Rialto School District recognized for PBIS on state level; Henry Elementary launches program

Exciting things are happening in the Rialto Unified school district! Students and staff at Henry Elementary school had a PBIS kickoff party on Friday, Aug. 18, to mark the launch of their program aimed at reinforcing good behavior. The ongoing district-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Framework event was attended by Henry Elementary School students, school staff, safety officers, parents and district administration.

According to Angela Brantley, Senior Director of Student Services, “Our renewed focus on student engagement and positive school culture leads to decreased suspensions and increases in desired student outcomes. We are pleased with our results.   We now know that the more we connect students to their learning and have them find school a place where they are connected and feel safe, we’re going to find that students are more successful academically, and when students experience academic success, some of the misconduct and misbehavior decreases.”

The event at Henry was a huge success and conveyed the message of “Be Respectful, Be Responsible and Be Safe,” with the school divided into 4 houses. 3 houses for the three identified school-wide behavior expectations, and a 4th house called the ‘Quora house,’ for the younger students to learn about the foundations of school behavior and success.

Henry students were having fun waving red, purple, green and yellow flags representing each house, and students showed support of each other with cheers and applause.

“We believe that explicitly teaching, and re-teaching important social skills and modeling and rewarding good behavior is the best way to encourage and promote achievement in all areas of students’ lives”, said Melissa Rubio, the PBIS district Coordinator, who supports the implementation of PBIS across the district.

All schools are rolling out PBIS in unique ways across the district.

This successful and dedicated implementation of the PBIS framework district-wide resulted in the PBIS State Coalition recognition for 21 district schools, including 5 coveted Silver Awards in 2017 for Rialto.

“Our PBIS Kick-Off today was the culminating event to a two-week lesson project where teachers taught students the school-wide behavior expectations of how to Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible. We are improving school culture with the national PBIS model. Students were divided into 4 houses. 3 of the houses for the expectations and the fourth house representing Kindergarten and 1st grade. Parents, staff and district personnel came to support our huge outdoor event. It was a roaring success”, stated Dr. Mitzi Moreland, Principal at Henry Elementary.

“Together we are transforming education so that it benefits each and every student, their families, and ultimately the greater communities in which we all live.”