SIDNEY — The bees were buzzing during Monday night’s Sidney City School Board of Education meeting.
There was “Bee Responsible” and “Bee Respectful” in attendance. And “Bee a Problem Solver” was also seen flying around the room.
Staff members from Whittier Elementary School explained the “Bee Your Best” program at the school during the meeting. The program is part of the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program which is being implemented throughout the district.
“A lot has happened since we were here last year,” said Principal Keith Helmlinger. “We have full implementation of the program. The (PBIS) team worked on it over the summer.”
When reviewing the school’s policy for handling student issues, said Helmlinger, they discovered there was a “lack of consequences when students did something wrong.”
In the past, a student had to stand by the wall during recess if they had done something wrong during class. The student, he said, would dance and continue to move while standing on the wall, which just led to more time standing on the wall.
Now, he said, the students have to “Walk the 8” during recess time as a consequence for bad behavior. There are number 8s on the parking lot and the students have to spend their recess time walking them.
If the weather is bad and recess is held inside, then the student must “Tap the Bee.” There are eight bees on the walls and the students must continually walk and tap each bee as they pass it.
There is also community service for bad behavior, said Helmlinger. And if the “Walk the 8,” “Tap the Bee” and community service doesn’t work, then the student could be sent to Wednesday school which is a one-hour after school program in which the student completes the work that was going on during the time they weren’t behaving.
There’s also a positive side to the program, said Helmlinger.
“The students can earn Bee Bucks,” said Helmlinger. They receive the bucks for following the three expectations the staff has for the students: Bee Responsible, Bee Respectful and Bee a Problem Solver.
“We want to reinforce the positives of what the students do,” said Helmlinger.
Every three weeks, he said, a Bee Hive store is open where the students can make purchases with their Bee Bucks. The store has items for sale, coupons and raffles. The coupons are for morning announcements and being a Friday DJ. The raffles have included football helmets, signed basketball jersey and other sports items.
Whittier counselor Matt Norviel told the board in November surveys were sent home to the parents for their comments about the “Bee Your Best” program. If a student brought back the survey they received a Bee Buck. A total of 170 surveys were returned, he said.
The parents answered eight questions about the program. He said 93 percent of the parents support the positive consequences of the program and 87 percent support the negative consequences.
At the end of the 2015-16 school year, said Norviel the office was getting 1.2 student referrals a day for bad behavior. So far this year, it’s a half referral per day.
If a student continues to have bad behavior problems, said Norviel, there are tier 2 and tier 3 intervention options, which are based on the number of write ups each student might have.
A series of six videos were created which reinforce positive behaviors. Teachers Annette Johnson and Brenda Thompson have also created skits where they role play a teacher and a student in different scenarios. The skits have been presented to each class.
The Bee Hive, said Norviel, has been received positively by the students and parents.
Parent Leah Finke, who has a first-grader and fifth-grader at the school, said she has listened to her children talk about the Bee Hive as she drives them to school.
“Lilly might say she doesn’t have enough Bee Bucks to buy what she wants and Landon says he’ll give her one,” said Finke. “They are learning the value of a dollar.”
The program, said Finke, is also teaching the children about economics — should they spend their money as they get it or save it for something bigger.
Norviel said students earn about 100 Bee Bucks between each Bee Hive.
“We want this to be an incentive for making good choices,” he said. “If the child returns a library book on time, they might receive a Bee Buck.”
Teacher Amanda “Amy” Martin said she received a $500 Emerson Climate grant which will be used to purchase items for the Bee Hive.
“We want to be able to sustain it without spending a lot of our own money,” said Martin. “With the grant, we’ll be able to buy educational things for the Bee Hive such as science kits, art kids, physical activity items … and a two-way microscope. We’ll have items they (students) wouldn’t normally have.”
Teacher Stacy Hahn was in charge of getting donated items for the Bee Hive for this school year. She sent letters to community businesses and other places.
“We had 10 to 11 companies who donated items,” said Hahn. “The donations from the community have been outstanding. Some of the raffles we’ve had earn something for the entire grade.”
Parent Tasha Wilson, who has a third-grader and kindergartner at the school, has implemented the program at home.
“They were so exited about the Bee Hive,” said Wilson. “We’ve set up our own set of rules. The big one is you can’t take Bee Bucks away and you can’t use your allowance to buy them.
“It’s also their responsibility for keeping them safe, just like they do at school,” she said. “We have items that they love that they can purchase. Some of them are 15 minutes of extra time before bed or 15 minutes more on their iPads.
“The most popular one is making their brother clean up their toys,” said Wilson. “This has taught me as a parent to focus on the positives rather than the negatives.”
Helmlinger said the SST6 office provided a grant to help get the program stated. The school’s PTO is also going to help support the Bee Hive next year.
“There are a lot of positive benefits to the program,” said Helmlinger. “We have a great team that’s committed to the program.
“I’d also like to thank the coaches and athletic department for getting things the kids really like,” said Helmlinger. Those items are used in the raffles.
