Why Bother?

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Congrats to FFA students Brittany Gates who placed 7^th high individual out of 938 contestants in horse judging and Shannon Gleason who placed 14^th high individual out of 154 in the range contest.  Also, congrats to our Livestock Team (Logan Taylor, Cara Williams, Ben Burgess & Tanner Walls) and Range Team (Shanna Gleason, Jake Holland, Joseph Wendel & Terry Wainscott) The Livestock Team placed 42nd out 246 teams and the Range Team placed 12th out of 42 teams.

Congratulations to the Graham Steer Tennis Doubles team of Dallas Elmore and Alex Smith on earning a spot at the UIL Regional Tennis Tournament.

The Graham High School choir earned a Division I rating on stage. Congrats!

Good luck and safe travel for the Graham Steer baseball team as they travel to play Wylie.

Good luck to the Lady Blues softball team at home tonight vs Mineral Wells.

Good luck and safe travel to our Graham Steer and Lady Blues golf teams as they travel to Lubbock this coming week to participate in the UIL Regional Tournament.

Good luck to our Graham Steer and Lady Blues track teams this coming week in Stephenville at the District Track Meet.

Mark Your Calendar- Special Olympics Pep Rally is set for April 25^th at 2:00 p.m. in the GHS gym. Special Olympics Track & Field meet is April 30^th at Iowa Park.  The Special Olympics Sports Banquet is 1:30 pm on May 16^th at the First Baptist Church.

Newton Field Update- The demolition work is scheduled to begin this coming week.  Southern Bleacher Company has installed a camera that will allow you to see a time-lapse video of the work being completed.  Click this link to view the video feed- https://www.workzonecam.com/projects/southernbleacher/stadiumseating/workzonecam.  

Why Bother?

The educational environment has changed greatly in the last 50 years.  The accepted norm for solving discipline problems used to rely on corporal punishment, suspension or expulsion.  These measures provided an easy formula for addressing problems, but they did not necessarily change behaviors.  They did manage to make the problem disappear.  In 1960 approximately 27% of students dropped out of high school. 

Schools today are under pressure to successfully educate all students, including those who, years ago would have left school due to academic or behavioral problems.  Proactively seeking effective ways to motivate and encourage positive behavior are vital to our potential success working with ever increasing challenging student behaviors.  If the status quo is not working, we need to consider doing things differently.

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) or Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (PBIS) can provide the framework for a different approach.  PBS/PBIS is a process for understanding and resolving a child’s problem behavior based on values and empirical research.  It offers an approach for developing an understanding of why a student engages in problem behavior and strategies for preventing the occurrence of problem behavior while teaching the child new skills.

Currently, Pioneer Elementary is working to implement PBS/PBIS. Administratively, we have had conversation about expanding our approach to at least Crestview Elementary and Woodland Elementary.   The Texas Behavior Support website provides an excellent resource to begin learning about positive behavior interventions.  Additionally, the 2016 Texas Behavior Support State (TBS) Conference will be held June 28-30, 2016.  If you would be interested in attending this conference, please let me and your campus principal know.

Why bother?  Learning these strategies may reduce your frustration and guide students toward a successful school career, leading in turn to potential success in work and in life. 

Corny Joke of the Day:

What do you get when you cross fish and an elephant?

Swimming trunks.