Cuyahoga Falls Board hears PBIS Plus, Panorama results as discipline referrals fall and attendance work expands

The Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education on Jan. 8 heard a presentation from district Student Services staff on PBIS Plus and results from the fall Panorama student survey, along with an update on discipline and attendance efforts.

The presentation described PBIS Plus as the district’s effort to integrate traditional positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) with social-emotional learning (SEL) and attendance within a Multi‑Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). District staff said principals were asked to hold monthly PBIS meetings that incorporate behavior, attendance and Panorama data; elementary teams received one‑hour “day to day” classroom data sessions this fall with plans to expand to longer sessions in spring; and secondary schools are working to align three separate PBIS matrices ahead of the planned move to a shared campus.

District presenters told the board that Panorama revised its question wording and shortened the recall window over the summer, creating what staff described as a new national baseline; presenters warned that fall-to-fall comparisons can be misleading because of that change. The district reported stronger survey participation than in past administrations — 76% districtwide and about 93% at the high school — and said Panorama’s new normed scoring shows emotion regulation below the national average for some grade bands. Board members asked for the specific Panorama items used to measure emotion regulation and challenging feelings; district staff agreed to provide the question wording in the board’s Friday notes and to make the district‑level items available for board review (no student‑level data would be shared).

Student Services staff also presented discipline trends and said the district recorded a 36.7% drop in office referrals in the first semester of 2024–25 compared with the same period the prior year. Staff provided more granular figures they attributed to building reports: in‑school suspension down about 31.8%, out‑of‑school suspension down about 40%, recommendations for expulsion down about 63% and students actually expelled down about 76% for the same comparison period. Emergency removals (short‑term removals for safety reasons) were an exception and showed an increase; administrators said those removals often led to SEL interventions rather than longer punishments.

Principals and building leaders told Student Services they attribute much of the drop in disciplinary actions to a combination of factors including the new cell‑phone policy in some buildings, stronger emphasis on relationship building (noted examples included the First 5 daily SEL prompts and small‑group counseling), regular care‑team meetings to progress‑monitor interventions, and consistent expectations set at the start of the year. The district said secondary buildings have formed care teams that meet at least twice monthly and include principals, social workers, counselors and psychologists.

On attendance, the district’s attendance liaison reported a mixed picture: chronic absenteeism is still tracked for the state report card definition (students missing more than 10% of school), and staff said the district’s monthly use of Ohio’s House Bill 410 process (the state law that governs habitual truancy interventions) has increased compared with prior years. The liaison said the district’s habitual truancy count fell (from 355 to 229 in the snapshot cited), in part because the district is issuing intervention letters more quickly and expanding outreach. Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 efforts include home visits, partnerships with Summit County juvenile court diversion programs, case management and targeted family supports through the Black Tiger Family Center. Staff described concrete incentives and outreach under the “Stay in the Game” campaign (t‑shirts, prizes, local event tickets and a Browns game appearance for one student) and said they are piloting postcard and office‑hours outreach at elementary schools.

Board members asked how the district measures the causes of absenteeism; staff said reasons are varied (transportation, economic instability, family circumstances and, in some cases, lack of connection to school) and emphasized that the district is prioritizing relationship‑building and tiered supports over attempting a separate root‑cause analysis for every child. Staff also described expanded coordination with Summit County juvenile court to file truancy cases earlier in some circumstances so diversion resources can be applied while school is in session.

The presentation closed with the district’s plan to continue RethinkEd lessons, to expand teacher capacity for SEL, and to use Panorama, PBIS Plus and attendance dashboards to guide MTSS interventions. Board members asked staff to return the requested Panorama question wording and to provide follow‑up information after the February Panorama administration so the district and board can plan targeted interventions.