COVINGTON, Ga. - Fairview Elementary School recently received the Georgia Department of Education’s highest recognition for their work with their Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, also known as PBIS. 

Overall, 14 Newton County School System schools earned recognition for their outstanding accomplishments with their continuing implementation PBIS. PBIS is an evidence-based, data-driven framework proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety, improve school climate, and support improved academic outcomes for all students.

The state has four recognition levels for PBIS Schools, including Installing, Emerging, Operational, and Distinguished. Fairview Elementary attained the “Distinguished” level recognition for their PBIS work during the 2017-2018 school year. 

“Our work with PBIS has really influenced our school climate in a positive way,” Dr. LaMoyne Brunson, principal of Fairview Elementary School, said. “PBIS is the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework through which we teach all students to be safe, organized, accountable, and respectful. We use the word ‘SOAR’ to remind everyone of our expectations every day. Our work with PBIS and SOAR has dramatically decreased the number of office discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions in recent years, but more importantly, it has developed a new way of thinking about student discipline and how to teach students about being responsible for their actions. Our goal is to have a safe and happy school for our students, and we understand that our work will impact their success later in life.”

Four schools—Clements Middle, Liberty Middle, Livingston Elementary, and Porterdale Elementary—earned “Operational” status for their work during the 2017-2018 school year. In addition, seven schools—Cousins Middle, Flint Hill Elementary, Live Oak Elementary, Middle Ridge Elementary, Newton High, Veterans Memorial Middle, and West Newton Elementary—were recognized at the “Emerging” level. Two schools, Alcovy High School and Indian Creek Middle received recognition as the “Installing” level.

“I am very proud of all of our current PBIS schools’ accomplishments,” Samantha Fuhrey, NCSS superintendent, said. “PBIS is changing the way we think of school culture and climate. The PBIS framework enables us to positively impact our students, and they are responding well to our initiatives. We have seen dramatic decreases in student disciplinary incidents over the past few years, and we plan to keep making efforts to continue this trend. I want to thank our PBIS District and School Leadership Teams for all of the work they have put forth in making this a successful endeavor.”