Now that the Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports PBIS) system is in place at all seven of Benicia Unified School District’s sites, Special Services Director Dr. Carolyn Patton will be providing an update at Thursday’s Governing Board meeting.

According to a Power Point by Patton, PBIS is a framework aimed at helping schools organize and implement evidence-based behavioral interventions and using data for making decisions, all while supporting the academic and social successes of all students. The first school in the district to adopt this system was Robert Semple Elementary School in the 2015-16 school year. Within the next year, it spread to Liberty High School and Benicia Middle School and is now being practiced at all seven schools.

PBIS has three tiers. The universal tier provides primary prevention strategies to all students and is effective for roughly 80 percent of a school’s student population, Patton wrote. The secondary tier targets a small group, approximately 15 percent of a student population. Finally, the tertiary tier is more intensive and individualized, aiming for 5 percent of a student population.

According to Patton, there are several core features of PBIS. These include recognizing three to five positively stated behavior expectations and defining what these would look like in school settings, teaching these expectations in all settings multiple times, identifying positive behavior including through a school-wide acknowledgment system, consistently reacting to problematic behaviors and using data to make decisions. One of the decision-making systems is the School-Wide Information System (SWIS), a web-based program which provides school staff with information about making decisions related to school environments. Patton wrote that the goal of SWIS is to make schools more effective environments for learning. She also indicated that social behavior was the focus of PBIS rather than academics because negative social behavior is often a barrier to higher academic achievements.

“Student social behavior continues to be the most common reason why students are excluded from schools or instruction,” she wrote.

Another program that is part of PBIS is the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI), which measures the extent to which staff are applying the core features of PBIS. Semple has achieved 77 percent of the first tier and 42 percent of the second tier, making it the only school to reach this level. Matthew Turner Elementary has achieved 77 percent of the first tier, Joe Henderson 60 percent, Benicia Middle School 50 percent, Mary Farmar 22 percent and Benicia High 20 percent, having only adopted the program at the start of the 2017-18 school year. Liberty is not included in these results.

In other matters, Patton will also be providing an update on Benicia High’s curriculum support model, in which special education students spend most of their days in general education classes and allow groups of students with Individualized Education Plans to work on assignments with students from other classes. The program was implemented at the start of this school year. Additionally, Superintendent Dr. Charles Young will be highlighting the district’s employees of the year.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1 in the Benicia Unified School District Board Room at the district building on 350 East K Street. There will be an earlier closed session at 5:30 p.m.

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