A Season of Fall; A Culture of Safety

Message from Roseville Joint Union HSD Superintendent

Roseville, Calif. – Hello, October! Every morning, I enjoy the slight crisp chill in the air. I’m a big fan of fall at RJUHSD. The leaves on our beautiful campuses start turning red and orange, homecoming rallies, football games, and marching bands feel more nostalgic while sitting in the stands watching the buzzing social lives of our teens – it’s one of my favorite seasons.

If you’re like me, you give your children safety lectures about the pitfalls of social media, remind them of the old adage “if you see something, say something,” and never let them walk out the door without shouting one last, “be careful!” Safety has always been big in my house and even bigger throughout our district.

Each month we will be communicating more about our efforts on safety, from mental health to schoolwide safety drills. This month, we’ve placed a spotlight on bullying because federal studies show that 19% of 9-12 graders report being bullied at school. In ongoing proactive efforts to prevent bullying and create safe, welcoming and friendly school environments for all students, our schools apply the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program. This program focuses on educating students on behavior while recognizing that students can only meet behavioral expectations if they know what those expectations are.

Core Pinciples

The core principles of PBIS’s multi-tiered system of intervention and support include the understanding that RJUHSD staff can and should:

• Effectively teach appropriate behavior to all children
• Intervene early before unwanted behaviors escalate
• Use research-based, scientifically validated interventions whenever possible
• Monitor student progress

Anonymous reporting system

Should your student experience bullying in any way, we have implemented an anonymous reporting system that will allow your student to report bullying behavior in a safe, confidential manner.

You will find the Help Us Stay Safe button in the lower left hand corner of each of our school’s websites. While we hope your family never has to use this link, we are hopeful that this will become a resource to you should your student ever need it.

Tackling bullying through PBIS is one of the structured ways we teach our students social-emotional tools to help them grow into compassionate, engaged members of their school community.

With your partnership, we can help all of our students feel safe when they come to school. As we all take to enjoying the upcoming fall activities, remind your students that they are safe, welcome and expected to demonstrate kindness and friendship to their classmates. And remember, if you see something, say something – safely.

John Becker, Roseville Joint Union High School District Superintendent