Don Lugo qualifies for the bronze medal!  What for, you ask?  Another record setting accomplishment, this time with the school’s highly successful PBIS program!

The PBIS program has made undeniable progress towards a safer, more positive environment for students, earning the school recognition for qualifying for a bronze award from the PBIS Coalition.  A bronze medal is the highest award Lugo can obtain in its first few years of implementation.  Even though the school is officially award worthy, the Chino and Don Lugo community may still not know how PBIS is effecting the campus.

PBIS stands for Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports.  On the PBIS website, the coalition describes PBIS as, “an implementation framework for maximizing the selection and use of evidence-based prevention and interventions practices along a multi-tiered continuum that supports the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral supports of all students.”  In basic terms, this means that PBIS is a system that encourages schools to discipline students with rehabilitative rather than punitive punishments, meaning that students at risk will be counseled and more carefully addressed than simply being issued a suspension, expulsion, or other similar sentences.

Don Lugo staff and administration implement PBIS in several ways on campus.  From daily reminders to students to “Walk the Conquistador Way,” to celebrating the first day of school in a unique way–these initiatives are the product of the school’s PBIS success.

The school’s achievement is possible because of the council of approximately 17 staff members from several different positions around school–adhering to guidelines given by the San Bernardino County.  The acceptance of this bronze award has been a great pleasure for them and should make students proud of the school’s collective improvement.

When the program began implementation in 2016, Lugo’s biggest problems were:  truancy, non-suspendable offenses such as bullying, unauthorized use of electronics, dress code infractions, and no-show detentions.  Now, the school’s largest issues are truancy, dress code infractions, electronics, no-show detentions, and disruption/defiance in the classroom.  Data from the PBIS team reveals that every disciplinary issue has fallen with only one exception…general disruption. A data collection change at the office level may be responsible for the lack of change in data, but the Truancy dropped 34%, non-disciplinary contact fell 187%, electronics have dropped 13%, dress code has fallen 4%, and no-show detentions have fallen 99%.

Clearly, no matter how students feel about PBIS lessons, they are having a tangible, positive effect on the school as a whole.

Not only is PBIS helping students, but it will improve Lugo’s reputation as a whole and open the school up to increasing enrollment. More students, means more: course, elective, and teacher options–everyone wins!