The Fort Calhoun Community Schools offices will be closed December 24-25, and December 31-January 1st for the Holidays.
The PLC young adults are getting physical in 2022!! We were graciously gifted $1000 by the Nebraska Special Olympics towards the purchasing of exercise equipment. These funds combined with support and financial backing by the administration and school board, we were able to renovate and improve our physical activity space. We added 3 new pieces of exercise equipment, two free weight trees, workout mirrors, new paint, and an equipment storage cart. Students are now enjoying at least 10-15 minutes of physical activity every day.
Also, we are participating in the 2022 Special Olympics Nebraska Winter Combine. Students will be participating in weekly challenges in a variety of activities such as wall squats, sit-n-reach, and more. We will crown a winner of each event and they will be awarded with a certificate for their accomplishments! We can’t wait to have the students show off their physical skills.
On Saturday, February 26th, several high school students attended the Scholastic State Art Awards Ceremony at the Omaha Public Schools Teacher Administrative Center. This year the Nebraska Scholastic Art and Writing Awards affiliate received 2,531 entries from students all across the state, and as usual, the entries were competitive. On average, only a third of all entries get accepted into the exhibition. Collectively, the twelve students who earned awards received 17 Honorable Mentions, 3 Silver Keys, and 9 Gold Keys.
The Nebraska Scholastic State Art Exhibition will be on display at the OPS Teacher Administrative Center through March 31st. The building is located at 3215 Cuming St. and is open M-F from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please call Ashley Bonacci prior to visiting the exhibit at 531-299-9386.
Pictured above are-
Front L-R: Ava Bittner, Brooke Johnsen, Rowan Roehr, Regina Namuth, Sasha Robinson. Back: Kylie Perfetti, Abigale Lienemann, Katie Barta, Gabe Anduze. Not pictured: Ethan Dye, Glenn Hunter, Olivia Mello
From L-R Fort Calhoun High School Peer Mentor Jack Reed and Young Adult Program Participants Adam Banister and Jaiden Greenwell deliver orders from the Pioneer Store to elementary students, as part of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support program. Photo by Ashley Dougherty
By Cheyenne Alexis – features@enterprisepub.com
The Fort Calhoun Board of Education heard a presentation on Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) occurring at Fort Calhoun Elementary. Mike Mallette, interim high-ability learners instructor; Ashley Dougherty, special education coordinator; and Miranda Adams, the district’s school psychologist, spoke to the board on the program and how it has taken off at the elementary.
“By teaching and reinforcing school-wide behavior that Pioneers are safe, brave, respectful and responsible, we can improve student behavior and reduce discipline referrals, increase time that teachers and students are spending in academic content because they don’t have to deal with those behaviors and because of those two, increasing academic achievement and test scores because they’re able to engage more in academic content,“ Adams said.
The first year of PBIS’ implementation, Adams said the PBIS committee updates its disciplinary flow chart to distinguish learning behaviors and how teachers can identify and guide the behaviors.
To reward students, a ticket program was established to pick out the Pioneer of the Day and Pioneer of the Week who is safe, brave, respectful and responsible. “It’s super fun to recognize students for doing the right thing,” Adams said.
In 2021, a behavior honor roll was presented for students following the four goals. “We pick out students who are safe, brave, respectful and responsible for each classroom, and then give them a certificate and recognize them,” Mallette said.
Another addition to the PBIS program was the establishment of the Pioneer Store, where students could trade tickets for different prizes.” They turn in their tickets to their teachers, fill out an order form and those get turned into the PLC (Pioneer Learning Center),” Adams said. Almost 30,000 tickets were handed out last semester, Mallette said. “There’s lots of positivity getting spread out that way,” he said.
This program has also assisted with the Young Adults Program. “We’re really looking to diversify those skills and get them skilled in other areas,” Dougherty said. “So the store’s been amazing for us.” Those in the Young Adults Program fill the order forms, label the bags and deliver to the students.
Pioneers of the Week are also rewarded at Cherry Hill with free ice cream, which engages the community with the program, Mallette said. Adams said the PBIS program will continue with recognizing students and rewarding them for good behavior.
Teachers and staff are encouraged to communicate any behavioral issues they see on the playground, in the bathrooms, hallways, cafeteria and other areas and the committee will try to target those areas.
“The store’s been great and I think that’s really going to carry us through the years because it gets students excited about demonstrating those behaviors that we want to see,” Adams said. “But, really, the next big step for PBIS is the data piece. We’re making sure we’re collecting data.”
