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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (July 9, 2008)
Page 9 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, July 9, 2008 Positive Behavior Support benefiting students Ferrioli urges WOPR 2 Program at IVHS, Lorna Byrne Middle School will be implemented at Evergreen Elementary By LINDA COREY-WOODWARD For IVN An amazing program called the Positive Behavior Support system (PBS) has come to Illinois Valley schools to improve the stu- dent performance. It has been working ef- fectively at Lorna Byrne Mid- dle School for nearly two years and was tried at Illinois Valley High School during the past school year. PBS was so successful that it will be Bethany Coots implemented at Evergreen Elementary School and other sites in Three Rivers School District in the fall. IVHS Assistant Principal Patty Dickens-Turk described how all teachers, staff and students play roles in the sys- tem to create a more positive school atmosphere. School pride, personal pride and re- warding positive behavior are key elements of PBS. Dick- ens-Turk reports that student attendance improved, as well as learning and the overall Ben Kendall atmosphere. Through PBS, staff, teachers and students develop a school action plan in which all participate. At the begin- ning of the school year, the rules for conduct in class- rooms, hallways, cafeteria, gym and the office are laid out for everyone. Groups of students are taught proper behavior by staff and teachers as they proceed from place to place throughout the school. Good behavior and good grades are rewarded by teach- ers and staff, according to Dickens-Turk. She and her PBS Team -- Mark Higgins, Kirsten Valenzuela and Sandy Madden -- establish the guidelines and basic sys- tem. The school action plan is reviewed by teachers and students who may add goals and issues to the plan for the year. The PBS message is, “Welcome to the first day of school and your new school rules!” The program’s pur- pose is to reduce distractions such as hallway confronta- tions and classroom disrup- tion, and replace them with cooperative, courteous behav- ior from everyone. The result is more time spent learning; less time on discipline. Dickens-Turk gave ex- amples of how this works. The school custodian takes a group into a restroom and tells the students what consti- tutes good behavior there. A teacher demonstrates courte- ous classroom behavior. An- other teacher explains proper behavior in the halls, cafeteria and locker bays. Graffiti is not tolerated. Neither is destructive or dis- ruptive behavior in the com- puter labs, gym, library or other places at the school. From day one, all stu- dents learn the plan and its rewards. All teachers must respond to student behavior according to the guidelines. Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (PBS), used in 30 states, is a system designed to be tailored to fit each school ac- cording to its geographic, social and economic situations. It is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Dept. of Education, with collaboration from several universities and agencies, including University of Oregon at Eugene. The system aims to integrate positive behavior rewards; track effectiveness; improve learning; decrease discipline time and effort; and in- crease school safety. The system uses state, district and school teams for training, evaluation and assistance for each site. Students soon discover that it’s more fun to behave prop- erly, attend school every day, help other students and keep a positive attitude toward schoolwork and social situa- tions. The program has dra- matically changed how the school feels to everyone there. Dickens-Turk describes how warring factions were dealt with last fall. She had the students involved meet together in a room to talk about the cause of the fight- ing between them. She turned intolerance into tolerance, discourtesy into courtesy and hatred into helpfulness using the new program. It is a tough proposition teaching teen-agers positive behavior, social skills and working hard at their studies, when they have had little prior training. However, PBS seems to be working at IVHS. Students report that PBS helps make school a good place to be. Ben Kendall, a junior, noted, “It calmed everyone down and made school a lot MANSFIELD R. CLEARY Attorney at Law General Practice in Illinois Valley since 1980 Practice includes but not limited to: Bankruptcy - Eliminate financial problems Living trusts - Avoid probate Estate planning - Wills, power of attorney Domestic relations Auto accident - Personal Injury Criminal - DUII Real Estate contracts - Foreclosure 592-2195 more pleasant.” He believes that the program has changed the school for the better, and other students agree. Said Senior Bethany Coots, “School is a better place because of the new pro- gram. I like it.” She also sees room for improvement and hopes that incoming freshman get the information they need to “get with the program” and stay with it. There are still challenges involving graffiti and vandal- ism, but many problems in valley schools have been alle- viated. Hallways, classrooms and other areas are calmer as students have learned better behavior patterns. IVHS students enjoy rewards and recognition for good deeds or improved aca- demic performance. No one wants to miss the Thursday assemblies in case their name is called for a raffle prize or public recognition for some- thing good they did. This change in attitude toward school resulted in better atten- dance, one of the PBS goals. No longer are disruptive students routinely sent to the assistant principal for punish- ment (called getting a “referral”). Teachers use con- 200 W. Lister sistent responses for misbe- havior. Gone are the days of “time outs,” paddling and other forms of punishment that did not change a stu- dent’s misbehavior pattern. The emphasis on recognizing and rewarding good actions, courtesy, team-work and keeping grades up are paying off for all students. Those who not only keep up with their class work and attend school every day, but go the extra mile by helping others, are rewarded. Re- wards include public ac- knowledgement, outings, prizes and other positive rein- forcement. Part of the success of the PBS is that students help each other to do better, solve problems, tackle home- work problems and learn good social skills. If a teacher or staff mem- ber sees a student doing something especially good, like cleaning more than just their lunch table or helping another student, a Cougar Pride card is handed out. The student drops it in the raffle box for a weekly raffle of prizes during the Thursday assembly. An academic element of PBS is called Renaissance. Dickens-Turk explained that if a student keeps a grade point average of 3.4 or above or increases their GPA by half a point, they get a T-shirt or other cool prize. IVHS students have improved their academic performance, in part because of this program. In the “Secret Buddy” program, students are recom- mended by teachers and se- lected to be Secret Buddies. Each is trained and assigned to one student, perhaps a loner or troubled teen-ager or newcomer. The Secret Buddy’s job is to say “Hello,” mentor or share lunch with their as- signed buddy. The idea is to encourage friendliness and inclusiveness, build friend- ships and self-esteem and it works. Another feature of the program is called the “Rise Up Committee.” Students Patty Dickens-Turk who were involved in faction- fighting last fall were chal- lenged to “rise up” for a cause, a group project, or issue together. They earned money or credits for PBS trips, fun activities and re- sponsibilities. The Rise Up program continues to involve students in putting their energies into rising up or standing up for something they believe in, or working together on a project for the school. Results of the program include turning a “problem student” or under-achiever into a leader, helping students with no idea of proper behav- ior to develop socially, and helping disparate groups learn tolerance and cooperation. Students learn to embrace diversity, use better study habits, and look beyond themselves to help each other. The overall result of PBS at IVHS has been remarkable, according to Dickens-Turk. She believes in the abilities of I.V. students to discover their talents and excel, and to learn to reach out to others to make a friend or help, once they have the tools and informa- tion they need. She said, “I love this school. The kids here are wonderful, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other school.” Dickens-Turk commutes be- tween Wimer and Cave Junc- tion daily, so she must love her job. Her enthusiasm and dedi- cation to making the high school a great place for stu- dents and teachers is infec- tious. Her work in developing the PBS program shows in the improved atmosphere at school for students and teach- ers alike. The principal of Lorna Byrne also is enthusiastic about the PBS system and excited by the changes ob- served with the possibilities to do even better each year. Next fall, as PBS is im- plemented at Evergreen, Illi- nois Valley students in every grade will be following the same positive behavior for- mat. Young children will be taught the same guidelines for social skills, good study hab- its and teamwork. As they progress through the schools, positive behav- ior, regular attendance and good grades will be rewarded and reinforced. The outcomes can only create a win-win situation for students, teach- ers and staff. This may, in turn, benefit the community too as students take their new skills into public places, jobs, and relationships. ing to Ferrioli. He warned, “If the gov- ernor fails to support this plan, taxpayers will have to shoulder 75 to 90 percent of the funding loss through lay- offs, cuts and reductions of services while counties would likely be asked to absorb the remaining losses. “At this point,” he said, “the Democrat-led U.S. Con- gress has failed our schools and counties. The governor has one last chance to show real leadership. I call upon him to put citizens back to work so counties have the tools to pay for basic ser- vices. If he refuses to do so, he should warn citizens that state government will have to step in and shoulder the costs of keeping the doors open.” On July 1, Oregon lost $238 million in federal fund- ing from the Secure Rural Self Determination Act. That means that county general fund budgets lost money to pay for sheriff’s deputies, health clinics, roads and other basic county services. Twenty four of Oregon’s 36 counties lost 26 percent of their gen- eral funds and 44 percent of their road funds. Curry and Josephine counties are in danger of fi- nancial collapse as a result of the losses, Ferrioli said. Water Wells Pump Sales Installation Service 592-6777 1470 Caves Highway Licensed • Bonded • Insured Locally owned and operated in the valley for over 25 years. WWC #1504 • CCB #152266 • CPl #7-113 Member Oregon Ground Water Assoc. Want to make someone’s trip to the mail box FUN? Send the Illinois Valley News 541-592-2541 NEED A PHONE? Find us at Donary’s Pizza 18090 Redwood Hwy. Selma Saturday & Sunday July 12 & 13, 11 - 5 Totally Cellular Sisalee Leavitt, 541-973-7540 Deals you can’t get anywhere else!!! Waived activation fee, FREE PHONES and headsets with 2-year service agreement! This offer valid above location, dates, & times only! D&M ROOTER Sewer & Drain Cleaning 20 YEARS Cave Junction & surrounding area Support the merchants who advertise in the Illinois Valley News With Oregon counties reeling from the Secure Rural School Funding loss, Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) is calling on Gov. Kulongoski to provide “the only practical solution to put local govern- ments back into the black.” Ferrioli is asking the gov- ernor to support quick adop- tion of the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) which would restore 94 percent of the lost funding to some of the hardest-hit rural counties. “Right now, it is all up to Ted Kulongoski,” said Ferri- oli. “The WOPR Preferred Alternative 2 provides for an increase in sustainable timber harvesting on O&C land in some of Oregon’s economi- cally hardest-hit counties. The governor should immediately and forcefully support the preferred alternative.” He said that Alternative 2 would better manage 2.2 mil- lion acres under Oregon's O&C Act and would generate 94 percent of the lost revenue from Secure Rural Schools Act. The plan calls for timber emphasis on 48 percent of the land, while managing the other 52 percent for old- growth characteristics and species protection. 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