PBIS Kickoff Newsletter: What Principals Tell Families at the Start of the Year

The PBIS kickoff newsletter is one of the most important communications a principal sends at the start of the year. It explains the framework that governs how behavior is taught, recognized, and responded to for the entire school year. Families who understand PBIS from the beginning reinforce the same expectations at home and arrive at behavioral conversations with context instead of confusion.

Explain PBIS without the acronym

Most families do not know what PBIS stands for and will not retain the definition if you lead with the acronym. Start with what it means:

'This year, our school uses a consistent, research-based approach to teaching and supporting positive behavior. We teach students what our behavioral expectations look like in every setting: in the classroom, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, and on the playground. When students meet those expectations, we recognize it. When they do not, we have a consistent, graduated response.'

Name the school-wide behavioral expectations

Every PBIS school has three to five core expectations. Name them in the newsletter and describe what they look like in practice:

• Be safe: Keep hands and feet to yourself, use materials appropriately, follow safety procedures
• Be responsible: Come prepared, complete work, keep commitments
• Be respectful: Listen when others speak, use appropriate language, take care of shared spaces

Families who know the expectations can use the same language at home. 'Being responsible at school means ___. What does responsible look like tonight with your homework?'

Describe how recognition works

Families have questions about the recognition system. Answer them:

• What students earn recognition for (specific demonstrations of the school expectations)
• How recognition is given (verbal, written, tangible token, or school store points)
• Whether all students can earn recognition or only some
• What school-wide recognition events look like

Address the intrinsic motivation concern directly

Some families will ask whether recognizing behavior undermines intrinsic motivation. The newsletter can address this with one paragraph on what the research shows: PBIS schools consistently outperform comparable schools on climate, attendance, and academic measures, and the concern about reward-reducing intrinsic motivation is not supported by the PBIS outcome data.

Describe the response to unmet expectations

Families want to know consequences still exist. Be specific: what happens for a first incident, what escalation looks like, when families are contacted, and how the school handles chronic behavioral challenges. Families who know the framework trust that it is fair when it is applied.

Daystage makes it easy to send a PBIS kickoff newsletter with the school expectations, recognition system description, and consequence framework in a format families can save and reference across the year.