Incentivizing Positive Behavior, Building Relationships Discussed at School Board Meeting

Strategies to encourage positive behavior at Donley Elementary School were the main topic of the Monday, April 8 East Lansing Board of Education meeting. 

Donley Principal Tracey Barton, Special Education Teacher Kat Farr and school Social Worker Julie Brannan spoke at the meeting about how the school encourages positive behavior, monitors behavioral patterns and fosters strong relationships within the building. 

Brannan said the school still uses its decades-old PRIDE model that rewards students who demonstrate Participation, Respect, Integrity, Dignity and Effort. However, this model is blended with updated techniques that the school is continuously working to improve. 

Staff rewards positive behavior with incentives like extra activities, additional recesses, a token to access the book vending machine, verbal praise and more. Brannan said staff tries to incentivize good behavior proactively, rather than reactively.

“It’s much easier to get ahead of it than it is to chase it,”  she said. 

The school is also working to build strong relationships between students, staff and families. One way to do this is to offer incentives that are experiences instead of things like toys. An example given by presenters was rewarding students with the opportunity to eat lunch with their favorite teacher and a friend. 

Donley leadership also sees school-wide activities as a chance to build relationships. Barton said only about a quarter of Donley students were attending after school programs. The school surveyed families and found that many students had parents working second or third shift jobs, which made the transition home or to another family member after the programs difficult. 

To bring more opportunities for school-wide relationship building activities, Donley leadership worked with the William Donley School Association (WDSA) to create more large events during school hours. 

One example is Fall Harvest – which Barton said students have unofficially renamed “Pumpkin Day.”

Pumpkin Day has now been held for two years, and is earned by students in the school accumulating enough PRIDE slips, which are given to students who demonstrate behaviors in the PRIDE model. On Pumpkin Day, the WDSA buys each student and teacher a pumpkin, and provides resources to do activities involving the pumpkins. 

“The big activity that all the kids liked… was the pumpkin launch,” Barton said. “They did a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activity where they took the small pumpkins and they would calculate how far they would fly.”

Responding to a question from Board Treasurer Kath Edsall, Barton said the school collects data on educational and behavioral trends for students, so the district can better adjust to their needs. Data is collected for individual students and school-wide, to pinpoint areas for intervention. The district uses data to look at things like when behavioral problems are most prevalent. 

“We use that data to know maybe it’s time for a refresher on playground behavior,” Brannan said. “Because we’re seeing an increase in this type of behavior in that location.”

The district also surveys students about topics like how they feel about school. Superintendent Dori Leyko said last year a “My Student Voice Perception Survey” debuted in the high school. The survey looked at belonging, relationships, climate and culture in the school compared to other Michigan schools. The data was also compared to schools that have similar socio-economic factors, racial makeup and other comparable demographics. 

“One of the examples I use that I remember that the high school shared with me was ‘Do you as a student feel that you have at least one trusted adult in the building you can go to?’” Leyko said. “While we scored high, when you break it down in demographics, you can definitely see where there’s a need. So, that kind of helped us determine that we might need to find some other adults who can act as advocates, mentors, trusted adults outside just our teaching staff because our teaching staff is not very diverse.”

This year, the survey is being expanded to district fifth graders and middle schoolers, to give data on younger students. The district should receive data from the survey sometime this month. 

Leyko said the district is piloting a staff survey to collect similar information this year, and next year a survey for families will be rolled out.

Information sessions to be held on school bond proposal. 

During her communications time, Leyko encouraged residents to attend information sessions about the school bond proposal that will be decided on at the May 7 special election. If approved by voters, the $23.5 million bond will upgrade school security and accessibility measures, and fund a new school administration building.

The school has held two information sessions already, which saw low turnout. The next two sessions will be Tuesday, April 16 from 6-7 p.m. at the Snell Tower Recreation Center and Thursday, April 25 from 9-10 a.m. at the East Lansing High School Hub. 

The information sessions feature Leyko, Assistant Superintendent Glenn Mitcham and district Director of Health and Safety Matt Morales. 

Glencairn Elementary chess club is a hit. 

Board President Chris Martin used his communications time to highlight the popularity of a chess club started in Glencairn Elementary School. 

Martin said that 77 students joined in the first week sign ups were available for the after school club. Since the club did not set a limit on the number of participants and turnout was so high, high school volunteers have been recruited to help out. 

“They must have a lot of patience, it’s going to be an adventure for them,” Martin said with a smile. 

East Lansing students enjoyed seeing Monday’s eclipse. 

Near the end of the meeting, Martin shouted out East Lansing school staff and teachers for making sure that students were able to watch Monday’s solar eclipse – which occurred just a few hours before the meeting. 

“I thought it was so thoughtful of the district to provide the eclipse glasses to all of our students,” he said. “I thought that a lot of really thoughtful planning went into how to handle the day and the needs of the various aged learners.”

Leyko added that she enjoyed watching students experience the eclipse, and that plenty of great photos from the day can be found on the school’s Facebook page.