Bucktail’s PBIS program proves to be a success
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Teacher Mrs. Wagner offers her encouragement as Kiera Paloskey tries to grab as much candy as she can while wearing oven mitts.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Juniors Matti Mason and Kendall Wagner pose after a balloon race during a monthly PBIS event.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail campus principal Jim Poleto is pictured above during a PBIS assembly.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS The teachers vs students balloon race featured a final leg of students and teachers on teams, including Michael Poorman and Joshua Day, who teamed up to take on the students.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail’s Talan Ditty didn’t need a whole lot of help from teammate Lola English, as Talan quickly batted a balloon down the court.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Teacher Mrs. Wagner offers her encouragement as Kiera Paloskey tries to grab as much candy as she can while wearing oven mitts.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Juniors Matti Mason and Kendall Wagner pose after a balloon race during a monthly PBIS event.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail campus principal Jim Poleto is pictured above during a PBIS assembly.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS The teachers vs students balloon race featured a final leg of students and teachers on teams, including Michael Poorman and Joshua Day, who teamed up to take on the students.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail’s Talan Ditty didn’t need a whole lot of help from teammate Lola English, as Talan quickly batted a balloon down the court.
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RENOVO -- The Bucktail Area Middle/High School continues to assist students daily to make the right decision -- not just in education but how they treat their peers and teachers -- with their Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program (PBIS).
Although typical disciplinary action, such as visits to Bucktail Campus Principal Jim Poleto's office, are still common for serious incidents -- PBIS rewards positive behavior while giving a nudge to students that may have made minor infractions. The goal is for students to reflect on a situation and encourage them to think and act differently next time.
The Tier 1 Team offers support for everybody. That's the group that picks incentives for students and offers a points incentive system for following the pillars which are be safe, be responsible, be respectful, be kind, be professional.
In true modern times, when a teacher sees a student do something that follows the pillars, they can award that student through an app called PBIS rewards. The app stores the tokens, or points, which students can bank them or withdraw as they see fit.
A PBIS poster is mounted outside of the teacher's conference room in which a student can choose to spend some of their points. Things like candy are often offered, or to be allowed to leave classes two minutes early on a certain day.
It's the larger monthly events that typically offer the most visual fun. Students attend the gymnasium for various school-spirit driven events that have included being able to smash a pie in Poleto's face, or having a teacher of their choosing kiss a goat.
"During the monthly assemblies we ask the students to reflect on what they did to earn their place at the event and if not to figure out what they did incorrectly and work on how not to do it again," Poleto described.
Depending on the severity of a pillar infraction, PBIS does offer degrees of working with tier groups.
"If it's more severe we have something called a restorative conference. Which is (when) we get the aggrieved party and the other person to try and work through it as a group with myself or Miss. Gordon, the guidance counselor," Poleto explained.
"Tier two team is the restorative conference that we offer if the first tier meeting didn't work," he continued. "We look at a student that may need more support, like 5-8% of the students that have had the most behavior issues, and we try to put other things in place like check in and checkout."
"That's kind of like a mentor scenario where you pair a student with an adult that they relate well together. The adult checks in with the student in the morning -- asks them how they are doing, checks in throughout the day and they get scored on how well they are following the pillars and it can show where they are struggling through the day," he said.
There's little doubt that PBIS has a positive influence over the faculty and student body. Along with guidance from the Tier groups and better relationships forged from them, positive behavior is not only recognized, but encouraged and mentored daily at Bucktail -- which of course is a win for everyone.