Beatrice middle school leaders report progress on behavior and begin academic MTSS rollout

Middle school staff presented the building’s continuous-improvement goals and preliminary data and described early steps to implement a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) for academics and behavior.

The update matters because the plans tie directly into the district strategic plan adopted in 2022 and influence instruction, staffing supports and use of targeted professional development funded through district and grant resources.

Mr. Stengel, a middle-school presenter, told the Board that the building has two primary goals for 2025–26: maintain behavior incident thresholds across the student body and develop an academic MTSS framework that includes decision rules, screening tools, tiered interventions and progress monitoring. "Anytime we talk about multi tiered systems of support...it's always going to be evolving and fine tuning," Stengel said.

Stengel presented three years of comparable behavior data taken about 25–27 days into each school year. He said the building currently records 13 major incidents for the year and is tracking minors at levels driven largely by teacher-managed interventions. For minors, Stengel reported 123 incidents this year compared with 105 in 2023–24, noting about 40 more students are enrolled this year. On a schoolwide threshold metric, he reported 85.2% of students had zero documented behavior incidences; 8.83% had one incident; 5.54% had two to five incidents; and two students were in a six-or-more category.

Stengel and his team linked the higher minor-incident counts in part to recent staff turnover and a larger share of younger teachers. He described building-level systems intended to support newer teachers and said the leadership team can break the data down by grade cohort if the board wants more detail.

On academics, the presenters said the math team has created intervention windows at the start and end of the school day. "We have four math teachers. They have the very start of their day and very end of their day that is blocked for intervention," Stengel said, adding the team is moving toward mixed-grade, skill-focused interventions rather than homework completion supports.

For reading and language arts, Stengel confirmed the district received a CLSD grant and is using those funds to provide professional development in the science of reading for secondary teachers. He said the work is in early stages: "We're just at the footsteps of that one," and rated its current implementation at about 30% complete.

The presentation included several operational items connected to the district strategic plan: camera upgrades in select areas, keyless-entry installations, and planned professional development on technology and AI. Stengel said some community mental-health partnerships previously in place — specifically Blue Veil Behavioral Health’s grant-funded therapists — ended when the grant expired, and the district is pursuing new local partnerships to provide mental-health links for students.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the 30% progress estimate, data disaggregation by grade and whether the building could provide monthly MTSS updates. Stengel said staff can break the data into grade-level cohorts and report more frequently if the board prefers.

Moving forward, the middle-school leadership asked only for direction on further data reporting and confirmed that most strategic-plan items for the five-year cycle are on track or in progress.

The board took no formal action on the presentation; the session was informational.