PBIS Summer Fun: Loftiss RYDC Fourth of July Celebration

Story information provided by Statewide PBIS Administrator Janette Nihles

Loftiss Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) recently celebrated the Fourth of July holiday with its First Annual Kickball ‘Slip and Slide’ Competition. The special holiday competition is now one of the many entertaining events featured on the RYDC’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) calendar.

The PBIS behavioral management program makes it possible for youth who are incident-free and have no cool-off periods, and no special incident reports or redirections for a significant period of time, to be rewarded with access to this holiday occasion and to other PBIS incentive events on the secure facility campus throughout the year.

Eleven youths at Loftiss RYDC qualified to participate in this special Fourth of July celebration by abiding by the facility’s PBIS motto referred to as the four B’s: “Be respectful, be ready, be responsible and be motivated”. Social Services Provider II Felicia Gabriel, Education Aide Sherrica Wade and Officer DeMario Byrden assisted in making the holiday a great success.

The rules for a unique July 4th kickball competition required participants to ‘slip and slide’ around the bases using inflatable pool floats, instead of just running bases. Afterward, Officer Byrden played uplifting music to put youth in the holiday spirit while everyone feasted on picnic meals of hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans and chips prepared by the kitchen staff. 

A local Lowes, Walmart and Dollar General Store generously donated the food, drinks, tarps and pool inflatables for the event.

PBIS is an evidence-based, data-driven framework proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety and to 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 acknowledgement or feedback of positive student over the counter behavior, will reduce unnecessary discipline and promote a climate of greater productivity, safety and learning.

PBIS schools like the one at Loftiss RYDC 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 climate for all students.