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New Philadelphia High School spotlights PBIS program; administrators report a 19% drop in in-school suspensions
Summary
Administrators and students described the high school's PBIS initiative, including a teacher-run Q-card reward system, weekly video announcements, and incentives such as nine-week raffle trips; presenters reported an early 19% decline in in-school suspensions and said federal funds plus private donations covered rewards and trips.
The New Philadelphia High School presented a building spotlight at the Jan. 7 board meeting outlining its Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program and early results.
Assistant principal Ben Worth described PBIS as "a systemwide approach to helping reaffirm and just acknowledge good character in our students to improve our climate," explaining the program balances discipline with positive reinforcement. He said teachers issue "Q cards" when students demonstrate positive behavior; the cards are entered into weekly drawings featured on the school's video announcements on Quaker Media, and students who collect entries become eligible for larger nine-week raffles and trips.
Two seniors, Emily Movement and Marcus Adelman, told the board how the Q-card process works and cited examples of rewards (t-shirts, tumblers, school-branded gear) and past trips (Top Golf) and a planned outing to the Nugget Pickleball Center. "It kind of creates a healthy competition within the school," one student said of the Q-card drawings.
On program outcomes, Worth reported that, "we've seen an in-school suspension decrease of about 19%" since implementing recent PBIS tweaks, while noting that other measurable outcomes will require more time to evaluate.
Teachers and coaches at the meeting credited the program's consistency and leadership. A coach said Mr. Bartholomew's follow-through and inclusion of staff and students had markedly improved hallway and restroom behavior and student engagement. Staff also described practical steps such as a Google form for teachers to record Q-card nominations when they forget to do so in class.
The presenter told the board the district used federal funds to pay for PBIS rewards and that a donation from Trevor and Daniel Long helped offset the cost of the earlier Top Golf trip. Administrators said social-media video announcements (Quaker Media) have helped increase student awareness of weekly drawings.
The spotlight concluded with board members thanking students and staff for their work and recognizing early positive indicators from the program; administrators emphasized continued data collection and future metric reporting.
