Indian Lake Elementary School is once again earning state recognition for The Laker Zone. State Support Team 6 consultant Tiffini Flugga stopped by ILES recently to present Assistant Principal and District PBIS Coordinator Pam Scarpella and PBIS team member Justin Welker with a second Silver Award.
The Laker Zone is a long-time positive behavior program at Indian Lake Elementary that emphasizes teaching proper behaviors, instead of punishing improper actions. In 2018, the Laker Zone underwent an overhaul with additional training for staff and added incentives for students. The reboot earned the ILES PBIS team and The Laker Zone a Bronze PBIS State Award.The continuation of The Laker Zone program, backed by years of data on reduced office referrals and other measures of improved behavior, now puts The Laker Zone in the Silver PBIS State Award category and on pace for a Gold Award in 2022.
District PBIS Coordinator Pam Scarpella says, “At this point, The Laker Zone is really ingrained in how we teach at Indian Lake Elementary. The expectations are clear and easy, and the kids know what it means to be living and learning “in the zone.”
Scarpella says extending the Laker Zone to include the bus rides to and from school has been a focus this school year. With the addition of a Laker Zone on the Bus bulletin board and recognition for students who behave properly on the bus, discipline referrals from bus drivers are down.