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Broadbrook Elementary launches 'Caught Being Pawsome' and attendance club to boost attendance and behavior
Summary
Broadbrook Elementary introduced a schoolwide positive-behavior program and an attendance incentive club to raise daily attendance toward 95% and reduce chronic absenteeism; staff tied the initiatives to MTSS supports and weekly monitoring.
A Broadbrook Elementary presenter told the East Windsor School District Board that the school has launched two programs — “Caught Being Pawsome,” a positive behavior recognition system, and “Biscuit’s Best Attendance Club,” an attendance incentive — aimed at improving school climate and raising daily attendance to 95%.
The presenter described the behavior program’s mechanics: staff “catch” students meeting expectations, give a paper paw print that goes into a classroom bucket, and pull names each Friday for small tokens. Monthly winners receive a photo with the school mascot, Biscuit, and photos are posted in a display case outside the cafeteria to reinforce the desired behaviors. For attendance, classrooms and the whole school may earn rewards (for example, a dress-down day) if daily rates meet the 95% goal.
The presenter said the programs align with the district’s portrait of a graduate and equity goals, with the aim of reducing chronic absenteeism to below 10% and creating routines that encourage daily attendance. Board members heard that a recent schoolwide bingo activity engaged 272 students as part of the attendance effort.
District staff connected the work to the school’s MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) process. The presenter said grade-level teams use tiered action plans to target classrooms or groups with attendance or behavior gaps and that discipline referrals are being tracked weekly and monthly to adjust interventions.
Board members pressed for follow-up metrics and communication plans. One board member asked whether a follow-up report on absenteeism would be presented; the presenter agreed to bring data back. At least one board member noted last year’s chronic absenteeism rate ended at about 12% and that a snapshot earlier in the year reached about 16.1%, underscoring how two absences can quickly count toward chronic status.
The board welcomed the programs and praised staff initiative: one member said it was “commendable” that a staff member suggested the idea and the faculty adopted it schoolwide. The presenter and board discussed expanding family engagement and monthly letters to families that show each class’s attendance percentages.
The board asked staff to return with periodic updates so members can assess whether the initiatives are successfully increasing daily attendance and lowering chronic absenteeism.
