SYRACUSE — Five years ago, a new program emphasizing the teaching and rewarding of positive behaviors was implemented within the Wawasee Community School Corp. It was a change in culture and also changed the focus of how students are disciplined.

During the Tuesday evening, Dec. 8, regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board in Syracuse, the board heard a report from Mark Mitchell, mental health therapist, about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, more commonly known as simply PBIS. Mitchell is the school district coach for PBIS.

Mitchell said PBIS is a data based problem solving approach. He said the emphasis of PBIS is on prevention, teaching and reinforcing positive behaviors. Mitchell noted the old system of discipline was punitive in nature and students were punished for not following the rules, but were never taught positive behaviors.

He said there is proof the punitive system does not work because after the punishment, negative behaviors are repeated again and again.

Wawasee began implementing PBIS in 2010 using federal stimulus funds. Students are grouped using a tier system with one group being those who exhibit negative behaviors once in a while and another group being the students with more frequent problems.

Mitchell said PBIS works best when staff members are mindful of “praising” students when they do what is expected of them. He cited one example of a student showing respect for others while waiting in the lunch line. A staff member should take a minute to thank the student for being respectful. He added Wawasee schools have behavior expectations which are clearly posted.

PBIS has a four to one ratio of positives versus negatives, Mitchell noted.

But, he acknowledged, there are challenges. “Positive reinforcement is not as easy as it looks,” he said, noting some students don’t respond as well to positive reinforcement as others do. And training can be a problem if there is a large staff and teacher turnover, which has happened at some Wawasee schools.

Overall, PBIS has proven to be successful in Wawasee schools, Mitchell said. He would like to see it improve even more and for more emphasis to be placed on training.

In other business, the 1:1 initiative to provide electronic devices for every student in the school district by the start of the 2016-17 school year continues to move forward. The board heard a report from Dave VanLue and Jace Stewart. VanLue, technology director for Wawasee schools, said a technology focus group has been busy researching devices, visiting and talking with other schools and talking to students, teachers and staff within the Wawasee district.

He noted the ultimate reason for why the electronic devices are being pursued is “we want students to be actively engaged in their learning.” Classroom learning has changed, he said.

In order for the devices to work properly, the infrastructure needs to be upgraded within the school district. That will mean, for one example, wireless access points will need to be installed in every classroom, not every other classroom as is the case now.

The technology focus group has decided to go with iPads for grades kindergarten through third and Chromebooks for grades four to 12. Specific models have not been chosen yet, but the school board will be updated later on models and costs involved.

The board approved the timeline for the focus group to continue, which will mean purchasing some devices for teachers in early 2016 so they can get used to them.