Before Elvia Teixeira took the helm as principal in fall 2013 at P.A. Walsh Elementary School, she was forewarned of the school’s less-than-favorable reputation for having major disciplinary issues and poor parent participation.
At her first staff meeting, she asked her colleagues what the highest priority was for changing the school’s culture. The overwhelming answer was “student behavior.”
“The more time I spent here I realized that this school was getting the short end of the stick as far as public perception,” Teixeira explained.
Using a systematic approach of “taking attention away from the negative and creating space for the positive,” Teixeira and staff quickly developed a more nurturing environment at the northwest Morgan Hill campus.
“Making a bad choice doesn’t make you a bad person,” said Teixeira, explaining how, at P.A. Walsh, students who act in a negative manner are not reprimanded in a demeaning way.
Rather, they are asked to read a book – which may have an underlying theme of anti-bullying – to another class during recess.
“They’re paying back what they’ve done in a positive way,” explained Teresa Sermersheim, a Teacher on Special Assignment, known as TOSA, at P.A. Walsh.
The results of Teixeira’s new approach to curbing negative behavior in a positive way and establishing a courteous, caring campus environment have garnered county-wide recognition as P.A. Walsh was named the sole recipient of the 2014 Caring School Climate Award for an elementary school by the YMCA of Silicon Valley and its Project Cornerstone initiative in January.
P.A. Walsh will be recognized for its efforts during the 2014 Upstanders Assets Championship Breakfast in front of an audience of thousands of educators and community leaders. The event will take place March 21 inside the Mission City Ballroom of the Santa Clara Convention Center.
“I feel like this has bonded us. It’s made us more of a family. The kids take pride in saying we’re from a caring school,” said Sermersheim.
“There are so many great things happening here beyond the caring school award,” added Teixeira, who recently informed her students of the award during a special assembly. “They broke out in cheers and clapping. It was such a great moment.”
“We just felt as a school, and I had in my mind, that this was palpable,” said Sermersheim, who nominated P.A. Walsh by submitting the winning application that detailed all of the positive practices staff had instituted at the school.
In her application, Sermersheim included how students – from transitional kindergarten to sixth grade – gather together daily for the school pledge to show respect, make good choices and promise to solve problems at home, school and in their community each day.
“That pledge is brought to life for the students in the school-wide public address announcement delivered by a teacher,” wrote Sermersheim in her nomination application. “Fill your bucket and someone else’s today, smile!”
On any particular day, students are encouraged to be kind to others, or list two things they are thankful for, or cut out 10 hearts and give them to 10 friends. Around campus, metal street signs were constructed with names such as “Caring Street,” “Respect Road,” “Trustworthiness Way,” “Citizenship Lane,” and “Responsibility Road.”
“Wherever you are, you are reminded of what this school values – each other,” Sermersheim continued. “Walsh School makes it evident for all visitors that this school has a collective philosophy – they care about each other.”
Sermersheim recalls sitting with Teixeira during last year’s Project Cornerstone awards banquet, when they both looked at each other and realized that P.A. Walsh could be a caring school award winner in 2014.
The enthusiastic, forward-thinking principal had already put P.A. Walsh on that path with other positive practices such as handing out “Paw Prints” to students around campus who demonstrate good behavior. Students are then rewarded for their good deeds by getting to pick a prize from the P.A.W Print store.
Before her arrival, parent participation was at an all-time low, so Teixeira included parents in the best practices too. Parents were encouraged to volunteer in any way they could and document it on a “Five Hour Power” paper shield that was then hung in the front office with the family name on it. She even sweetened the pot, giving out monthly $25 gift cards in a drawing among the parent volunteers who completed their five hours of volunteerism for that month.
With opportunities to be an ABC reader, where a parent reads a book and leads an activity inside the classroom, or a Los Dichos reader, where a parent reads a book that promotes cultural understanding and awareness, parent participation has skyrocketed. For the many Spanish-speaking parents, Teixeira incorporated practices such as bilingual book readings in the classroom and a tamale lunch fundraiser. She now has 20 Spanish-speaking parent volunteers.
The caring school mentality has not stopped, either. Students are currently participating in the Great Kindness Challenge, where they have a checklist of 50 kind things they must be demonstrate throughout the school year. Teixeira said a couple of students have already completed them, while the rest continue to work towards that goal.
