The Parma City School District places a strong emphasis Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) by collaborating between administration, the Parma Area Family to Family Collaborative, our school buildings, parents, and community organizations. The PBIS initiative has been expanding in our District with proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create positive school environments. 

In the past, discipline practices have focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Research has shown that the implementation of punishment, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective.

Introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important step in a student's educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBIS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm.

In addition, each school building conducts various anti-bullying programs throughout the year. These include assemblies, red-ribbon weeks, and other initiatives including community events such as Rachel's Challenge and Empowerment Rallies.  The District also maintains several ways to report bullying, including:

Even with these excellent programs in place, we are constantly striving to discover more ways to ensure the safety of our students. In 2013 a team of students began leading this charge by assessing the programs we currently have in place, and working with their peers to discover whether they recognize bullying when they see, and what to do when they witness or experience bullying. Their discovery will guide our future programs and efforts.

More information on PBIS can be found at this link