On January 10, 2017 all four schools in the Los Nietos School District sent teams to the third Safe and Civil Schools training of the year. The Los Nietos School District is in the second year of a three-year plan to provide training to all schools in the Safe and Civil Schools-Positive Behavior Support (PBS) system. The first training of the year occurred on September 7, 2016.
Research shows that the most effective way to transform a school climate into a civil and respectful one is to implement a school-wide behavioral plan that stresses proactive and positive corrective responses toward misbehavior.
With such a program in place, it is hoped that the four schools in the Los Nietos School District will be able to:
- Improve school climate
- Enhance school safety
- Reduce unnecessary discipline referrals
- Improve academic engagement
- Increase average daily attendance
- Reduce tardiness by up to 95%
- Strengthen student connectedness and school pride
- Expand staff skill in effective supervision and positive behavior support
- Transform staff into active problem solvers
- Promote job satisfaction and collegiality among staff
Teams from all four schools have been working since last year to analyze current school practices and recommend improvements to school rules that will allow for better understanding and compliance for adults as well as the students. All schools this year implemented new playground rules and policies that helped provide clarity, order, and positive communication between students and adults. School teams have focused their efforts this year to improve:
- Efficient data-collecting methods
- Analysis of the data staff collects
- Building a uniform referral system
- Improving staff communication and coordination
- Expanding staff skills in effective supervision and positive behavior support
The fourth training of the year for the school teams is scheduled for March 22, 2017.