On August 10th, Los Nietos School District Superintendent Jonathan Vasquez welcomed back the District’s Instructional Staff to the 2017-2018 school year. Superintendent Vasquez explained to the District’s teachers and instructional assistants that for the next two days they would be receiving professional development in a positive classroom management model called CHAMPS (Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation, and Success). The CHAMPS model is part of the Safe and Civil Schools Program that the Los Nietos School District is entering into its third year of implementation. The Los Nietos School District schools were split into two training rooms of two schools each to better support their individual school needs.
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. For the past two years schools have been working to make explicit school rules and train students for behavioral success. The CHAMPS classroom model brings the behavioral expectations that have been established outside of the classroom into the classroom so teachers and students can focus on teaching and learning the State Standards and not on classroom management issues. The District’s staff was excited to begin the school year receiving such high level professional development and also appreciated the delicious and nutritious lunch that was provided by the Nutrition Services Team.