COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL APRIL 19, 2017
3A
LINCOLN'S "TIGER PRIDE" GIVES STUDENTS AN OUTLET
A room with a view allows students to talk out their problems--and it's working
Lincoln Middle School Vice Principal Emily Wren and Tiger Pride room supervisor Pat Ware head the program along
with principal Jeremy Smith. Since its introduction, the room has drastically decreased the number of referrals
received by students.
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
T
he Tiger Pride room at
Lincoln Middle School
was introduced a year ago after
consulting experts and experi-
menting with what worked for
Lincoln kids. Since its incep-
tion, referrals have nosedived,
student attendance is up and
behavior that would often lead
to detention has decreased. The
change has schools both inside
and outside of the district ask-
ing how educators at Lincoln
have managed such a feat. The
answer? Pat Ware.
Ware was initially hired to
manage the school’s detention
program but when the Tiger
Pride room came about, her
job description shifted and the
school started seeing results.
The formula for approaching
a student’s behavior is simple,
really. Principal Jeremy Smith
and vice principal Emily Wren
talk to the parents. Ware talks to
the kids.
“A lot of these kids don’t
know the words to say,” Ware
said. That’s where she comes in.
Lincoln has instituted a be-
havioral fl ow chart to help
guide teachers, students, admin-
istrators and parents through the
school’s disciplinary process.
It’s a method administrators say,
keeps everyone accountable.
"When we call home now we
can say, these are the different
steps we've taken," said Wren.
"It protects the parent as well
because there could be an in-
stance where they say, 'Well this
is the fi rst I'm hearing about this
and according to the chart the
teacher was supposed to contact
me.' It really does keep every-
one accountable."
Infractions vary from being
off task, not following direction
to inappropriate language and
horseplay. Students engaging
in any of the behaviors on the
list are subject to being spoken
to by a teacher but sometimes a
resolution is out of reach.
“Kids would be sent to Emily
or I but we may not be available
and so that kid is sitting there,
out of class sometimes for an
hour waiting for us,” Jeremy
said of the traditional “to-the-
princpals’-offi ce”
solution.
Now, students visit the Tiger
Pride room and Ware or as the
kids know her, “Ms. Pat.”
“The referrals have gone
down but that wasn’t our goal,”
Emily said, “It was to keep kids
in the classroom and not take
them out of instructional time.”
The process is based on re-
storative justice. Students learn
how to express their frustrations
clearly and walk through the
events that led them to Ware.
A sign-in sheet helps students
write-out their version of the in-
cident while Ware is greeted by
a separate sheet that details the
student's behavior.
"Sometimes the student and
teacher don't see eye-to-eye
about what happened," Ware
said. "And I don't always side
with the teacher. That's not to
say that I'm standing up for the
student but I'm standing there
with them."
According to the data, it's
working. In the 2010-2011
school year, referrals numbered
more than 1,000. While the data
is incomplete for the current
school year, as of March, Lin-
coln Middle School has seen
under 300 referrals.
The Tiger Pride room has had
a hand in lowering those num-
bers but it hasn't been a fi x-it for
every troubled student. Lincoln
has had to expel three students
this year for what Wren de-
scribes as serious offenses.
"It's heartbreaking," she said.
"But the Tiger Pride room isn't
going to work for every stu-
dent and when we have some of
those bigger offenses, we still
have to expel students."
The Tiger Pride procedure,
however, makes those decisions
more clear. During expulsion
hearings, administrators, teach-
ers and parents can evaluate
the student's behavior and the
steps that were taken to correct
it through the behavioral fl ow
chart.
"It does make it a little easi-
er to know that everything was
done and every step was taken
before we reached that point,"
Wren said.
Even for students who fi nd
solace in the room, the road to
success often varies from child
to child. Some children can be
guided easily through the con-
versation while others need a bit
more coaching. And according
to Ware, that's not only the case
with students.
"Sometimes, the teacher is not
ready to have that child back in
the classroom," she said, recall-
ing a particular incident involv-
ing a strong-willed student and
equally strong-willed teacher.
"I am not going to subject that
student to more anger because
the teacher is not ready to hear
those words yet," she said.
That sense of being prepared
to receive and clarity concern-
ing the incident are key to the
Tiger Pride room process. Ware
notes that if a student is not
sincere in their apology or ex-
planation and the teacher has
not cleared themselves of the
frustration and is ready to hear
the student, the process will not
work.
But the Tiger Pride room
isn't just for students and teach-
ers to walk through disagree-
ments. The process covers stu-
dent-to-student communication
as well. In the age of social
media, Wren says staff's job has
become a bit harder.
Lincoln does not allow stu-
dents to use cell phones oth-
er than for a 30 minute period
during a choice activity known
as Flex. But that doesn't always
stop students from reaching for
their devices.
"I was going into a classroom
to award a student a good news
referral and came up behind
him and he's on his phone. So
I had to say, 'here's your good
new referral and I'm going to
need your phone,'" Wren said.
Ware has also noticed the ef-
fect of social media on the kids
she sees in the Tiger Pride room.
"You'll see kids come in and
they're upset because they don't
have friends. They don't have a
cell phone and the entire group
over here is on their phones and
they don't have that ability,"
she said, noting that she also
makes sure students understand
that cyber bullies are not their
friends but the sting of social
media rejection still has a pro-
found effect on students.
"They'll come in and ask me
if they can be on the phone for
their Flex time and I say no. I
tell them I follow the rules and
there's no phones," she said.
The Tiger Pride room doesn't
work for everyone but for the
ones who succeed through the
restorative process, Ms. Pat be-
comes an anchor for the remain-
der of their time at Lincoln.
And while other schools in the
district are working on similar
programs, the Tigers continue
to see results.
Wren asked several students
how the room and Ware impact-
ed them, sharing the results with
the South Lane School District
board on Monday, March 10.
With a tear-strained voice she
read the words of an eighth
grader:
"The Tiger Pride Room is
where you go to learn a les-
son, what you’ve done wrong
and how you can change it. It
helps LMS because it keeps
kids out of drama and helps the
problems you have with other
teachers and students. Ms. Pat
helped me because last year I
was failing all of my classes
and getting into a lot of trou-
ble. This year I’ve improved
all of my grades and have
stayed out of drama. Pat cares.
Now I go to Tiger Pride just to
say, 'Hi'.”
Ballet fundraiser
The South Lane Ballet Academy will be holding a fundraiser on Thursday, April 20 to raise
money for scholarships. The Cottage Grove McDonald's will be giving 40 percent of the profi ts
garnered between 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to the academy and students ages three to 17 will be cos-
tume, dancing throughout the restaurant. To take part in the fundrasier, residents can eat at the
local McDonald's been 4:30 and 7 p.m. or dinate directly by contacting the South Lane Balley
Academy by calling (541) 767-0022.
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