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Beatrice Middle School reports behavioral reductions, staffing and schedule changes tied to MTSS work
Summary
Middle school leaders reported a goal to maintain or reduce major behavior referrals, formation of MTSS structures, plans to add reading/ELA staff to increase daily literacy time, bell schedule changes to add end‑of‑day intervention time and several infrastructure/community supports.
Middle school staff presented the committee with progress on two goals: maintaining or reducing major/minor behavior referrals from 2023–24 levels, and creating a refined tiered intervention system for students needing extra academic support.
“Mister Tristan” and school staff said the current data show majors at 79 this school year and that the minors are higher than last year; presenters said that, despite more minor incidents, majors have decreased and the school is on track to finish the year at or below last year’s totals. The presentation noted the school had eight new staff members this year and suggested that teacher experience levels contributed to the pattern of minors and majors.
To strengthen interventions, staff said the middle school will add four reading teachers and four ELA teachers for the 2025–26 school year, increasing students’ time on reading and writing to roughly 88 minutes a day in targeted instruction. The school also freed math teachers from study-hall duties so they can provide regular reteaching for students needing tier-2 support.
Leaders described a bell‑schedule adjustment driven by bus-arrival times; they proposed moving to an 8:15 a.m. start and 3:15 p.m. dismissal to create a 30‑minute end‑of‑day window for academic recovery, reteaching and reassessment. Staff said they tracked daily and weekly incident patterns (Mondays and Fridays typically lower; Thursdays higher) to target interventions.
Other items presented as part of the strategic-plan review: security-camera upgrades, partnership with the Coats for Kids program (donation of more than $700 in coats), completion of the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) screener for social-emotional needs, and ongoing recruitment: five current openings after hiring three new staff (ELA teacher, counselor and special-education position). Presenters cautioned that minor-incident counts are incident totals, not unique students.
Board members asked for more breakdowns by grade and day; staff said they perform monthly analyses and can return with additional data. No formal board vote was taken during the presentation; the items were presented for review and administrative planning.
