Mary Persons High School, Forsyth, Georgia

When Mary Persons High School (MPHS) Principal Dr. Jim Finch learned it was his high school’s year to roll out PBIS in their district-wide school climate improvement initiative, he was concerned.  He knew his staff wasn’t ready or receptive for another new thing.  He knew that regardless of the initiative, faculty buy-in would be critical to making this good school an even better one, especially with PBIS in a high school.

Anticipating these rollout challenges, Dr. Finch asked the superintendent if he could “go slow” and have a year of readiness to form the right team who would study their data and work with the state PBIS leaders to form a support plan. During that year, MPHS used School-wide Information System (SWIS) as their progress monitoring tool and began to analyze discipline trends in their school. They conducted a root cause analysis for much of their discipline which centered on tardiness to school and tardiness to class. They began to set target goals.

Mary Persons High School joined 8 other Georgia high schools for the state’s first secondary-only PBIS training in May of 2012. Mary Persons, with a year of readiness under their belt, was skeptical but ready and committed. During this training, they created the Mary Persons matrix of expectations that was to be rolled out to faculty, staff, students, and parents in August 2012.

By going through the training, the faculty and staff learned a lot about themselves and their school. What they learned was what a lot of school staffs already know, yet fail to realize. That is, that Mary Persons is a typical high school whose campus life usually revolves around the 3 A’s: Academics, Arts, and Athletics. The sustainability of PBIS at Mary Persons has built a sense of belonging to an already close knit-community. From the valedictorian to the all-state athlete to the drum major, PBIS has helped bring together groups of students from all walks of campus life and the unique culture of inclusion in this school’s community is a sense of belonging and identity that all high schools crave.

The evolution of PBIS at MPHS (better known as CHAMP at Mary Persons--Courteous, Honorable, Accountable, Motivated, Prepared) has not been without challenges. Cynicism and jaded faculty were challenges for buy-in and continuing efforts. But with strategic and operational planning that also involved students, Mary Persons has been able to continue to develop a culture and climate at a school that champions inclusion of all types of students while building capacity for student leaders.

Jomari Jackson was one of those student leaders who helped bring about the student voice for CHAMP at MPHS. Serving on Dr. Finch’s Student Focus Group, Jomari was able to contribute to future reward systems, provide feedback on what was working (or not working!), and keep the principal apprised of the pulse of the school and its climate.

“CHAMP helped bring a sense of community to Mary Persons in ways that were more than just football Friday nights”, said Jomari Jackson. “CHAMP helped set expectations and was a way to include and reward all types of students. CHAMP really helped engage more of our student body into what was going on at MPHS--not just the athlete, the artist, or the college-bound student--but ALL students.”

“There are a lot of improvements we have made with CHAMP over the past six years”, said Principal, Dr. Jim Finch. “And keep in mind--Mary Persons was not a school that needed a huge makeover or was desperate for a total rehaul of its school climate. But I think the biggest piece of what we’ve done with PBIS is that we have listened to our students, championed our students, and ultimately, brought a lot of students together who otherwise would not have intersected very much. Recognizing and rewarding academicians, athletes, and artists have helped accomplish the huge sense of inclusion and community at Mary Persons High School.”

Seven years later, MPHS is the most celebrated PBIS high school in Georgia.  Mary Persons High School has built a true school community of CHAMP(s)!