Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities
The Intermediate Unit 1 Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Advisory Council supports school districts in their efforts to keep students safe and healthy. One member represents each district and the council holds 3-4 meetings per year and focuses on:
- providing a survey to assess districts' needs;
- training and networking opportunities;
- coordinating activities between state, local schools and agencies, and;
- assisting schools with program development to ensure that schools are able to institute proactive and reactive, when necessary, strategies to establish and maintain safe schools for staff and students.
School Emergency Plans
Downloads
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHs)
The Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies curriculum is a comprehensive program that promotes emotional and social competencies and reduces aggression and behavior problems in elementary school-aged children, while enhancing the educational process in the classroom. The PATHS preventive intervention program is based on the Affective-Behavioral-Cognitive-Dynamic (ABCD) model of development. This places primary importance on the developmental integration of affect, behavior, and cognitive understanding as they relate to social and emotional competence. A basic premise is that a child's coping, as reflected in his or her behavior and internal regulation, is a function of emotional awareness, affective-cognitive control and behavioral skills, and social-cognitive understanding.
The PATHS curriculum contains numerous lessons that seek to provide children with the knowledge and skills within three major conceptual units:
- The Readiness and Self-Control "Turtle" Unit
- The Feelings and Relationships Unit
- Problem Solving Unit
The lessons include instruction in identifying and labeling feelings, expressing feelings, assessing the intensity of feelings, managing feelings, understanding the difference between feelings and behaviors, delaying gratification, controlling impulses, reducing stress, self-talk, reading and interpreting social cues, understanding the perspectives of others, using steps for problem-solving and decision-making, having a positive attitude toward life, self-awareness, nonverbal communication skills, and verbal communication skills. The curriculum is designed for use by educators and counselors in a multiyear, prevention model that concentrates primarily on school and classroom settings, but also includes information and activities for use with parents. Ideally, the program should be initiated at the start of school and continued through sixth grade. Teachers generally receive training in a 1- to 2-day workshop and in biweekly meetings with the curriculum consultant.
PATHS has been field-tested and researched in general education classrooms, with a variety of special-needs students.
Positive Behavior Supports
A major advance in school-wide discipline is the emphasis on school-wide systems of support that include proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors in order to create positive school environments. A continuum of positive behavior support for all students within a school is implemented in areas. This includes classroom and nonclassroom settings (such as hallways, restrooms, etc.). Positive behavior support is an application of a behaviorally based systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families, and communities to design effective environments that improve the link between research-validated practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all children and youth by making problem behavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional.
Training is conducted at the school site or teams are invited to the Intermediate Unit.
The training is divided into three different levels:
- School-wide which includes all components: primary (school-wide), secondary, (classroom), and tertiary (individual). 2-3 training days, on-going consultation
- Secondary, 2-3 training days
- Tertiary (Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plans), 1-2 training Days
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention
The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention program, developed by the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), teaches staff to respond effectively to the warning signs that someone is beginning to lose control and addresses how staff can deal with their own stress, anxieties, and emotions.
Keypoints include how:
- You can learn how to take control of an out-of-control situation.
- You'll feel calm and confident-instead of fearful and confused.
- You'll learn how to promote safety and dignity-always.
- Regulation, legislation, and litigation-we understand your issues.
The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention training program is a holistic behavior management system based on providing the best care, welfare, safety, and security for staff and those in their care, even during the most violent moments. The program focuses on preventing disruptive behavior by communicating with individuals respectfully and with concern for their well-being. The program teaches physical interventions only as a last resort, when an individual presents an imminent danger to self or others, and all physical interventions taught are designed to be nonharmful, noninvasive, and to maintain the individual's dignity. Follow-up debriefing strategies are also key components of the training program.
Contact Us
For more information about these programs, please contact:
Donna Whoric
Behavior
724-938-3241 ext. 214
