Spring 2010Spring 2010

ISSUE #3

Inside This Issue

PBIS at Wesley School 2

PBIS at You-Turn 3

MiBLSI Cohort 6 4

MiBLSi PBIS MiBLSi PBIS NewsletterNewsletter

Please send questions, comments, PBIS photos,

videos, and celebrations to: svitto@muskegonisd.org

Participating Schools Beach Elementary (Fruitport) Beachnau Elementary (Ravenna) Bluffton Elementary (Muskegon) Campbell Elementary (Mona Shores) Cardinal Elementary (Orchard View) Central Elementary School (Reeths- Puffer) Churchill Elementary (Mona Shores) Edgewood Elementary (Fruitport) Edgewood Elementary (Muskegon Heights) Lincoln Park Elementary (Mona Shores) Loftis Elementary (Muskegon Heights) Marquette Elementary (Muskegon) Martin Luther King (Muskegon Heights) McLaughlin Elementary (Muskegon) McMillan (Reeths Puffer) Muskegon Heights Middle School Nelson Elementary (Muskegon) Nims Elementary (Muskegon) Oakview Elementary (Muskegon) Orchard View Early Elementary Orchard View Middle School Reeths-Puffer Elementary Roosevelt Elementary (Muskegon Heights) Shettler Elementary (Fruitport) Wesley School You-Turn

Welcome! Welcome to the 2010 MIBLSI/PBIS Newsletter

We hope you have had a great 2010 school year and that your MIBLSI and

PBIS efforts are going strong. In traveling the county, observing and talking

to staff, students, and families in our participating schools, we have been con-

tinually impressed with your teamwork and hard efforts in creating positive

preventative behavior cultures in your schools. We recognize that these are

hard times and know that it will take dedicated people like yourselves to sus-

tain the successes you have achieved in the face of economic adversity. At the

ISD, the MIBLSI/PBIS Support Team is proud to be working with your

schools and wants to continue to pledge our support in any way that we can.

We are welcoming two new Cohort 6 MIBLSI schools (Reeths-Puffer Central

and Mona Shores Churchill elementaries), and outlining the efforts of two

specialized education programs initiating PBIS initiatives (i.e., the You Turn

Program for Expelled Youth and The Wesley School Program for Students

with Developmental Disabilities). We will also provide focus articles on col-

laborative teamwork, advanced applications of SWIS, new information from

SWIS facilitators, samples of classroom positive incentive systems., and a

sample of decisions that school teams have made using their SWIS data. Once

again, thank you for you support!!!

Steven Vitto, M.A., CCII, Behavior Consultant & Newsletter Editor

Latesha Johnson, Administrative Assistant, Editing Support & Production

Page 2

As part of school-wide initiatives, Wesley School, a center-based spe-cial education program in Muskegon, MI, has implemented School Wide-Positive Behavior Supports. While SW-PBIS is primarily focused on the general education setting, Wesley has striven to adapt the model to a center-based format. Other schools around the state have successfully done so, including Highland Pines, in Caro, Michigan.

Wesley’s program features a STAR acronym focusing on safety, respon-sibility, doing your best, and respect throughout various locations in the school. Students can become Wesley’s Stars and have their picture placed outside of the principal’s of-fice by being ‘caught’ in the act of meeting a STAR expectation.

In early fall, Wesley school had a school-wide staff kick off of the pro-gram. During the kick off, staff mem-bers created PBIS bulletin boards throughout the school that featured the STAR expectations. As well, the PBIS Team posted signs and banners in the hallways and entrances.

Since the staff kick off, Wesley school has implemented a STAR cou-pon system and, presented an original video and song created by Emily Basse and Steve Vitto, during a stu-dent assembly.

Each month, over the rest of the school year, Wesley school will focus on one area and emphasize the expec-tations. During February, Wesley focused on being a STAR in the hall-way.

Wesley school looks forward to suc-cessfully implementing SW-PBIS and initial results indicate that the program is both positive and success-ful.

PBIS at Wesley School

Wesley School Implements SW-PBIS Mike Jones, Wesley SCI Classroom Teacher

Wesley’s PBIS Team Emily Basse, Michael Bausano,

Pam Davis, Shannon Delora,

Katie Ellis, Barb Flahive,

Megan Fox, Ann-Marie Holmes,

Mike Jones, Tom Miller,

Sue Ochs, Steven Vitto,

Michelle Wheeler

YOUYOUTTakeake ResponsibilityResponsibility

UUse Safe se Safe ResponsesResponses

RRespectespect OthersOthers

NNever Stop Tryingever Stop Trying

YOUYOUTTakeake ResponsibilityResponsibility

UUse Safe se Safe ResponsesResponses

RRespectespect OthersOthers

NNever Stop Tryingever Stop Trying

Page 3

Bringing PBIS to the You-Turn Program

Creating a Preventative Culture for Expelled Youth Steve Vitto, M.A., Behavior Consultant

AdrienneLanglois, Mercy Health Life Counseling

Muskegon’s You Turn Program is a

voluntary program for expelled stu-

dents living in Muskegon County.

You Turn is a collaborative program

between Life Counseling and the

Muskegon Area Intermediate School

District (MAISD). It is housed in the

Mercy Health Partners Life Counsel-

ing Building. You Turn is embarking

on a new journey with the expelled

youth that they serve.

Many of the students at You Turn have had a long history of punish-ment (lack of privilege, loss of cred-its, suspensions, detention or expul-sion). By adopting a program-wide Positive Behavior Support initiative (PBIS) , the You Turn Program is making an effort to replace punitive and reactive approaches with evi-dence-based proactive approaches such as; teaching expectations, estab-lishing relationship-based ap-proaches that focus on mutual re-spect, establishing pre-arranged con-sequences that are restorative and meaningful, acknowledging student accomplishments through a system-atic incentive system, having one-on-one goal setting and progress moni-toring meetings, and using the data collection tool School-Wide Informa-tion System (SWIS) to determine the effectiveness of interventions. Under the direction of Susan Cook and Adrienne Langlois, and with the sup-port of MAISD consultants Tina Harmon (Literary and Academics) and Steven Vitto (Behavior Support), You Turn has established a team ap-proach based on the PBIS school-wide model.

Along with administration, MAISD coaches and classroom staff Develyn Howard and Marshea Couch, You Turn is planning for a Fall kick-off.

The team has established their behav-

ior expectations ,the expectation ma-

trix and a referral form process, and

is currently working on visual sup-

ports and a process for training stu-

dents. The goal is that after their ex-

perience at You Turn, students will:

Have a positive relationship-based view of authority figures.

Learn how to resolve school and interpersonal conflicts in a success-ful manner.

Recognize how varied staff ap-proaches effect their behavior.

Become accountable for behavior and understand that every action has a consequence.

Recognize the benefit of creating/maintaining a constructive home/school relationship.

Successfully transition back to the school from which they were ex-pelled, ultimately reducing office referrals, detention, suspension, and retain a zero recidivism to the You Turn Program.

It is our hope that the students will come back to the You Turn Program, not due to expulsion, but to share their success stories upon returning to their school.

The ROCK STAR program has been a huge success at Churchill Elemen-tary!

ROCK STAR stands for:

Really

Outstanding

Churchill

Kids

Show kindness

Take responsibility

Act respectfully

Ready to learn

“ROCK” represents what the staff thinks of the kids and “STAR” are the student expectations.

The MiBLSi team created a behavior flipchart for teachers. The chart has specific behavioral expectations for specific areas of the building. Staff has a behavior-teaching chart that mirrors the DIBELS progress-monitoring schedule. Each week behaviors are retaught. The behavior expectations have been posted through out the hallways as well.

The logo below is on the charts, the SWIS tickets and the positive reward tickets too.

Page 4

MiBLSi/PBIS

at Central Elementary By Mike Lyons, Principal

Central’s PBIS mascot Sparky says…

“Be safe , be respectful &

be responsible!”

Churchill Rocks!

Central Elementary Staff

The Central Elementary Staff has embraced the PBIS model to help create a safer and more effective en-vironment for teaching and learning. We feel we are well on our way to-wards implementing a consistent school-wide plan to improve our ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students.

We have spent much of our first year building capacity as a staff. The leadership team meets monthly to keep the process moving along by continually updating the staff on various initiatives we are working on and soliciting their input to create ownership. Discussions and collabo-ration have been healthy and produc-tive. Although there is still much to do to put the systems in place, as a staff we can celebrate the following accomplishments:

Identified School-wide Expecta-tions

Development of our School-wide Teaching Matrix

Creation of Lesson Plans to teach School-wide Expectations

Creation of Positive Behavior Award

Clearly defined and consistent consequences

Adoption of SWIS data system

MiBLSi/PBIS

at Churchill Elementary By Mark Platt, Principal

Students at Churchill Elementary

are looking for this guy throughout the building.

PBIS in Action!

Photos of Central and Churchill