Portola Valley Schools Foundation
Endowment Grants Program:
Grant Application
Note: Application not to exceed 3 pages, plus signature page and a 1-2 page budget. All applications
must be submitted electronically to the Superintendent.
Proposal Title: School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (SWPBIS)
Start Date:
End Date:
Applicant Name(s):
Email:
Phone:
PVSD position: describe
your responsibilities within
the school or district, 150
words or less):
October 1, 2014
June 15, 2015
Minoo Shah
[email protected]
Ext. 2642
Director, Student Services
In my role, I support all staff in the district although my primary
responsibility is working to meet the needs of all Special needs students
in PVSD.
I am submitting this grant on behalf of the PBIS team:
Kevin Keegan, Principal, Ormondale
Adam Ahlbach, Teacher, Ormondale
Laura Gilbert, Special Education Teacher, Ormondale
Tamryn Miller, Counselor, Ormondale
Cyndi Maijala, Principal, Corte Madera
Kristen Shima, Dean, Corte Madera
Todd Patterson, Counselor, Corte Madera
Kim Hartman, Teacher, Corte Madera
Justine Hedlund, Special Education Teacher, Corte Madera
1) Purpose: Please state the educational purpose of your project, program or activity and provide a
rationale for why you believe it is important.
SWPBIS is an evidence-based practice for building a positive school culture that will promote both social
and academic success for all students.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) when applied at the School-wide level is
frequently called: SWPBS or SWPBIS. For the remainder of this application SWPBIS will be used when
referring to School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. SWPBIS refers to a systems
change process for an entire school or district. The underlying theme is teaching behavioral expectations
in the same manner as any core curriculum subject. Typically, a team of representative members of the
school will attend a three or four day training provided by skilled trainers. This team will be comprised of
administrators, classified, and regular and special education teachers. The school will focus on three to
five behavioral expectations that are positively stated and easy to remember. In other words, rather
than telling students what not to do, the school will focus on the preferred behaviors. Here are some
examples from other schools:
 Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful
 Respect Yourself, Respect Others, and Respect Property
 Respect Relationships and Respect Responsibilities
After the SWPBS team determines the 3-5 behavioral expectations that suit the needs of their school,
they will take this information back to the staff to ensure at least 80% of the staff buy into the chosen
expectations. Consistency and collaboration from class to class and adult to adult is very important for
successful implementation of SWPBS. The team will then create a matrix of what the behavioral
expectations look like, sound like, and feel like in all the non-classroom areas. This matrix will have
approximately three positively stated examples for each area.
This would be filled out for each non-classroom area and each behavioral expectation. The SWPBS team
would take the matrix back to the whole staff to ensure 80% buy-in from the entire staff on what
expectations are taught in each area.
To this effect, Ormondale School staff has already agreed upon the following four Behavior Expectations:
Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Kind; they have begun classroom discussions with the students
to elicit buy-in.
The staff at CMS has begun the process this past week where teachers filled out a survey to rank possible
expectations, then narrowed these down at this week’s faculty meeting. Given the age of the students,
and the middle school schedule (multiple teachers), the process will involve additional steps for student
input and teaching as compared to Ormondale, and will therefore need to proceed at a slower pace.
2) Description: Include a clear and concise description of the activities you will undertake during the
grant period. Please indicate how the purpose and proposed activities will advance the identified
areas of focus of the Endowment Program, as outlined in the introduction.
As part of the initial exploration and implementation stage of the SWPBIS initiative, a SWPBIS team from
each site will attend all day trainings on 4 days during the 2014-2015 school year. The training will be
led by myself. This was determined after we originally signed up for a training that would cost $2000 per
school team. When the training content was reviewed, we learned that I have all of the background and
the materials to save the $4000 and reduce the amount of the grant request.
The PBIS Team representing Ormondale will comprise of: Kevin Keegan (Principal), Adam Ahlbach
(Teacher), and Laura Gilbert (Special Education Teacher).
The PBIS Team representing Corte Madera will comprise of: Kristen Shima (Dean), Kim Hartman
(Teacher), and Justine Hedlund (Special Education Teacher).
The PBIS Team representing the ‘District’ will comprise of: Minoo Shah (Director), Tamryn Miller
(Ormondale Counselor), Todd Patterson (CMS Counselor)
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For a SWPBIS system to be effective and produce results, it is imperative that there be consistency
between staff members. For e.g., if it is not permissible to use a cell phone in band class then it has to
not be permissible in art class. This will require a high level of collaboration and agreement between all
stakeholders, general and special education staff, certificated and classified staff, students, and families.
The school-based teams will meet regularly to plan the roll-out of the PBIS initiative at the respective
school sites. The school-based PBIS teams will support their Host Environment (School) in determining
how things are done (Systems), how decisions are made (Data), and how staff interact with students
(Practices), to ensure the sustained use of best practices school-wide. For example, a primary activity for
the SWPBS team is determining how the behavioral expectations and routines will be taught in and
around the school. Additionally, the SWPBS team will begin the fine tuning of the office discipline
referral form. The team will decide "What behaviors are an instant trip to the office and what behaviors
are taken care of in the classroom." Finally, SWPBS team will help to determine a "gotcha" program. The
gotchas are a system for labeling and rewarding expected behavior (e.g., ‘tickets’ that can be traded in
for a ‘prize’). They will also need to monitor implementation to assess fidelity and efficacy. For example,
they will randomly survey students on the yard to check for understanding of expectations.
A subset of this team will attend county- and region-wide PBIS network meetings.
3) Expected Results: Describe the specific results you expect to accomplish, including, if applicable, the
following:
How will the activities you propose to undertake strengthen and enhance your professional skills and
knowledge? How will you and/or your project group apply these skills and knowledge in your
classroom, in specific courses, or if an administrator, as part of your professional responsibilities with
the PVSD?
The 4 day training sessions will follow a “trainer of trainers” model – in effect it will keep the teams
updated on cutting edge research and evidence based practices in this increasingly growing field of work
and help guide the teams through the stages/challenges of implementing a system-wide framework. The
trainings will also provide an opportunity for the team to meet together to identify and put in place
systems supports (e.g., resources, training, policies) necessary to accurately implement, sustain, expand,
and modify the practice over time. In addition to technical skill-building, the trainings will allow for
discourse on facilitation of stakeholder meetings as well as collaborative decision making.
The regular team meetings will allow delineated time for staff to not only address operational issues
such as preparing and rolling out activities and teaching curriculum, but also engage in a continuous
cycle of enquiry to assess: needs, priorities, agreements, resources, social marketing, & outcomes.
The county- and region-wide trainings will allow PVSD staff to network with other districts that are
embarking on the same journey, allowing for shared resources and ideas and continued training in best
practices.
What improvements in student achievement and/or educational experiences do you anticipate as a
result of this award? Will your proposal benefit students across multiple classes or grades?
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The fundamental purpose of PBIS is to make schools more effective and equitable learning environments
for all students. As mentioned above, the effects are far reaching and impact not only students of all
grades and backgrounds, but also faculty and staff and consequently the entire school community.
Experimental research on SWPBIS has shown that if it is implemented with fidelity it results in*:
o Reduction in problem behavior
o Increased academic performance
o Increased attendance
o Improved perception of safety
o Reduction in bullying behaviors
o Improved organizational efficiency
o Reduction in staff turnover
o Increased perception of teacher efficacy
o Improved social-emotional competence
(*Rob Horner, Ph.D., University of Oregon)
The school-based PBIS teams will gather input from stakeholder groups (staff, students, parents) to
develop TIER 1 supports such as behavioral matrices, reward systems, teaching/modeling of expected
behavior etc. via avenues such as faculty meetings, assemblies, student council meetings, climate
committee meetings, and brown bag lunches with staff to message next steps as well as train staff and
teach students the behavioral expectations agreed upon. In addition, parents will be informed of schoolbased behavior expectations through coffee chats, brown bag lunches, newsletters etc. not only to keep
them notified but also to encourage them to participate in the effort and further to align expectations
between home and school. The primary goal is to have the entire school community collaborate with
each other toward creating a positive school climate where expectations are predictable and consistent,
and where expected behavior is recognized while ‘unexpected’ behavior is redirected in a positive
manner.
4) Budget (limit to 1-2 pages, see Budget Example in Addendum)
 Break out your budget by requested amount in each category of use
 Provide a narrative justification for each category of funding requested
 If your grant proposal includes equipment of any kind, a written quotation from the vendor
must be included with your grant application, together with a brief description of how you
determined the pricing is competitive
 Consider whether more than one option should be considered by the Endowment Committee
and, if so, provide related narrative and budgets.
 If your grant proposal includes compensation at the contractual hourly rate, please use $56 to
reflect the cost of payroll taxes.
Commonly, when schools embark on a “new” initiative, an expert, typically from the “outside,” is
brought in to share and teach about ways to address the problem. The expert leaves, and the school is
expected to implement the strategy. Borrowing a concept from Stokes and Baer (1977), this approach
basically relies on a “train-and-hope” perspective. This approach to problem solving is likely to fail
because the focus is on the practice, and not on the systems supports (e.g., resources, continued
training, policies) necessary to accurately implement, sustain, expand, and modify the practice over
time.
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The budget for this initial stage of exploration and installation of SWPBIS, supports an organizational or
systemic approach to implementation of evidence-based practices and systems, including resource
assessment, structural supports, funding streams, policy development, personnel realignment,
assessment of fidelity of implementation and most importantly, assessing the ‘fit’ between initiative and
culture so as to optimize current practices rather than reinvent the wheel. Instead of availing of outside
opportunities for training [costing anywhere from $ 2,500 (San Mateo County Office) to $3,500 (Santa
Clara County Office) per site team], the training will be led by district personnel, viz., Minoo Shah and
Todd Patterson.
Item
Substitute Pay
Description
Cost of substitute for
6 staff (4 teachers, 2
counselors) for 4
days of training
Additional/After After Hours pay for 6
Hours Pay
staff for 45 minute
planning meeting
approx. every other
week.
Supplies and
Posters depicting
Materials
school-wide
behavioral
expectations;
incentives for reward
system (pencils,
stickers etc)
Total
Cost
$ 640.00 per
teacher ($160.00
per diem x 4 days)
Total Cost
$ 3840.00
Comments
3 staff on SWPBIS
team per site
$ 630.00 per staff
($42.00 per diem
x 15)
$ 3780.00
For 4 teachers and 2
counselors (Approx. 15
days in 14-15 SY)
$ 1200.00 for
posters
$ 700 for
incentives
$ 1900.00
SW Expectations need
to be visually displayed
in all locations
Expected behavior
should be
acknowledged and
rewarded consistently
$ 9520.00
The second option for training we explored was with the San Mateo County Office of Education. That
training would have cost $2000 per school team. When the training content was reviewed, we learned
that I have all of the background and the materials to save the $4000 and reduce the amount of the
grant request. The same training is offered by the Santa Clara County Office of Education and their fee is
$2500 per school team, thus another $5000 would have been needed if we had explored that route.
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5) Signatures: Please read, sign and included the following statement with your proposal:
I (we) understand that a Portola Valley Schools Foundation Endowment Award obligates the awardees
to: (1) submit a status report to the Endowment Board and to the District on the results of the grant six
months after the date the grant is awarded, (2) to begin using the funds within 6 months of receiving the
award, and (3) to return the portion of the funds not yet used, if a grant recipient terminates his or her
employment with the Portola Valley School District during the grant period.
Applicant(s) Signature_____________________________________________ Date_________________
Applicant(s) Signature_____________________________________________ Date_________________
Applicant(s) Signature_____________________________________________ Date_________________
Applicant(s) Signature_____________________________________________ Date_________________
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Portola Valley Schools Foundation
Endowment Grants Program:
Six-Month Grant Status Report
All grant recipients are required to report on the status of the grant award to the Endowment Board 6
months after the date a grant was awarded.
Please provide the following information and submit to PVSF (limit to 2 pages, please):
Grant Name:
Recipients Name(s):
Approval Date:
Report Date:
Budget: Please provide final costs
and date of purchase/payment
and attach receipt.
Effectiveness: Please summarize
use(s) to-date and effectiveness
compared to original intent.
Next Steps: Please describe plans
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for continued and/or future use.
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Portola Valley Schools Foundation
Endowment Grants Program:
ADDENDUM
Budget Examples
Equipment Example (two options)
Perferred Option:
Item Description
Canon HD Video Camera
1080 P Resolution
Optical and Digital 10x Zoom
Sony High Definition Monitors
30" Screen Size
Item Name/#
Professional HD Video
Camera
Model # HD-3398
Super-Media Video
Display
Mdel # S4456
Quantity
Item Cost
Total Cost
Comments
4
$ 750.00
$ 3,000.00
If the proposal includes a lower cost option, describe briefly
the important features of this higher cost option and why it
is preferred
10
$ 400.00
$ 4,000.00
Same as above
Tax
Shipping
$ 577.50
$ 350.00
$ 7,927.50
Alternative Lower Cost Option:
Fuji HD Video Camera
Digital 5x Zoom
Enthusiast HD Video
Camera
Model D5XA
Hitachi HD Monitor
24" Screen Size
Color Monitor
Model # 45678
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$ 400.00
$ 1,600.00
10
$ 200.00
$ 2,000.00
Example: The slightly lower HD resolution is sufficient for
the intended use; while we would prefer the better zoom of
the Canon, 5x zoom is sufficient for most requirements.
[Perhaps also discuss what things you will NOT be able to do
with this item that the more expensive item allows.]
Example: While the larger monitors would be helpful when
multiple students are clustered arounda monitor, the 24"
screen would be adequate.
$ 297.00
$ 350.00
$ 2,647.00
Professional Development Example
Item Description
Quantity
Item Cost
Total Cost
Day Rate
1
$ 600.00
$ 600.00
Staff Planning Time (10 Teachers)
4
10
$ 50.00
$ 2,000.00
Staff Training Time (10 Teachers)
6
10
$ 50.00
$ 3,000.00
One day on-site group training
presenter
Hours
Comments
$ 5,600.00
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