COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN

Linden Charter Academies Efforts to Decrease Referral Rates June 12, 2012

Announcement of the Plan

Administrative discussion upon approval to be held June 28, 2012: Upon Presented to The Service Center/Public Relations no later then July 6, 2012 Plan presented to: Building Principal, Deans, Parent Liaison, Social Worker and Parent Representative no later than July 13, 2012. Plan presented to the board: July Board Meeting (TBD) Plan presented to staff: August professional development Plan presented to families, students and community during open house the week of August 27th in the form of presentation and student family handbooks.

Context and Environmental Scan

Student Family Handbooks Teacher Handbooks Referral Forms Referral and Suspension Reports Special Education Audit 2011-2012 School-Wide Behavior Management System
Behavior

Management Guide School-Wide Expectations Chart

Stakeholders To Consider

Administration Service Center/Public Relations Department Staff Board of Trustees Parents Students

Objectives of the Plan

Decrease student referral rates Decrease suspension rates while increasing time in school Offer alternatives to suspension including further interventions: detentions, in-school responsibility room Align student handbooks and teacher handbooks to communicate student expectations, and consequences consistently Align classroom expectations and consequences to reflect that of those in handbooks Align student referral forms, infraction notices and other parent communication forms to reflect consequences in handbook

Strategies of the Plan

Objective 1: Decrease student referral rates. Plan: Increase the amount of intervention steps before an actual referral. Which includes parent contact, and detention. Objective 2: Decrease suspension rates while increasing time in school. Plan: Implement in school suspension before an out of school suspension occurs. Objective 3: Offer alternatives to suspension including further interventions. Plan: Detentions, in-school responsibility room, think it out sheets, and contact with student and parents from parent liaison, dean, or social worker.

Strategies of the Plan cont

Objective 4: Align student handbooks and teacher handbooks to communicate student expectations, and consequences consistently. Plan: Create a committee to work on alignment of the handbooks which should include: Administration, Public Relations personnel, teachers, social worker, parent liaison, and parents. Objective 5: Align classroom expectations and consequences to reflect that of those in handbooks Plan: Committee can make changes to the student expectations and consequence posters to be posted in classrooms and throughout the building.

Strategies of the Plan cont

Objective 6: Align student referral forms, infraction notices and other parent communication forms to reflect consequences in handbook Plan: Committee will update current forms to include the further steps of intervention

Key Audiences

Administration-Corinne Weaver Service Center/Public Relations Personnel All staff: Deans, social worker, parent liaison, secretaries, teachers Board of Trustees Parents/Community Student body

Announcement of the Plan

Steps: Communicate the plan at professional development days in August. PBIS committee will monitor referral and suspension rates monthly during PBIS meetings to compare data of prior years and report to teachers monthly. Communicate to parents at Open House, Curriculum Night and throughout the school year by reporting student referral rates as a comparison to the prior school year. Board should be updated monthly of the comparison of referral rates compared to the prior school year in the Linden Informer. Students should receive communications of referral rates in the form of school wide incentive contests, etc. This can be done by monthly or marking period.

Key Message:

As an attempt to decrease student referral and suspension rates Linden Charter Academy is making an effort to increase consistent communications with all stakeholders, and implement an action plan that is consistent with the mission, vision and philosophy to, better educate more children through high academic and social expectations. Linden will review the suspension and referral policies to align with the overall vision and school handbooks.

Key Message Cont

Explore the following: What do we hope to accomplish by suspending students? Do we hope for behavior improvement? Do we believe that suspension is a deterrent for students who make poor choices or do we only wish to remove them from school? You might believe that suspension is saved for student who are a potential danger in schools. However, research states that only 5 % of students are actually suspended due to violence or risky violent behavior. Is our goal to only deliver a consequence or is it to teach discipline with the belief of improved student behavior?

Key Message Cont.

Student academic and social growth is important to our overall school improvement and the betterment of the community.

Issues or Obstacles Anticipated

Reprinting
Staff

of the following materials:

handbooks Parent/student handbooks Student referral forms, and other infraction forms Building wide expectations and consequence posters
Creation
Staffing

of the in school suspension room

the in school suspension room Documenting rates of students in school suspension

Issues or Obstacles Anticipated Cont

Teacher Buy In:

Documentation
Following

procedures for communicating with

families Producing student work when needed

Budget for the Plan

Estimated cost of the reprinted materials includes: parent and teacher handbooks, referral and discipline forms.

Cost of an adult to man the responsibility room. Cost of one full-time employee $35,000.00.

Evaluation of the Plan

Monitoring the success of the room

Baseline data can be collected from Atschool from the school year 2011/2012

Collecting in school and out of school suspension data Collecting student reflection sheets and packets Collections of parent dialogue/ conference contact sheets Collections of resources offered to families for out of school services Surveys to teachers Surveys to students Surveys to parents of students who have attended

We will complete a mid-year evaluation to look at the process and the data. End of the year evaluation look at the data and survey results.
Further recommendations can be made based on that information.

References

American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (2009) Michigans Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School to-Prison Pipeline. [Electronic version]. Retrieved May 27, 2012, from, http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/services/CWS/Materials/10-056-09-CPP-B3.pdf Losen, J. Daniel, & Skiba, J. Russell.(2012) Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis. [Electronic version]. Retrieved May 26, 2012, from http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/schooldiscipline/suspended-education-urban-middle-schools-in-crisis/Suspended-Education Macdonald, S. Caroline, & Sheehy, M. Alfred. (2003) School/Expulsion Project Briefing Paper: Printed under appropriation #2000JFFX0023 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Program, U.S. Department of Justice. Gray,Roza,& Smith, Michele. (2001) In-School Suspension is it Working? [Electronic version]. Teaching and Learning Research Exchange, Project #36, 1-20. Retrieved May 26, 2012, from http://www.stf.sk.ca/mcdowell United States General Accounting Office. (2001) Student Discipline [Electronic version]. Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. GAO-01-210. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from http://www.gao.gov/new.items.