Student Behavior & Social-Emotional Support Framework

The Saugus Union School District is committed to fostering safe, positive, and empowering learning environments that support the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional growth of every student. Rather than relying on a single curriculum, our schools integrate a comprehensive toolkit of evidence-based frameworks to help students learn positive behavior expectations, build meaningful relationships, and develop lifelong self-regulation skills.

Core Pillars of Our Social, Emotional and Behavioral Support System

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

PBIS provides the multi-tiered foundation of our behavior management strategy. It establishes a
predictable and supportive school culture by clearly defining, explicitly teaching, and consistently reinforcing positive behavioral expectations across all campus settings.

  • Tier 1 (Universal Support): Standard school-wide expectations and proactive reinforcements that benefit approximately 95% of all students.
  • Tier 2 (Targeted Support): Small-group interventions and extra monitoring designed for about 4% of students who require additional behavioral coaching.
  • Tier 3 (Intensive Support): Individualized behavior plans developed for the 1% of students requiring intensive, specialized intervention.

Character Strong Social-Emotional Learning

To enhance peer respect and student wellness, SUSD utilizes the CharacterStrong curriculum for students in Kindergarten through 6th grade. This instructional framework systematically teaches critical competencies such as empathy, resilience, responsibility, and respect. By focusing on character development alongside academics, CharacterStrong helps students navigate peer interactions positively and reduces campus conflict.

Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH)

Relationships are at the center of student success. The Capturing Kids’ Hearts framework focuses on building deep, intentional connections between educators and students. At the beginning of the school year, teachers and students collaboratively develop classroom “Social Contracts” that outline how they promise to treat one another. This process ensures every child feels safe, valued, and a true sense of belonging at school.

Conscious Discipline

Conscious discipline equips our teachers and administrators with trauma-informed, restorative techniques to address behavioral challenges right at the root. This program integrates social-emotional learning with brain research to teach students self-regulation. Instead of relying solely on traditional punitive discipline, Conscious Discipline turns behavioral mistakes into valuable teaching moments, helping students understand their emotions and make better choices moving forward.

A Proactive, Collaborative Approach

By combining these four powerful frameworks, SUSD staff are highly trained to support students through a unified, restorative approach to school safety and behavior. Traditional progressive discipline and California Education Code protocols remain fully intact for serious infractions. However, our primary daily focus is to proactively teach students the appropriate behavioral, social, and emotional skills they need to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.

For detailed information regarding how these supports are actively implemented at your child’s specific campus, please contact your school’s principal or site administrator.