Texas School Procedures
August 30, 2019 Newsletter
Tips for Getting in the Site and Getting the Most out of Your Subscription!
TIP 1 - Postings
Answer: Texas and federal state laws, as well as some best practices, require and suggest that various posters should or must be posted in various district offices, campus offices, staff lounges, counseling offices, etc. If you are a new district to TxSP or a district that is not currently using all the resources available to your campus, we can help you with that. Those that are to be posted for parent and/or students, are in English and Spanish.
Question: Where should the postings appear?
Answer: All campuses and district offices should have a bulletin board for postings to parents and students. All offices at the campus and district level should have designated places for required postings.
Step: All you have to do is go to the search feature and type in "Post" and all postings that are required will be listed. They will start with the word "Post."
Tip 2 - Mandated Staff Development
Answer: The training section is a relatively new section that we started last spring. We have posted some new presentations there and will be regularly adding new presentations and updating current ones.
Question: Our district has been hearing quite a bit about SB11 and HB18 and new requirements regarding training for mental health issues and trauma and grief-informed care practices. When will those be ready and when do we have to have all of our staff trained?
Answer: All staff has to be trained during the 2019-20 school year. We are close to finishing and posting these trainings. Look in future Newsletter Updates for when those training sessions will be ready. FYI - these trauma and grief-informed practices are required to be in a face-to-face classroom format.
Question: What are some important legislative updates we need to share with various staff members?
Answer:
For campus administrators, you might want to show:
- 86th Legislative Discipline Updates (new)
- Seclusion & Restraint (new)
- Progressive Documentation for HR (new)
For counselors, you might want to show:
- HB 18 Counseling Program and Mental Health (new)
- Suicide Prevention (updated)
- Self-Injury (new)
- 86th Legislative Changes for High Schools (new)
Tip 3 - Safety
- Threat to Self (updated)
- Threat to Others (new)
Threat to Others:
Texas School Procedures has developed a comprehensive protocol and all the documents and resources you need, all prepared with research-based best practices. The new protocol reviews the purpose of the assessment, district responsibilities, team members and their responsibilities, and training requirements. TxSP has included tools for investigation, tools for plans for the student, tools for training campus staff, and tools for training campus teams. You have everything you need! This process should be led by campus administrators, but district administrators may also be designated to lead the process.
Threat to Self:
This process is to be led by school counselors. The forms and some of the processes have been updated since last year - so new districts will need to review this with their counselors to ensure they are ready to go.
Traumatic Injury: This is a new legislative requirement for "Stop the Bleed Kits" and training to increase the emergency treatment of students injured at school or a school event.
Other Safety Information: See what has already been on our site in regards to playground safety, visitor management, communication in inclement weather, etc. while you are reviewing your safety protocols.
TxSP will keep you updated through newsletters of new information that will be added to this section this fall.
Tip 4 - Behavior
TxSP wanted to address what research tells us are the best basic research-based classroom management techniques. Poor classroom management can sometimes be the reason we are seeing so many students appear to need Tier 2 Interventions. If your teachers are having difficulty or the campuses would like to ensure they are providing the basic structure, please review the best classroom management practice filing cabinet in Student Support>Behavior. The resources and charts could provide some great discussion in a PLC or staff meeting.
Sometimes, when one of those students who has been through great trauma carries emotional burdens or their basic needs are not met, etc. they come through our classroom doors and may bring with them poor choices in behavior. Our Specific Behavior Strategies filing drawer contains about 36 most common student misbehaviors and provides research-based strategies for each specific misconduct to the teacher, the counselor, the parent, and even the principal. With each behavior, we discuss at the end of the teacher section whether this behavior should be considered for an office referral. These are great resources for teacher planning session, Tier 2 plans, and even for IEP meetings. This has been one of our more popular and used sections.
The Severe Behavior filing drawer discusses proper protocols and documentation in using restraining, seclusion, or time out. We have addressed the action of very young children running from the classroom. We also included a poster that we recommend that every teacher post in his/her classroom to help remind some of those best de-escalation strategies for calming down students and not escalating power struggles.
The Tools for Motivation provide many strategies to motivate classrooms and/or individual students. You will find motivating games, contracts, coupons, choice boards, etc.
We Are Here to Help!!
Email: txsp@txschoolprocedures.com
Website: www.txschoolprocedures.com
Phone: (855)367-8977