WOODMEN HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

8308 Del Rio Road    Falcon, CO 80831

Phone: (719) 495-5600  Fax: (719) 495-5615

Mr. Monty Lammers            Ms. Karen Yanko                  Mrs. Dee Thomas                  Mrs. Linda Fiedler                 Mr. Adam Schraeder  
  Principal                              Assistant Principal                     Dean of Students                        Counselor                                Counselor

  Message from Woodmen Hills Elementary School  Positive Behavior Support Team

Dear Woodmen Hills Parents/Guardians                                                                                      August 10, 2007

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children, both new and returning with us.  They have arrived eager to learn.  What a joy!  We look forward to watching each one of them as they learn and grow.  We appreciate the support you give to your sons and daughters by seeing they are well rested and fed, by helping them prepare for school, and ensuring they arrive on time every day.  We will be sharing some pertinent information about our school in this letter and hope you will take the time to read and review this information with your child(ren)

Positive Behavior Support 
The implementation of the Positive Behavior Support Program (PBS) at Woodmen Hills Elementary involves teaching expected behaviors to students, rewarding those who follow those behaviors and guiding those who misbehave to take personal responsibility and practice effective decision making skills.

The goals of this program are:

1.      To provide a safe and orderly environment for learning

2.      To help students cooperate with others

3.      To help each student manage her/himself

4.      To help students learn to respect the rights and property of others

 Tornado Turnaround

 Your child may use the term “Tornado Turnaround.”  This is when he or she has chosen not to follow expected behaviors after being specifically prompted regarding that behavior.  We are helping your child to become a responsible citizen and promoting independent thinking skills.  When a child is in Tornado Turnaround he/she will be seated in a quiet area, (either in their classroom, another teacher’s classroom, or the office) and asked to think about the behavior that has disrupted the learning environment.  The child must then come up with a positive alternative.  They may do this orally, or on a written Tornado Turnaround form.  As soon as your child has identified the appropriate behavior and is ready, he/she returns to the classroom learning environment.  If your child has been to Tornado Turnaround, it does not mean that they have been bad.  It means that they are trying to identify those behaviors, which were beginning to affect their learning time and academic performance.  The Tornado Turnaround is intended to be a learning opportunity; therefore parents will not be called every time a child is in Tornado Turnaround. 

Absolute Critical Behaviors

 There are still some “absolutes”, or critical behaviors, which will not be tolerated.  In our past parent survey a great majority of you expressed how much you appreciate the positive school climate here at Woodmen Hills Elementary School.  However, you also said you want the school to remain a safe place for your child.  The critical behaviors that will not be tolerated and that will be referred to the office for intervention are:

·        Physical hitting, fighting, biting or other types of physical assault

·        Weapons of any kind, drugs, alcohol, tobacco products

·        Repeated willful disobedience or disrespect                           

We hope we will have an opportunity to discuss any questions you have regarding our Positive Behavior Support Program (PBS) at Open House.  Again, please go over the information in this letter with your child or children and keep this letter so that you can refer to it in the future.  Please sign and return the attached form within the next week stating you have read this letter and explained it to your children.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

 The Woodmen Hills Positive Behavior Support Team

Please sign and date after you have discussed this with your children and return to your child’s classroom teacher.

PBS Parent Pledge

We want Woodmen Hills Elementary School to be a safe, caring, learning environment where all children can work hard, learn a lot, and have fun.  We accomplish this by following our Tornado Pride expectations.

·        Work Hard

·        Honor All                 

·        Expect Excellence

·        Show Safety

We understand and support the policy regarding Absolute Critical Behaviors:

 ·         Physical hitting, fighting, biting or other types of assault or inappropriate physical contact

·         Repeated willful disobedience  

·         Drugs, alcohol, tobacco products or weapons of any kind

·         Disrespect to children, adults, or property including verbal threats, harassment and bullying

 In order to assure a safe school environment, we will work with the school by talking to our children about their responsibilities.

We understand that our child will be sent home or to our place of work if they are involved in a critical behavior.

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Parent/Guardian Signature

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Date