PBIS has announced August’s Staff Member of the Month and Students of the Month.

Assistant Principal Elise Heaton nominated Student Information Systems Operator, Kirsten Brooks for her accountability. She spent the first month of school organizing all kinds of events and helping teachers with technology issues.

“I nominated Mrs. Brooks because she is our Infinite Campus clerk, and she has been really busy at the start of this school year,” Heaton said. “Just making sure the master schedule is done, and filling transcript requests.”

Other staff members nominated were English teachers Whitney Shoemaker and Justin Spencer, math teacher Kirstin Peavyhouse, history teachers Susan King and Walt Ellison, science teacher Jessica Tatum, assistant principal Brandi Meeks, learning specialist Mary Lehman, and health teacher Peyton Dean.

English teacher and yearbook advisor Whitney Shoemaker nominated senior Page Barksdale for Upperclassmen of the Month. Barksdale dedicated time over her summer to help out with yearbook camp and help design the cover of the yearbook.

“She is an editor for the yearbook and she gave up time during her summer to go to yearbook camp and then also to help with different aspects of the yearbook,” Shoemaker said. “Organizing yearbooks, and then also planning out some activities for the first week, so she went above and beyond.”

Math teacher Erin Badger nominated sophomore Brian Reyes Fernandez as Underclassmen of the Month for taking responsibility and helping out his fellow peers the first week of school. 

“The first week of school, Brian approached me a couple days in and said ‘Mrs. Badger, I can help. There’s a student in our class who doesn’t speak a lot of English and I speak English and Spanish both fluently. So if I could sit next to him, I could help translate, so he can understand better what we are doing in class or what instructions.’ So I put them together and they have worked so hard,” Badger said. “It’s been so amazing to watch him care about someone else in the class and offer up a skill that he has that would be helpful. It’s been a benefit to both of them.”

Other nominees include seniors Jasmine Spence and Gabrielle Lopez.

Once a month Elise Heaton, the assistant principal in charge of PBIS, gives staff members an opportunity to nominate both students and teachers on their good behavior. The PBIS committee, composed of Heaton, a PBIS coach, and other faculty and staff, voted on the PBIS staff and students of the month. 

“The PBIS program at Starr’s Mill helps us focus on the three core values that we want all of our students and staff to exhibit on a daily basis: respect, accountability, and responsibility,” Heaton said. “So with PBIS and focusing on these three things we can celebrate the positive things going on in our building instead of the negative things, which will hopefully encourage others to show those positive values as well.”