Model for WV Positive School Climate

1
Model for WV Positive School Climate

• Respect and Protect McDowell County Schools
• County Core Team Meeting

Amanda Farmer Bonita Miano
2
Creating a safe learning environment
3
Todays Agenda

• Review some RP guidelines
• Share barriers and ideas
• Reenergize Core Teams
• Focus on some trouble areas
• Collaborate with other schools

4
School Violence
5
Goal for WVMPSC

• WV Schools will have a safe, orderly environment
  conducive to learning for all that promotes good
  character within a caring culture.

6
Goals of RP

• To ensure safety and well being of both students
  and teachers.
• To reduce the severity and frequency of and
  eventually eliminate all incidents of violence
  from the school setting.
• To promote an intrinsic social consciousness in
  our youth.
• Eliminate two pervasive attitudes that spawn
  violence entitlement and tolerance.
• Create a single school climate.

7
Our Beliefs in McDowell County

• Everyone has a right to a learning environment
  where he or she feels respected, protected and
  safe.

• Violence is any mean word, look, sign, or act
  that hurts a persons body, feelings, or things.
• Violence is not tolerated at our school.

8
Toxic Culture Staff

• 1. View their students as the problem rather than
  as their valued client.
• 2. Are sometimes part of the negative subcultures
  that are hostile and critical of change.
• 3. Believe that they are doing the best that they
  can and do not search for new ideas.
• 4. Frequently share stories and historical
  perspectives on the school that are often
  negative, discouraging, and demoralizing.

9

• 5. Complain, criticize, and distrust any new
  ideas, approaches, or suggestions for improvement
  raised by planning committees.
• 6. Rarely share ideas, materials, or solutions to
  classroom problems.
• 7. Have few ceremonies or school traditions that
  celebrate what is good and hopeful about their
  place of work.

10
Are you a bully?
11
Norms

• Staff
• Student
• Parents
• Community Members

12
Think about your norms

• You must have a SINGLE school culture.
• A way of organizing and running a school. It
  begins with shared norms, beliefs, values, and
  goals.
• Everyone must be consistent in their procedures
  and practice.
• It relates to your BEHAVIOR, ACHIEVEMENT, and
  CLIMATE.

13
Establish Control

• 1. Collective stance against violence.
• 2. Clear definition is defined, adopted, and
  communicated to everyone including parents.
• 3. Policies and Procedures
• 4. Adult Supervision
• 5. School-Wide Rules
• 6. Extinguish enabling, entitlement, and
  tolerance.
• 7. Prevention and Intervention Programs

14
Extinguish

• Enabling
• Entitlement
• Tolerance

• Respect and Protect

• Core Team Meeting

15
Enabling

• Enabling is any act or failure to act that
  protects someone from the unpleasant consequence
  of doing wrong.
• Let off the hook
• Do you hear, Poor Johnnys grandmother is
  raising him because his parents are both
  incarcerated.
• While they are at school they are safe! They
  are expected to be treated equally.

16
Entitlement

• The moment we tolerate the inappropriate actions
  of a person who feels entitled to use violence,
  were contributing to a ripple effect that will
  cover the entire system.
• Students become desensitized to violence through
  life experience and mediaviolence is normal.
• All students WILL BE considered equal during the
  school hours.
• They are safe at school. All rules apply.

17
Tolerance

• Teachers take the I dont want to deal with it
  approach.
• They are not my kids.

18
RP Monitoring

• Not your classroom management
• Attendance concerns
• Reteaching is a MUST!
• Do not BUY the students with incentives. The goal
  is to teach them to make independent choices.
• Protect your reading and mathematics timebefore
  your incentive programs.
• Do not use writing as a punishment.
• Classroom Rules Stated Positively! Posted!

19
Violence Continuum
20
High Exposure to Media Violence

• By the 7th Grade students will have witnessed
  8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence.

21
Bully and Victim Violence
22
Reporting System

• Teach expectations of your ENTIRE campus. Do you
  students know what is expected in the cafeteria
  and how that is different than the computer lab?
• BIF
• Strike Sheets
• Consistency is key!
• Develop a plan for managing BIFs.

23
Dont pass the buck

• Teach your students that they are to report a
  problem to the supervising adult.
• Do not pass on the buck to the homeroom teacher.
• Some students will want to only report to those
  that they feel they can trust.

24
Reporting vs. Ratting

• Teach the difference.
• Reporting is when you inform an adult in fear
  that someone is going to harm them or someone
  else.
• Ratting is when you inform as adult in order to
  get someone in trouble. (Revenge)

25
How to make a report
26
Four Steps to Intervention

• Determine the level of violence
• Determine the action to be taken
• Determine the consequences to be taken
• Therapeutic Interventions

27
Juvenile Behavior Check List

• Each affirmative answer is worth 5 points.

28
Behavior Intervention Form

• Inappropriate behaviors
• Arranged by levels of severity
• Includes RSP
• Immediate teacher actions
• WVEIS Codes
• Triplicate
• Conduct Grades

29

30
The life of a BIF

• Staff member issues a BIF

One copy to child to take home. One copy to
classroom teacher files. One copy to principal
to record onto WEVIS.
Core Team discusses repeat offenders and tries
to match student with a mentor. Mentors review
BIFs before sessions.
RP Core Team Member reviews childs behavior
file and determines further interventions needed.
Principal reviews action taken by staff member,
and places it into RP Core Team Members
mailbox.
31
BIF Letters

• Letter 1 After 5 BIFs
• Letter 2 - After 10 BIFs
• Letter 3 Continuous Behavior Problem
• Letter 4 Child came to school without
  parent representative.

32
BIF Daddy
33
WVEIS Concerns
34
Connectors

• SAT Referrals Start the process with your
  students that exhibit violent behaviors and those
  that are non-violent..
• Mentors
• DHHR Youth Services
• In School Suspension
• FRNs
• Juvenile Probation
• School Nurses
• Law Enforcement

35
Scenario 2

• What did you see change in this scenario?
• What is the benefit of consistent school-wide
  behavioral documentation?
• If you were an administrator, would you
  appreciate having this documentation?
• If you were a teacher, would you appreciate
  having this documentation?

36
Scenario 3

• Was this tattling?
• How does reporting contribute to a safe school
  climate?
• Why is it important for the students to be able
  to trust the adults in the building?

37
Scenario 5

• What is the value of these reviews?
• How could this improve school climate?

38
Core Team Responsibility

• Be consistent! Cheerlead! Communicate!
• Meet weekly
• Teacher Memos
• Make referrals
• Review BIFs (patterns or frequency)
• Responsible for certain grade levels
• Inform parents and community
• Teach your staff THEY ARE ALL OUR KIDS!

39
Things you should have in place

• Definition of violence
• Say it! Recite it! Believe it!
• BIF
• Consistent Classroom Management
• Core Behavior Team
• Surveys
• Parent/Teacher Involvement
• Teach EXPECTATIONS
• Reporting vs. Ratting
• School Wide Incentives
• Agendas
• Build your tool box of support services

40
What's working ?

• Morning pledge
• Greeters each morning
• Reporting vs. Ratting
• Class Meetings
• Teaching the BIF
• Saying yes, mam
• Handshake and eye contact
• Posting of the definition
• Teaching how to control anger
• Student leaders

41
Teach your expectations! Motivate!
42
Take a look at a classroom
43
What did you see?

• Talk to your neighbor about one thing that you
  would have done differently if you were the
  teacher?
• What did you see that goes against the RP
  Initiative?
• Did she tolerate some classroom disruptions?
• Did she interrupt the learning process?
• Did she make threats?

44
What teachers are saying about RP?
45
What are principals saying?
46
What are parents saying?
47
Implementation Plan

• WVMPSC Plan
• Complete as a Core Team

48
Barriers and Challenges

• Think of 5 barriers or challenges that you can
  foresee happening in a school when implementing
  the RP Initiative.
• Visit survey link on the Technology Department
  webpage to complete this activity.

49
Monitoring RP

• County monitoring form
• Rules and Procedures Posted
• Evidence of promoting positive behavior
• Maintains classroom management without
  interruption
• Behavior chart displayed
• Utilizes card chart consistently
• On-Site Visitation Form from WVDE

50
Staff Development Council

• The Council met and agreed to provide all RP
  Schools with 4 hours of professional development
  for 6 Core Team Members to analyze data,
  collaborate, and ensure consistent pervasive
  program implementation.
• Teams must submit staff development forms prior
  to the meeting to Zanetta Thomas.

51
If a child doesnt know how to read, we
teach. If a child doesnt know how to swim,
we teach. If a child doesnt know how to
multiply, we teach. If a child doesnt know
how to drive, we teach. If a child
doesnt know how to behave,
we... .teach? punish? Why cant we
finish the last sentence as automatically as we
do the others? Tom Herner (NASDE President )
Counterpoint 1998, p.2)