With Oak Park students back in school this week, District 97 teachers and officials are looking to reinforce good behavior habits to make the school year as smooth as possible.

The teachers spent an hour and a half Wednesday morning using the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program — referred to as PBIS by educators and students — to show students how they are expected to behave in class. Schools use the education strategy across the country. This is the second year the program is being used in all District 97 schools, and the third year overall.

“It’s proactive instead of reactive,” said Percy Julian Middle School Principal Victoria Sharts. “It presents them with every opportunity to do the right thing.”

The strategy is fairly straightforward; teachers use role-playing and examples to show what behavior is expected from students instead of simply giving them a long list of rules. The students moved from stations, which covered individual aspects of the average school day, such as the bus, outside activities and behavior in the hallways.

For example, math teachers Elizabeth Rogers and Sharon Gunnell used role-playing to show students how to enter and exit the school. Rogers played the part of a rude student who ignored Gunnell’s requests to stop talking on her cell phone. Students were then asked what the “student” did wrong.

Students were also shown how they should react in potentially dangerous situations. Sixth-grade teacher Jen Galant showed them how to react then approached by a suspicious adult, or “the creepy guy,” as she put it. The obvious answer that most students know is to get away from the person, but Galant also stressed that students should tell a trusted adult about the incident, even if it seems minor. This will help school staff look out for the person to avoid repeat incidents.

Sharts said the program, which also rewards students throughout the year for good behavior, has proven to be helpful so far. She said that it makes it clear to students how they should conduct themselves. And while most students were well-behaved even before the program started, it is a positive way to reach out to kids who weren’t.

“There is a larger group of kids who know to do the right thing,” she said. “It is helpful to that smaller group of kids that do not give as much thought to their decisions.”