A districtwide approach to rewarding positive behavior is now being implemented in all Jamestown Public Schools.

The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system is based on a positive and proactive approach to establish active intervention through schoolwide practices, said Tina Sandstrom, Jamestown Public Schools director of schools. Each school has its own PBIS team that analyzes information to determine what is best for the students in a variety of locations like on the bus, in the halls or in the cafeteria.

“(Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) teams meets regularly to put their system in place. They look at data and develop the system they have in place. Training is involved with all staff so everyone is consistent,” Sandstrom said. “Really it is a proactive approach to social and emotional learning for students in response to intervention we have to give kids. It’s prevention in a way.”

Sandstrom said if a parent would walk into a school and ask any student what the rules were for being in the hallway or on the bus, the student would know.

“It is evident in all the schools,” she said. “The students can tell you about the different rewards they get. Sometimes just for a positive gesture like saying, ‘Thank you.'”

For example, Sandstrom said if students are struggling in the cafeteria, the PBIS team at the school will analyze information like who is involved and what grade level the students are in to determine the best strategy to prevent the negative behavior.

“So we are not waiting for students to do something they shouldn’t,” she said. “It is not a reactive approach; it is a preventative, proactive approach.”

The PBIS system has three tiers. Tier 1 is universal, which applies to all students. All of the elementary and middle schools have applied Tier 1 techniques. The high school is implementing the PBIS system for the first time this year. Sandstrom said the Tier 2 system will continue to be implemented at the elementary and middle schools this year.

“The idea behind PBIS is that most students will succeed with the universal (Tier 1) model. A majority of our kids, 80-85 percent of the kids, will do fine with the universal tier in place,” she said. “Tier 2 will only apply to about 10 percent of the students and Tier 3 will only include 3-5 percent of students.”

Jason Williams, Washington Middle School seventh-grade English teacher, said so far the PBIS system has worked, with a dramatic decrease in behavior issues.

“The kids are really getting behind it for the positive behavior,” he said. “A great number of students want a safe and productive environment. It is a way to get them teamed up to work for the same goal.”

Williams said the system is a positive shift from only disciplining negative behavior.

“Before we were always focused on punishing the bad, and the good kids were forgotten for doing what they should be doing,” he said. “By shining a light on positive students it gives them deserved attention.”

At Washington Middle School, students participated in making videos to display positive behavior in the classroom, in the halls and on the school bus.

“We shot videos in each location modeling the behavior we want them to display in school,” Williams said. “They watch the videos and get a visual to see what is expected.”

At Fletcher Elementary School, Maria DeJoy, principal, said faculty and students will be rewarding yellow tickets to students who display positive behavior. When a student receives a yellow ticket for quality behavior they add it to the classroom. At the end of the month, the classroom with the most tickets will be rewarded with a trophy and ribbons. At Fletcher, DeJoy said teachers are emphasizing three traits – be safe, be responsible and be respectful.

“We’ve seen a huge improvement in things like the kids walking in the hallways,” she said.