PBIS at DJJ: Rockdale RYDC Lunch and Learn

Story support from Staci Hill-Wilson

Last month, the Rockdale Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) held its monthly ‘Lunch to Learn’ program during the summer school break.  Community leaders Latisa Binns of the Wells Fargo Bank and Rockdale Advisory Chairman Thedartis Demps spoke to facility youth about important life skills such as maintaining a proper living budget to pay for rent, utilities, clothing and other essentials.  The 'Lunch and Learn' message was simple: time spent at the Department of Juvenile Justice is short, but the skills needed to survive in the workplace and community last a lifetime. The useful takeaways taught at the Lunch and Learn part of Rockdale’s successful PBIS program. 

PBIS is an evidence-based, data-driven framework proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety and support improved academic outcomes. More than 23,000 U.S. schools are implementing PBIS and saving countless instructional hours otherwise lost to discipline. The premise of PBIS is that continual teaching, combined with acknowledgment or feedback of positive over-the-counter student behavior, will reduce unnecessary discipline and promote a climate of greater productivity, safety and learning. PBIS schools apply a multi-tiered approach to prevention, using disciplinary data and principles of behavior analysis to develop school-wide, targeted and individualized interventions and supports to improve the school environment for all students.  

Special thanks go out to Mr. Thedartis Demps for generously providing pizza for this month's 'Lunch and Learn.'