by Matt Jones, FMS Associate Principal

You may have heard your son/daughter talk about PBIS, or about winning something in one of our monthly drawings.  If not, it is our hope that you will in the future! 

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, and it is a system for creating safe and effective schools.  For it to be successful, students must be taught appropriate behavior in all school settings.  The big picture is that all kids gain academic and social success by creating a positive learning environment. 

Around our school and in our classrooms, we have a Trojan PRIDE matrix, which specifically outlines 8 different environments in our school.  These environments include classroom, bathroom, hallway, lunchroom, recess, bus, extra-curricular activities, and before/after school.  In the spring of 2010, our teacher leadership group adopted the acronym PRIDE, as each letter stood for something important:

Prepared (Prepared for class-proper materials and positive attitude)

Respect (Respect for yourself, your classmates, and adults, and treat others the way you would want to be treated)

Integrity (do the right thing, even if no one is watching)

Dependable (Can we count on you?)

Environmentally Aware/Safe (Take care of your school!)

We want our kids to show Trojan PRIDE! 

At the beginning of each school year we teach our expectations to our students, so everything is clear and understood.  Our students have helped make YouTube videos, and done skits to help us teach the concepts. 

We are in our second year implementing this program.  This program forces us to meet as a leadership group regularly, to reward good behavior, and to look at data consistently.  When examining the data, it is easy to see that from last year to this year during the 1st semester we have cut the number of behavior referrals down by 66%.  That is truly an awesome tribute to our staff and students. 

To reward positive behavior, our staff has tickets they are to give to students when they are “caught doing something above and beyond” or “consistently performing Trojan PRIDE in their daily life.”  When a student receives a ticket from a staff member, they are to put their first and last name on it, and put it in their appropriate grade-level bucket in the office. 

At the end of the month, we have a drawing where kids have a chance to win prizes.  Our community has been very supportive helping us in this endeavor.  We have received support in various ways from the following businesses:

Pizza Hut

Burger King

Taco John’s

Hy-Vee

Family Video

George’s

McDonald’s

Subway

BMI

Cambridge

Iowa State Bank

Trojan Athletic Boosters

FMS Student Council

We have also received support from Iowa colleges/universities, professional teams like the Royals, Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, Twins, Packers, Vikings, Chiefs, Timberwolves, Bees, and Iowa Cubs.  Thank you so much for your support!

If you have any questions about PBIS and want to help in any way, don’t hesitate to call Matt Jones, Associate Principal, at 641-472-5019 or drop an email to matt.jones@fairfieldsfuture.org.