Come Get A Taste of our PB and J: Positive Behavior Journey

Established in 1971, Seaborn Lee has long been known as a place parents can confidently send their children. However, as times changed, Seaborn Lee started to experience challenges in behavior, discipline, and how the staff responded to those challenges. Prior to implementing School Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (SWPBIS), students were missing more days of class than there were school days in the year. In 2012-2013, administrators reported nearly 300 behavior incidents that led to students missing instruction and 421 days in which students were suspended or in office time out. The types of behaviors which were leading to the suspensions were disruption, defiance, fighting, and bullying. Principal Kine’ Geathers recognized the need to implement additional support, which came in the form of an early learning climate prototype. This was developed by the Metropolitan Regional educational service Agency (MRESA) in partnership with Fulton County Schools thanks to funding from the David, Helen, and Marian Woodward Fund-Atlanta. All staff were trained on an aligned SWPBIS framework that helped us address creating a positive learning climate and, most importantly, equipped us with social-emotional and developmentally appropriate strategies to address challenging student behavior. We also identified our school-wide PBIS leadership team and designed resources for implementation. Our main goal was properly defining major versus minor behaviors, how they would be handled, who would handle them, and how the data would be tracked. We created a behavior matrix that complemented our school mascot: a bulldog. Our theme is P.A.W.S. (Be Prepared, Act Respectfully, Work Together, and Stay Safe), and these principles guide teachers and students in behavioral expectations. The strategies and framework the students learn at school can also be used by parents at home to positively reinforce the behaviors they wish to see in their children