Taking the Lead: Elementary PBIS/Student Leadership Teams Help Shape Gateway School District Culture

Every other Friday, Mike Matteo and Dr. Montaire Taylor meet with their student leadership team and carefully listen.

One by one, each of the nine 4th graders share their ideas and input with Evergreen Elementary’s principal and counselor, ideas which are carefully considered and implemented.

Meetings like these are commonplace across the district’s schools. Gateway High School and Middle School both have their leadership teams, but so too do all four of the district’s elementary schools, giving students a stake in their school experience as early as possible.

“You definitely want to create a space where students feel heard. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get everything. But you want them to be a part of the process and I feel like that culture has been embedded here for a while,” said Dr. Taylor, Evergreen’s counselor.

“This is like their second home and safe space,” added Dr. Cleveland Steward Elementary counselor Rebecca Clemens. “Their input is valuable and we want them to help build the culture, have input in the environment, and feel like they belong.”

Each year, new teams are constructed, some voted on by students and others picked by teachers and school leaders. Teams differ from school to school. Evergreen’s, for example, is composed of all 4th grade students, while Dr. Cleveland Steward’s has two 2nd graders, three 3rd graders, and seven fourth graders. At Ramsey Elementary, teachers nominate students for their Ramsey Role Models club based on who has best exemplified the month’s character trait, like respect or compassion.

Duties for these leadership teams are wide-ranging. Most notably, students are empowered to share their input through regular meetings with their principals and counselors, and even through meetings with the superintendent and assistant superintendent.

At Evergreen, student leaders have come up with ten ideas, from dress like a teacher day to a scavenger hunt. Many of these ideas then are tied into PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), as students need to earn enough Gator Pride tickets — rewarded based on following schoolwide expectations — to participate.

“My favorite idea is the scavenger hunt, where we would go to the park and find different types of leaves and stuff like that,” said Evergreen 4th grader, Ryle Bostwick.

“We came up with a Gator Party idea. I’m excited for that,” added Evergreen 4th grader Levi Manigault. “It’s where the Gateway Gator comes to our school and we have a dance party and we go to the park and get to play for a while. It’s an overall good day.”

At Dr. Cleveland Steward, acts of service are a big focus for student leaders. Thus far, students have helped assist with Veteran’s Day activities, set up a giving tree, — stocked with winter apparel for anyone in need — and helped shepherd new students into the school environment, among other things. Clemens added that she wants all students to have a core understanding of service.

Similarly, at University Park Elementary, students have focused on giving back to their community, launching an Early Act program in partnership with the Monroeville Rotary, cultivating leadership and service values among younger students.

“It’s nice to help out families who might be going through it or having a hard time with money,” said Dr. Cleveland Steward 4th grader, Kacen Lape.

“Giving them that opportunity to be a part of making the school a better place is important for them,” said Dr. Cleveland Steward principal, Robert Hall. “And giving them those different skills that they might not have gotten if they didn’t get this opportunity is pretty important. Getting to interact with these kids and seeing how they’re displaying those leadership qualities is great.”

As elected leaders, these students naturally do just that: lead. Hall said student leaders are meant to model ideal behavior for their PBIS model, and students like Lape, Bostwick, and Maingault all concurred that they relish that role, making sure to be good role models, but also stepping up to quell potential conflicts. At University Park, student leadership team members have been crucial in leading their PBIS program, helping earn the school Tier 3 Sustaining criteria, the highest level of PBIS recognition. Students also help run the school’s PBIS store.

At Ramsey Elementary, third and fourth grade student leaders travel to K-2 classrooms with a flag, a mission statement, and a lesson plan to teach students about how to be a Ramsey Role Model.

“If two students are arguing, I try to tell them that both of their answers are equal and fair and come to a compromise,” said Dr. Cleveland Steward 4th grader, Ava Goodnack.

“It helps us a lot at recess and on the school bus. Because they’ve been given that voice, they will report what’s going on. We don’t have to go seeking anything. At 8:50 in the morning, there’s a line of kids here saying who was doing what on the bus,” said Dr. Taylor.

“If kids are doing something inappropriate during recess, the students themselves will tell them to stop. The fact that they’ve been given that voice, they’ve been given power and control of their environment. It’s almost become self-policing, and we really don’t have a lot of negative referrals.”

Beyond opportunities in school, roles in their student leadership teams have allowed students to network with peers across the area at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s PBIS Elementary Student Summit, which was launched last year. Students have shared ideas, gathered ideas from other students, and practiced important skills, like public speaking.

“The kids got to network with other students and have an opportunity to see what they could do and how they could build their program. Just watching them learn and grow stands out to me,” said Clemens. “This year’s group is phenomenal. They’re so eager to help. Every single day, they’re asking us what they can do and how they can help. Their energy and wanting to help is pretty fun.”