New year, new rewards system. 

This school year the administration has begun using PBIS rewards system to encourage students to use positive behavior at school. 

With the new rewards system there are many ways it can be used this year by the staff and students. PBIS sponsor Erica Captio is faithful in the new system. PBIS itself is not new to the school but the way they are rewarding students is new. 

PBIS rewards system is a new way of the staff rewarding students for their positive behavior. PBIS stands for “Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.” When a teacher or administrator sees a student doing something good they will ask for their PBIS barcode so they can reward them with points. By using this in schools teachers teach students about behavior, just like a teacher would teach a student math or english. The purpose of PBIS is prevention, not punishment. Students and parents can both download an app which helps them keep track of their points and who assigns them. Students may get points for picking up trash in the hallways, helping another in need, or even simple things like getting to class on time and coming to class prepared. 

Many teachers are excited about the new system because they feel like their students will actually want to participate and try to earn points. Erica Capito, sponsor of PBIS at Bullitt East, is faithful in the new system and has specific ways she wants to use it this school year. “How I plan to use it in my classroom is to make sure that those students who typically behave in a manner that the school is seeking- that they’re behaving well, being safe, being responsible, and being respectful, are seeing an outcome that could turn into something physical for that. I think often times we discipline kids who are not doing something well and just leave kids who are doing something well to the side, wondering if what they’re doing is well enough,” said Captio. 

Bullitt East has been doing PBIS for several years, they just haven’t had the program fully developed. This year was the turning point for them to start improvement on the program and the school with the rewards system. The software structure [the PBIS apps]  are new to students, as a school, but PBIS itself is not. Rewarding kids for positive behavior has been used in other school districts where it has been successful. Biology teacher, Jonathan Huether, agrees with Captio on how this system will be beneficial to our school. “This was our method for improving the entire school behavior system as opposed to punishing kids for every single thing they do wrong we’re rewarding them for doing things right every now and then; it’s like the opposite of negative conditioning,” said Huether. 

For earning points there is a rewards store where there is only a few snack items currently available to purchase but will be expanded in the weeks to come. The school is working within the community to get different items in the store.