Mini-Series Part #1: My Top 3 Moves to Prevent Behavior Issues This Year

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Welcome to The Principal’s Handbook. In this episode, this is part number one of a mini series, and I’m going to be talking about three things I’m doing to plan for behavior next school year. That’s all coming up next on The Principal’s Handbook. Stay tuned.

Speaker:
Welcome to The Principal’s Handbook, your go-to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self-care. I’m Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.

From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, we’ll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.

Well, welcome back to the podcast. Today we are talking about three things [00:01:00] I’m doing to plan for behavior, and I want to give you a little bit of context.

So I was an elementary principal for eight years in a district that was a K-5 building, and I took a year off. I’ve been coaching principals and focusing on my podcast and other coaching resources and decided to go back to being a principal because I really missed it.

I talked about this a little bit in a reflection episode I did a few episodes back. Basically, this school year coaching principals has been like a year of PD, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I really miss. I miss leadership. I miss being part of a school. I miss students.

I got a job actually in the district that I taught in before I became a principal. I’m going back to that district, and I’m going to be in a K-2 building.

So as I’m planning for that K-2 building, I wanted to do a mini series with different areas, talking about all the ways that I’m planning. Even if you’re not going into a new building, you could think about [00:02:00] this in your current building. Or if you are a brand new principal, this is perfect to start thinking about. Or if you’re transitioning to a new building like I am, there’s a bunch of different ways that you could use this.

I want to just give you a little bit of background. The building that I’m going to is a K-2 building in a district that has 100% free and reduced lunch. It is all Title I funding through the schools, and there are a lot of different needs within the district. So it is going to be a little bit of a challenge.

I know that there are going to be some behaviors—it’s kindergarten. If you’re a principal who has never been in a kindergarten building, you never know what you’re going to get. I previously was in a K-5 building and I’ve had years where it was a very smooth transition, and then there were years where we had a lot of kids who never had preschool or access to a school setting, and it was completely new to them. So there were a lot of behaviors that we dealt with at the beginning of the school year.

Going into this K-2 building, I’m not sure what to expect with [00:03:00] kindergarten. Like I said, you never really are. We even have a preschool in the district, but you just never know because there are kids that don’t go to preschool and they come to kindergarten.

Today I just wanted to share three big things I’m doing right now to get ahead of any behavior challenges before the first day of school starts. Because my philosophy is that I am out the door by four. I am all about being the 8 to 4 principal, where I can have really good work-life balance.

But I think a big part that can hinder that is if you are dealing with behaviors all day and you’re constantly putting out fires. So now, when it’s summer, I’m trying to be really proactive. I’m trying to plan ahead and really think about:
What is going to help minimize behaviors during the school year?

That’s what I’m going to share with you today.

1. Mapping Out Supervision and the Schedule
This is different for everybody. Of course, if you’ve been in a building, you might not be doing a new schedule. If you’re coming to a new building, you might not even be [00:04:00] creating a schedule.

The difference here is I’m coming to a building where they’re actually combining two elementary schools. There used to be a kindergarten building and a first and second grade building. Now we’re combining it to be a K-2 building. And so with that, they don’t have a master schedule for all of those grades.

I am not only coming into this, but I’m trying to work out the schedule and what that looks like, which is a little bit challenging as a principal when you’ve never been in the building.

Definitely getting input from people around you is really important—people in the district, teachers—all of that. Ideally, I like to do scheduling before school ends and get teacher input and have them help with it. But in this case, we need to start the year with a schedule, and teachers are on summer break. We need to have most of it done before teachers come back.

One of the things I’m really looking at as I’m digging into the schedule is:
What does the schedule look like when it comes to behaviors?
What I’m thinking about is unstructured time—when students are [00:05:00] outside. I’m thinking about how many students are outside at one time and how many people are going to be monitoring them in this unstructured environment.

In my last district, we had about a hundred kids per grade level, so we would have two grade levels outside at a time with four adults, and that seemed to work. We also had a big playground, so that’s another thing to consider—what is the size of the playground, and how many kids can play there safely and without getting in each other’s way?

Because if you have too small of a space, of course you’re going to have behavior issues. You really want to think about the space, the number of kids outside, and how many adults you have outside supervising.

The other thing you want to think about is the cafeteria. Who’s supervising students? How many students are going to be eating lunch at one time? Who’s going to be there to help students? We know—this is a K-2 building—students are going to need a [00:06:00] lot of support at the beginning of the year, even opening things or knowing what to do. It’s really important that you have the right amount of supervision to support students.

Then, when you’re thinking about dismissal and arrival, are adults watching in the hallways? What does that look like?

Also think about:

• Where behavior challenges can pop up during unstructured times

• Where can I be supervising?

• Where might we need extra staff?

Even when you’re in a K-2 building, which is different if you’re not, kindergarten needs extra time at the beginning of the year. I always scheduled extra lunchtime for kindergarten and then cut five minutes off after the first nine weeks.

One thing when I’m thinking about the schedule is lunchtime. During COVID, we had 30-minute lunches, and we had so many [00:07:00] behaviors because they had so much extra unstructured time. It just led to more behaviors versus a 20-minute lunch.

Even thinking about the amount of unstructured time—more lunchtime doesn’t necessarily mean that little kids are going to eat more. It might be different with older kids, but with young ones, it can just lead to more behavior issues.

So that’s the first one—mapping out supervision, how many people will be with students during unstructured time, and what the schedule looks like.

2. Reviewing the PBIS Expectations
I know for a fact this district does PBIS. They’ve had training and have that system in place, which is awesome. You might be going into a school or have a school that doesn’t, which is a little different. But knowing they’ve done a lot of work tells me they already have clear expectations and systems for teaching them.

That was one of the questions I asked the assistant superintendent. If you have someone you can ask, figure out what systems are already in place.

Right now, I want to review what those expectations are.

• Are they posted everywhere for teachers and students to see?

• How consistently are teachers teaching and reviewing them?

There are lesson plans, behavior matrixes, and a list of expectations for each area in the school. One of the things I always say is: Honor what’s already been there when you’re coming in as a new principal.

They’ve already done a ton of work with PBIS, so I want to see how I can support staff in reinforcing those expectations from day one.

Think about:

• Are expectations posted everywhere?

• Are they taught consistently?

• Are staff across all roles (like recess monitors) reinforcing them?

3. Digging Into Last Year’s Behavior Data
I’m fortunate to be in a district that has behavior data already collected. But when it’s different people collecting data, you have to take it with a grain of salt—it can be subjective.

Still, you can look at:

• What were the most common types of behavior referrals?

• When did they occur (day/time)?

• What responses or consequences were used?

This gives you baseline information. If I see a ton of issues in the afternoon, I’m not going to schedule a bunch of meetings then—I’ll be more visible. If behaviors occur in the morning, I’ll adjust accordingly.

You can also use this to determine what kinds of interventions or expectations need more support.

So just to review, here are the three big steps I’m taking right now to get ahead of behavior challenges:

1. Planning for supervision and the schedule

2. Reviewing the PBIS expectations

3. Analyzing last year’s behavior data to plan proactive supports

If you want help with creating Tier 1 systems for your building, I have The Principal’s Discipline Toolkit. It’s designed to help principals respond with clarity and confidence.

I used to have a lot of mind drama around discipline, and I know how that feels—replaying things over and over in your head, second-guessing what you said to a parent. This toolkit includes:

• A discipline mindset section

• A 4-step discipline process

• A system for gathering facts

• A framework for communicating with students, staff, and families

You can find the link in the show notes. It can be really helpful as you plan your behavior and discipline systems for the school year.

In the next episode, I’m going to be sharing how I’m preparing for staff—so stay tuned and I’ll talk to you next [00:13:00] time.