Pearson Elementary shows PRIDE at final assembly

POULSBO — What a difference a year makes. Faculty and students at Pearson Elementary School are glowing about a program that just began in September 2006. The Pearson Elementary School PRIDE program is already having a positive effect on its student body.

Seeing as it stands for Positive, Respectful, Integrity, Dependable and Engaged, it’s not difficult to see why.

Throughout the 2006-07 school year, assemblies stressing the importance of these five critical areas of behavior to Pearson’s elementary students were routinely held.

The seventh PRIDE assembly took place Monday as students marched into the Pearson gymnasium for the final gathering of the school year.

“Last year, on the last day of school our teachers collaborated together and tackled some of the discipline problems going on at our school,” Pearson Elementary administration intern Deb Foreman said. “We did some research and found a trend that we didn’t like. We felt we needed to be proactive. Getting this program off the ground is the culmination of everyone’s efforts. It’s had a positive effect on the entire school.”

Foreman said there’s been a significant decrease in the amount of disciplinary problems during the 2006-07 school year as opposed to the 2005-06 school year.

“The promotion of the PRIDE program around our school has worked out so well,” she said. “The suspension rate has reduced significantly and there’s less students being sent to the (principal’s) office.”

Pearson Elementary counselor Patti Beer said the program has been great for not only the school, but the entire community as well.

“These kids are learning how important the words ‘positive, respectful, integrity, dependable and engaged’ are and are putting them into play,” Beer said. “This has been such a positive thing since the beginning of the year.”

Foreman agreed.

“I have had parents tell me that the PRIDE program is having an effect on their kids at home,” she said. “They are regurgitating what they learn at school and are bringing it home with them. They definitely are incorporating what they learn at school into their daily lives.”

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