The Behavior/Counseling department consists of five staff members: Megan Muller, Margaret Niedzwiecki, Laura Ratini, Debbie Walsh and Jennifer Ziolko. These staff all have Masters degrees in psychology, counseling, or social work. The behavior specialists are responsible for meeting the students’ individual and group counseling minutes. Along with the rest of the CWA team, we try to provide the students with skills they need to be successful. We work on social skills, coping skills, problem solving, assertiveness, and many other skills they need to function after school, at home, and in the community. The behavior specialists are also available to speak with parents regarding any ongoing or significant issues.

Another responsibility of the behavior specialists is to assist with individual students who are having significant moments of difficulty coping with the behavioral expectations in their classroom. The role of the behavior specialists in these instances is to provide the structures and supports the students need to process an issue, resolve a situation, and return to the classroom ready to cope and rejoin the group.

In addition, the behavior specialists are responsible for setting up and monitoring the school-wide point system. The goal of the point system is to teach students appropriate behaviors that coincide with the themes of respect, responsibility, and having positive relationships. The approach is proactive, so students are working to earn rewards, rather than trying to avoid something negative. As students are rewarded for their good behavior, they are learning what is appropriate. The goal is for students to generalize these learned behaviors to other all other areas of their lives.

Students earn points for demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Specifically, they are earning their points for being on task and participating, interacting appropriately with others, using appropriate language and voice tone, staying in the assigned area, and following directions and school rules. Students earning their points receive rewards daily, weekly, and monthly. Daily rewards include free time or small tangible rewards. The weekly reward is the school store. The school store continues to be structured as it was in previous years. Students earn a bronze certificate after one week of good behavior and can save up for better prizes in the silver, gold, and platinum categories. Something we began last year that we are going to continue is to offer field trips for platinum. One new thing we have added this year is that students will be able to purchase doughnuts on Friday for delivery on Monday mornings. The monthly reward usually takes the form of a party, sometimes involving food or treats. As the year progresses, students will be expected to maintain higher percentages of appropriate behavior in order to earn the monthly parties.