The end of the week at Dutchess BOCES’ Salt Point Center are always fun where the classrooms are buzzing with unique and fun group activities students can partake in as part of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Fridays.
This special afternoon of 45-minute activities relaunched Sept. 26 and this time around students could pick from choices including painting with cotton swabs, experimenting with Legos and circuits, a kickball game in the gym and a rousing round of the video game “SmashBros.”
“These weekly community-building events have become a meaningful tradition at SPC,” Principal Melissa Murphy said.
PBIS has been implemented at SPC since 2018 with the goal of creating a consistent, proactive framework for teaching and reinforcing positive behavior while fostering a safe, supportive and inclusive school environment for all students. Murphy noted that a signature component of this initiative is PBIS Fridays, where the entire SPC community comes together for Community Time, blending schoolwide social skills, instruction on positive relationship-building and celebrations of student success.
“The activities are designed to be engaging, inclusive and aligned with SPC’s core values, giving students regular opportunities to practice social skills in authentic settings,” Murphy said. “PBIS Fridays serve as both a teaching tool and a celebration, highlighting the belief that social-emotional learning is just as important as academic instruction.”
