Climate and Culture

SCHOOL CLIMATE AND CULTURE

School climate and culture is important for EVERYONE. A Positive School Culture and Climate is one where all individuals feel valued, cared for and respected. We believe that such an atmosphere contributes to effective teaching and learning and to genuine communication, both within and outside of the school.

School climate refers to our school's effects on our students, including teaching practices; diversity, and relationships among administrators, teachers, parents, and students. School culture refers to the way teachers and other staff members work together and the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions they share.

At DeKalb County Central United School District, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible school experience and are continuing our implementation of, and work on POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORT (PBIS) - a framework for maximizing the selection and use of evidence-based prevention and intervention practices along a multi-tiered continuum that supports the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral competence of all students.

Bullying Prevention in Positive Behavior Support: Expect Respect

Our purpose is to improve the success of our students' learning experiences and environments. We recognize that aggression, violence, threats, intimidation, and isolation compromise the ability of our students to learn and perform in school. We have established school-wide expectations for common respect, teaching what that means, and ensuring that all students and faculty and staff members share in the responsibility of making our schools respectful settings.

The core of our beliefs revolve around five key messages:

Everyone in the school should know what it means to be respectful.
Bullying is a harmful and disrespectful behavior that continues when given attend from recipients, bystanders, and peers.
Everyone in the school should have a strategy that stops attending to and acknowledging bullying. When someone is not respectful, ask them to stop. Don’t allow bullying to be rewarded.
Everyone asked to stop should have a common strategy for moving on without escalation.
Regular information collection used to assess the safety and health of our school-wide culture.

PBIS Framework

(Positive Behavior Intervention Supports)

PBIS is a framework that focuses on the positive aspects of behavior by supporting students in making choices that are consistent with school-wide expectations. Staff members encourage students to continue making positive choices in their everyday lives.

We have 3 School-wide Expectations:

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

Be a Leader

Country Meadow Positive Reward Program

PB (Personal Best Rewards):

Part of PBIS is celebrating positive behavior choices throughout the school year. Individual students, groups of students, or classrooms can earn PBs for the entire class. Once our school PB board is filled up with PBs, we draw classes to earn extra recesses.

Chuck-a-duck

Based on predetermined criteria, students have the opportunity to earn ducks for our “chuck-a-duck” celebrations. For each duck earned, students try to make it into the duck “pond” by throwing them from behind a line. Each one duck landing in the “pond” is a little positive reward.

Clean Calendar Club

Students have the opportunity to earn a special celebration with principal Mrs. Molargik every month. Students earn participation in the celebration by having a “clean calendar” for the entire month. A “clean calendar” consists of getting zero Bs (behavior marks), Ts (talking marks), and Hs (missing homework). Celebrations can range from an extra recess to a special activity.