1. Ignite Talk PBIS Leadership Conference Wisconsin Dells, WI August 18, Year 1: An Epic Voyage! Presented by Tangella King, Principal Knapp Elementary School
Showing at the intro of my presentation. I will start by thanking my hosts and welcoming the audience. I will also tell them a bit about myself. Current position, former experience and hometown- with a “Go Bears!” in there.

2. What is the Mission?
At Knapp Elementary everyday we persevere in every way. We are responsible for the things we do, challenge ourselves and encourage others too. When the work gets hard and the waves get rough, we’ll support each other because we’re Clippers tough.
I will start by saying the Mission Statement and the reason we say it: Discuss background picture, discuss the current status of the school. But it isn't all bad.

3. This is me in the corner and this is Knapp
This is me in the corner and this is Knapp. The day after I was hired last summer. I had my entire family come up from Chicago I didn’t even have keys to the building but I was so excited to begin this new journey Mission minded full of energy and ideas- HAPPY!
Shortly afterwards reality set in. You see this is Knapp a good strong building that has been there, same building since It’s located in Racine, Wisconsin a city with a rich history in a neighborhood that is struggling but strong. We’re about 3 miles from the beautiful lakefront and were actually getting a brand new building built from the ground up to begin the 2016 school year.
And despite these nuggets of good news… Knapp was/is in trouble. We’re a priority school, which as you may know means for years our academic progress reports have yielded unfavorable results. We were identified as the worst performing school in the district at the end of the school year. Plus plus, we had the most number of ODR of all elementary schools in the district.

4. Ch ch ch Changes!
That’s Daena Voelz- who’s meme is say OH no not again!
First indication that we needed a jumpstart

5. This is my cute staff-
Staff: : lead classroom teachers. 13: two or fewer years of experience 1 Black, 1 Asian, 22 Caucasian The remaining staff is support staff: Assistants, Counselors, Social Worker, etc.

6. Demographics
Staff: 60
24: lead classroom teachers. 13: two or fewer years of experience. 1 Black, 1 Asian, 22 Caucasian The remaining staff is support staff: Assistants, Counselors, Social Worker, etc.
Which shouldn’t be a problem except… of all the referrals submitted for discipline… 80% of all referrals are issued to Black and Hispanic students in comparison to 17% of all referrals being issued to White students.
The demographics shouldn’t be a problem except when speaking to many staff members hearing students being referred to as THESE KIDS and somewhere in that sentence is “Ms. King they they CAN”T ….…Uh, Houston… we have a problem.
Share some of the words from the snowballs

7. Monday Morning Meetings

8. Demographics
Students: % are Black, 20% are White 20% are Hispanic. The District in it’s entirety is only 28% Black/African American and 42% White.
Which shouldn’t be a problem except… of all the referrals submitted for discipline… 80% of all referrals are issued to Black and Hispanic students in comparison to 17% of all referrals being issued to White students.

9. District-wide 80% of all discipline referrals are issued to Black and Hispanic students in comparison to 17% of all referrals being issued to White students.
Another indication that we needed a jumpstart

10. The Data behind the Disparity
Why?
What are the causes?
What kind of infractions are occurring?
One thing we did as an SLT was
Which was great because remember I had a mission and I needed them to hone in on their own personal missions.
Dig deep and reconnect to the reasons why they were here.
It led us to a snowball fight- in the middle of July and the things that were uncovered were hurtful.

11. No one cares about Knapp 
Ok… Let’s Fight!
The behaviors are terrible there!
Absolutely NO parental support/involvement!
No one cares about Knapp 
That place is more like an insane asylum…
Yet another indication that we needed a jumpstart
So for now… Mission, You are in a hold pattern, Sir.
As you can tell there was some disparity in our school as well as in our district-- So not having a pulse on PBIS … not an option.
It was imperative to our adult sanity and for student success to 1st get to the bottom of these negative feelings 2, get rid of the negative words and 3 build a solid universal management system as well as a solid framework for teaching socially acceptable behaviors.

12. Snowball Fight
Well lucky for me the Knapp staff was given the district directive to attend Responsive Classroom training in the spring and summer of 2014 and it seemed at this point we were ready to begin to see
seeing things differently – you see I was on a mission. Personally and professionally I had arrived and hook or crook we were going to make it.
We began to have courageous conversations about race and class, we discussed what was in our circle of control vs our circle of influence, we halted all negative conversations about students and families and replaced it with the directives of RC framework. W replaced it with all school celebratory assemblies affectionately called Monday Morning Meetings.
My AP and I began to call teachers out- asking them to find some things kids are doing well we sweetened the pot- offered Rock star Parking near rthe school
Gave away f=gift cards, and freebies

13. And then something happened…. Teachers and kids began to believe it
This is when I knew we needed an overhaul (use the term in the paperwork)
With the help of the Knapp Leadership Team we

14. Data about how we’re doing goes here.

16. How do we know it worked?
42% decrease in suspensions
64% decrease in discipline referrals

17. Leadership team/support
Pic
PBIS is like air you may not be able to see, you can’t touch it it’s hard to explain but you know it’s there.

18. Listen to the stakeholders
Calibrate.
Celebrate success.
Plan on succeeding.
Face the obstacles.
Listen to the stakeholders
Add steps here
Listen to the stakeholders
Face the obstacles (call em out)
Plan on succeeding
Celebrate the successes
Calibrate often

20. Thank you. Knapp Elementary School 2701 W. 17th St. Racine, WI