PBS! A Strategy to Help
Prevent the School to
Prison Pipeline
Presenter: Damekia Morgan
Families and Friend of LA’s
Incarcerated Children
504-522-5437
Get to Know your
Classmate!
handout
Focus on the Children
.
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Do you think kids have
changed? Why? Why
Not?
Give me one word that
describes you as a 12
year old.
What is the STPP?
What’s your definition?
View Documentary
Q&A
FFLIC’s Definition
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...this problem as the systematic and institutional
approach to depriving poor people a right to an
equitable and quality education; the deliberate approach
to using poor people (of color) to fill the Prison Industrial
Complex; and the continued intentional efforts to make
poor people of color feel inferior to what is deemed the
superior race; and this is done by pushing kids out of
school through unjust suspension and expulsions, highstake testing, the lack of consistently available
educational resources , denial of special education
services, lowered expectations, zero-tolerance, and
mentally preparing kids for prison by creating prison like
environments in the schools-with the overuse of police
and security guards policing students.
So, how do our kids go from School
to Prison…
Zero Tolerance
Suspension
Expulsions
Court
contact
Lack
of
Consistently available
Educational resources
Denial of
promotion
leads to
drop out.
High
Stakes
Testing
PRISON
Expected to
be a
criminal.
Lowered Expectations
Mental
preparation
for prison.
Overuse of
Police and security guards
Policing students
What is PBS?
PBIS is defined as Positive Behavior
Interventions and Supports (PBIS) a
proactive systems approach to
establishing the behavioral supports and
social culture needed for all students in a
school to achieve social, emotional, and
academic success. Currently this is not
happening which is one of the reasons
why we believe the STPP exist.
PBS con’t…
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Is a collaborative, assessment-based
approach to developing effective
interventions for problem behavior
Aims to build effective environments in
positive behavior is more effective than
problem behavior
Culture & Respect
What is culture & respect?
Culture & Respect
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Students are sent to the office more that any
other reason for “willfully disobedient” or
disrespect. For PBS to work we must have a
shared definition of what is disrespectful. We
must understand culture.
When we are looking at the PBS as a strategy to
affecting the STPP most of these students will
fall in the tertiary (red – 5%) or secondary
(yellow -15%) level.
These are the students who will most likely fall
outside of the 80% (green group).
Culture con’t
the set of shared attitudes, values, goals,
and practices that characterizes an
institution or organization <a corporate
culture focused on the bottom line>
Webster dictionary
Culture
the integrated pattern of human knowledge,
belief, and behavior that depends upon the
capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge
to succeeding generations . * the customary
beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a
racial, religious, or social group; also : the
characteristic features of everyday existence (as
diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a
place or time <popular culture> <southern
culture>
What is the culture of the institution for education when it comes
to dealing with behavioral problem student?
How can we change the culture?
CULTURE
Are we criminalizing
Childhood and Adolescent
Behavior
Facts
About adolescent development.
Stand up!!!
If You...
What are other alternatives to
removing a student from the
learning environment?
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Peer Mediation Program
Teacher Buddy system
Community Conferencing
Restorative Justice
Check in Check out
What else?
Legislative Policies
That furthers the STPP.
For more information on how you
can get a copy of the DVD…
www.fflic.org