Massillon City Schools PBIS News
3rd Quarter Edition 2024
What Is PBIS?
PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) is a system that our schools use to support students in many ways. PBIS consists of clear behavioral expectations, teaching and re-teaching these expectations, and acknowledging students for meeting these expectations. PBIS supports are tailored to meet the needs of all students. The goal of PBIS is to create a positive school climate that leads to safety and success for all students.
Massillon Intermediate
Jerson and Alayah have both been working with Mrs. Studer in the TIGER Coaching program. These students have met their goal to demonstrate respect at school!
Whittier Elementary
The students in Mrs. Spanakis’ first grade sit very respectfully and attentively as special guest, Mrs. Hose, reads a story.
Be Respectful
Being respectful in the school environment is important for the development of a positive learning environment. Building this positive learning environment will lead to educational benefits for the entire school. Treating others with respect at school helps each student build healthy relationships with their teachers and peers. There are several ways for students to demonstrate respect at school: listening when others are speaking, raising their hands when they want to share, taking turns, using kind words, and helping others are just a few examples.
Respect needs to be taught at school and home. Teaching kids to be respectful helps them develop more positive relationships and teaches them the appropriate way to communicate with others. It is a tool that will be beneficial for students throughout their lives whether it is at school, in the community, or at their place of work as an adult.
Gorrell Elementary
Students are standing around a poster of examples of Respectful and Not Respectful action. The entire student body engaged in a lesson about being respectful.
Ways to Foster Respect at Home
Gorrell Elementary
Students being Respectful for Good News Club!
Washington High School
Taylor was sworn into the Air Force on Jan. 16, 2024!
2nd Nine Weeks' Attendance Data
Promoting daily attendance starts with effectively making the case that attendance matters. Research has found that families have high hopes for their children yet did not always realize that showing up nearly every day to school was crucial to academic achievement. Many families thought absences were not a problem unless they were unexcused. Most often, they did not realize how many days their children had missed and did not recognize that missing just two days a month could cause their children to fall behind.
• Starting as early as kindergarten, chronic absence is a sign that children will be off track for reading by the end of third grade, achieving in middle school and graduating from high school.
• When students are chronically absent, they miss opportunities to learn, build relationships, develop their mental health and well-being, and access critical resources available at school campuses.
(Courtesy of Ohio Attendance Guide)
Be Here Today for a Brighter Tomorrow!
Our district leadership teams continue to thoroughly examine attendance from pre-k to twelfth grade. It's positive to note a decrease in absences and tardies compared to last year at this time, but it's understandable that there's still concern about the frequency of these occurrences. Consistent attendance is crucial for students to fully benefit from their education.
The second nine weeks comparisons are:
2022-2023: 23,187.50 absences and 5,760 tardies
2023-2024: 21,941 absences and 4,865 tardies
It will take all of us working together to encourage our students to be at school and on time daily!
Franklin Elementary
Meliza patiently waiting to be called on during Mrs. Vitale's math lesson.
Attendance Matters
What is the difference between a student who is absent and a student who is chronically absent? The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of a student’s school year, whether excused or unexcused. There are many factors that can contribute to chronic absenteeism. Some of which include:
Lack of food, clothing, and stable housing
Lack of transportation to school
Chronic illness of student or family member
Involvement with the child welfare system
Involvement with the juvenile justice system
Fear for safety at school
The factors listed above are extreme cases. School districts do their best to work with families of students with these issues to connect them to resources to help resolve the problems and eventually get their children back to school. Families facing any of these challenges should reach out to the school for assistance before it has a chance to adversely affect the student’s learning and well-being.
But what about chronic absenteeism that is not a result of the above factors? What about older students who choose to skip classes or the entire day of school altogether? What about the kindergartener who is eager to get to school, but mom or dad decides to sleep in and keep the child home because it’s convenient for them? What about the parents who run errands and take the child along rather than send him to school? The list of excuses is seemingly endless. What caregivers do not realize is how those missed days affect the child and his ability to learn.
Students in the higher grades can more easily make-up missed assignments through online work or reading missed material on their own. However, for students in the lower grades, making up missed work is more difficult. Oftentimes the “work” that the younger child missed was listening to the teacher explain how to do the math lesson, or listening to the introduction of new vocabulary words and the new story for the language arts lesson. What was said by the teacher and discussed by the entire class cannot be repeated. The absent child misses out. When these types of absences occur repeatedly throughout the quarter, the student falls further and further behind and feels less engaged with classmates and the learning that has been taking place.
Attendance at school is extremely important, but if a child is truly sick, he needs to stay home to minimize the spread of germs and recover from the illness. However, if a child is not ill and can get to school, then that is where he needs to be in order to ensure academic success and future graduation. Attendance really does matter.
Family PBIS Resources
The following link will access a site that provides resources and information you may find helpful. This resource includes district and county resources as well as information about how you can support school attendance.
The district expectations were developed by the district PBIS team to guide our students and staff to become better educators, students, friends and people. All buildings in the district have matrices in the hallways to remind students and staff of the everyday expectations in all areas of the buildings.