C.U.B.S. Being Used as Positive Reinforcement Tool in Brewster

Posters adorn the Garden Street School in Brewster promote positive behavior. Visit the Garden Street School or John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Brewster these days and be prepared to see cub paw prints throughout the buildings. “C.U.B.S.” is a mnemonic device standing for “Caring, Use responsible behavior, Be respectful, and Safety matters.”

Assistant Principal John Conroy explained that teams from both schools derived the acronym because the mascot of the Brewster School District is the Bear: “We at the elementary level felt it was appropriate to make the elementary schools C.U.B.S., which originated from our character education committees established several years ago.”

Character education has become a popular concept in schools during the past decade. Conroy said character education committees did not want to change the momentum: “Instead we decided to add to it with some formality, by expanding on our schools’ philosophy of respect, responsibility, caring, and safety.”

The elementary schools’ PBIS, or Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, model deals specifically with behavioral aspects. Conroy noted: “The days of punishment and re-writing ‘I will be good!’ one hundred times are long gone.” The PBIS teams have implemented educational concepts into a formal acknowledgement system by using the cub paw print as a positive reinforcement tool.

Conroy said children receive a paw print when they do something positive: “The prints are taken back to the classroom and stored. When 20 paw prints are accumulated they are sent to the main office where students are rewarded with a neon bracelet.”

Students’ positive actions are announced over the school public address system and are taped onto a mural in the cafeteria.