Social and emotional learning

Advancing wellness and resilience in education

Battle Ground Public Schools is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for students, families and staff. We will accomplish this by:

  • Teaching and supporting students through Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

  • Providing support to students in the form of alcohol and drug prevention education and counseling.

  • Providing resources to families and staff that will allow ongoing counseling services for students, and will connect students with local agencies when additional supports are needed.

  • Helping students learn about their emotions.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
PBIS is an approach to teaching that uses tiers to build safe and positive environments in which all students can learn. At Tier 1, all students are taught what is expected of them, acknowledged when they meet those expectations, and retaught the expectations if necessary. Some students require a little more reteaching of a specific expectation and receive this on a short-term basis. This is called Tier 2. Tier 3 provides individualized interventions for students.
The PBIS Guide briefly describes the program for parents. The Battle Ground Public Schools PBIS Handbook describes what PBIS is and how it is implemented to effectively improve behavior in schools.

Alcohol and drug prevention
Battle Ground Public Schools’ Alcohol and Drug Prevention/Intervention Program offers counseling to students affected by their own drug use or use by others in their lives, and seeks to prevent such use by students not yet affected.

Contact Info

Tamra Scheetz
Director of student supports
Email
360-885-5471

Becky Gawenit
Multi-tiered systems of support coach
Email
360- 885-5374

Kristen McIntyre
Multi-tiered systems of support coach
Email
360-885-5369

The district has prevention/intervention specialists at each secondary school who offer individual counseling as well as group support sessions for students, such as smoking-cessation classes at the high schools. Prevention-education classes offered to younger students are aimed at preventing experimentation with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Trainers visit all fifth- and seventh-grade classrooms and conduct sessions filled with facts on drug use, skill-building and role-playing activities aimed at avoiding use. In grades K-4, the prevention classes are based on the Learning to be a Healthy Kid curriculum, which includes appropriate storybooks common to primary school libraries. In grades five and seven, the prevention classes are based on life skills and a variety of other prevention material that has proven effective for middle school students. Battle Ground Public Schools facilities are tobacco-free, drug-free, and weapons-free.

Counseling and mental health resources
Battle Ground Public Schools has counselors at all of its schools to support students and connect them to mental health resources when needed. The district has created partnerships with mental health partners who can help students in crisis.

Suicide prevention
We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for students, families and staff. Visit the suicide prevention page for more information. 

Social and emotional learning
Social and emotional learning helps students navigate their emotions, gain self-awareness, meet behavioral expectations, make good decisions and establish healthy connections to one another.

Data collection: Creating a foundation for better schools

  • Battle Ground Public Schools conducts surveys and collects data to identify student needs and areas for support.

  • The two main surveys that students participate in are the school climate survey and the healthy youth survey.