Lisa Jackson is the principal at Bella Vista Academy in Tracy, California. Bella Vista Academy has been a ministry of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Tracy since 2000, and the preschool has been around since the 1980’s. Lisa has been principal at Bella Vista since 2023 and taught at the school for 14 years. This past year, Lisa implemented a Positive Office Referral Program. As a huge Disney fan she has dubbed her office “Disneyland”. As a way to combine motivation and positive reinforcement, she offers trips to “Disneyland” as an incentive for doing good. Students can earn a “ticket” or referral by being nominated by a teacher or staff member. When a student is nominated, Mrs. Jackson arranges a time to go to their classroom and announce that she has a “ticket for Disneyland”. She reads the positive note from the nominating person to the class and takes the student to “Disneyland”. The faces on the recipient and the excitement they receive from their classmates is a magical moment. While at “Disneyland”, students sit with one of Mrs. Jackson’s Mickeys, get their picture taken, reflect on their behavior, and pray together. They also receive a goodie bag with candy and get to pick out Disney stickers for their water bottle. In addition to positive behavior, this approach has helped with goal setting, not only the incentive to do good, but to work toward personal goals. Mrs. Jackson follows up with an email to parents with a picture and details about their child’s visit. What a great way to encourage and develop positive relationships between the principal and the students!
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