going to have cameras in the bathrooms - because the current attitude is if an adult did not see it, nothing can be done. Are they going to change that? I also brought up that I am tired of trying to explain why my kids can not wear flip flops to school and other children can even though it is against the rules. I also pointed out about the small knife in the second grade and the rules were not followed. Or the child who spat on another child who was not reprimanded. The problem is the administration does not enforce the rules so any program is destined to failure.
Other voices:
Paul Bogush
Emma Bogush, student
Valerie Knight-DiGangi
Aimee Bogush
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