New programs for students, staff

KENT — It is not unusual for parents and children to think of the first day of school as a return to the familiar. However, returning students to Kent Center School (KCS), along with the welcoming familiarity, will also find new programs and staff.Kent Center School Principal Rima McGeehan said, “We are excited because we are beginning our new school year with 275 students, including 10 new students (non-kindergarten).”One of the new initiatives for the new school year “is a federally mandated program, Response To Interventions, where we evaluate students at different levels to help identify struggling learners and provide interventions to get them back on track,” McGeehan said. A new program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is similar “except it focuses on behavior instead of academics,” she said.The PBIS program will be introduced to students on the first day of school. “We have a staff PBIS team that will perform a skit for students to introduce them to the concept. On the second day of school we will have a presentation in the cafeteria to show what positive behavior looks like in that environment. “We will model that for students and let them know they are expected to practice model behavior,” the principal explained. “Going forward, students we observe practicing positive behaviors will be recognized.”Teachers and other KCS staff have spent a year being trained in the framework of PBIS. All staff participate including administrators, teachers and bus drivers.KCS is in year three of a three-year technology plan involving professional development for teachers. Much of the professional development is in-house, led by computer teacher Carolyn McCloud. A new KSC website brings a new resource to parents, students and the community: www.kentcenterschool.org. Every teacher has a page on the website offering parents a way to see what’s happening in the classrooms and what types of curriculum are being addressed, and to get timely information.“And I’m starting a new initiative, Professional Learning Communities,” McGeehan said. “These are groups of interested staff members accessing resources on important topics in education and bringing all of our learning back to the table, sharing it with the entire staff and implementing best practices in the classrooms.”This new concept was presented to teachers a week before school opened. McGeehan said she already has a dozen volunteers. Topics to be investigated and brought back to the school include enrichment for students, writing across the curriculum and autism.The principal noted that Kent Center School is beginning the second year of the LEAPS program for autistic learners, noting, “It seems the incidence of autistic births is increasing.”