MONROE - Office discipline referrals are declining overall in the Monroe school district because of a "specific, sustained system" now in place, said Director of Pupil Services Joe Monroe.
The system is Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), which the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction identifies as an approach meant to improve student behavior and "establish a positive school culture," among other goals.
Implemented in Monroe in 2010, PBIS took the form of such strategies as setting common expectations, checking in with students daily to monitor their goals and performance, and starting counseling groups for students with a specific need, according to Monroe.
"We know we have a lot of things that we need to address in each of the buildings, and each building is different in terms of what they're working on," Monroe told the school board at an August meeting. "But overall, if you look at it from a district perspective, things are moving in the right direction."
Elementary school teachers in particular are sending students to the office for discipline less frequently than they used to. Monroe credited the elementary schools' PBIS teams for the improvement, saying they have been analyzing ODR (office discipline referral) data and giving instruction in areas that show problems.
But not every building in the district experienced the same improvements: Monroe Middle School saw a jump in ODRs last year.
Monroe said one of the reasons for the jump is that MMS had two administrators - principal Brian Boehm and assistant principal Matt Brown - who could address ODRs, unlike previous years. MMS administration has a tumultuous recent history, with the associate principal position cut for a full school year before the board brought it back for 2014-15.
Another factor was the "tough group of kids" MMS had last year, Monroe said. Poverty in particular is a "huge issue for our district right now" and was a common theme within the pupil services data.
"There's no secret as to what's going on here," he
said. "We know there are changes going on in our community that we maybe haven't seen previously, and we
need to be more responsive to that."
Monroe explained in an email that the changes include an increase in the city's poverty rate and a "significant increase in the number of young students that have been subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse."
He doesn't know yet what the solution is but said the administrative team is researching the issue and reaching out to districts who have done well with students in poverty.
"It's our job to adapt, and so that's what we're trying to do," he said.
Boehm took some responsibility for the increase in ODRs at the middle school, saying he thinks he wasn't clear enough about what students' behavioral expectations were.
"This has my highest attention and priority for this coming year," he said.
School board member Mary Berger asked if the ODRs at the middle school might be illustrating a shortcoming of PBIS: "One of the criticisms of PBIS is that it works great for 80 percent of the students, but for 20 percent it doesn't work," she said.
Monroe conceded that that's part of the reason, but he emphasized that no single approach will work for every student. He said the district needs to identify additional interventions to help the kids who don't respond to the existing interventions.
But another issue with PBIS is that some staff - "a very, very small percentage," according to Monroe - are not following it. Board member Bob Erb suggested this problem showed through in the recent survey, when staff indicated they thought student discipline was not handled consistently.
Monroe said administrators need to talk with staff to find out why some are against PBIS and to provide more information to those teachers to improve their practice of it. He noted that more teachers like the system than not.
"PBIS is a widely accepted approach, not only in Wisconsin but across the country, and I think there is a lot of evidence to support it," Monroe said in response to board member Les Bieneman's question on whether PBIS is the best approach to take.
By the request of board member Brian Keith, Monroe will bring potential solutions to address the "20 percent" issue to the board in the coming months.
"I think our challenge is that we have limited resources, so we can identify a lot of cool projects and programing, but we have to do it within the reality that we currently have," Monroe said.
The system is Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), which the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction identifies as an approach meant to improve student behavior and "establish a positive school culture," among other goals.
Implemented in Monroe in 2010, PBIS took the form of such strategies as setting common expectations, checking in with students daily to monitor their goals and performance, and starting counseling groups for students with a specific need, according to Monroe.
"We know we have a lot of things that we need to address in each of the buildings, and each building is different in terms of what they're working on," Monroe told the school board at an August meeting. "But overall, if you look at it from a district perspective, things are moving in the right direction."
Elementary school teachers in particular are sending students to the office for discipline less frequently than they used to. Monroe credited the elementary schools' PBIS teams for the improvement, saying they have been analyzing ODR (office discipline referral) data and giving instruction in areas that show problems.
But not every building in the district experienced the same improvements: Monroe Middle School saw a jump in ODRs last year.
Monroe said one of the reasons for the jump is that MMS had two administrators - principal Brian Boehm and assistant principal Matt Brown - who could address ODRs, unlike previous years. MMS administration has a tumultuous recent history, with the associate principal position cut for a full school year before the board brought it back for 2014-15.
Another factor was the "tough group of kids" MMS had last year, Monroe said. Poverty in particular is a "huge issue for our district right now" and was a common theme within the pupil services data.
"There's no secret as to what's going on here," he
said. "We know there are changes going on in our community that we maybe haven't seen previously, and we
need to be more responsive to that."
Monroe explained in an email that the changes include an increase in the city's poverty rate and a "significant increase in the number of young students that have been subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse."
He doesn't know yet what the solution is but said the administrative team is researching the issue and reaching out to districts who have done well with students in poverty.
"It's our job to adapt, and so that's what we're trying to do," he said.
Boehm took some responsibility for the increase in ODRs at the middle school, saying he thinks he wasn't clear enough about what students' behavioral expectations were.
"This has my highest attention and priority for this coming year," he said.
School board member Mary Berger asked if the ODRs at the middle school might be illustrating a shortcoming of PBIS: "One of the criticisms of PBIS is that it works great for 80 percent of the students, but for 20 percent it doesn't work," she said.
Monroe conceded that that's part of the reason, but he emphasized that no single approach will work for every student. He said the district needs to identify additional interventions to help the kids who don't respond to the existing interventions.
But another issue with PBIS is that some staff - "a very, very small percentage," according to Monroe - are not following it. Board member Bob Erb suggested this problem showed through in the recent survey, when staff indicated they thought student discipline was not handled consistently.
Monroe said administrators need to talk with staff to find out why some are against PBIS and to provide more information to those teachers to improve their practice of it. He noted that more teachers like the system than not.
"PBIS is a widely accepted approach, not only in Wisconsin but across the country, and I think there is a lot of evidence to support it," Monroe said in response to board member Les Bieneman's question on whether PBIS is the best approach to take.
By the request of board member Brian Keith, Monroe will bring potential solutions to address the "20 percent" issue to the board in the coming months.
"I think our challenge is that we have limited resources, so we can identify a lot of cool projects and programing, but we have to do it within the reality that we currently have," Monroe said.