Boys Town Program
Waller Independent School District

About the Boys Town program: The Boys Town Education Model, a comprehensive systems-based approach to social skill instruction and positive discipline in schools, originated in a model family program introduced into the homes on the Boys Town campus in Nebraska in the mid-1970’s. The program, which emphasized social skills and positive interaction with youth, resulted in a dramatic improvement in the behavior of the children and adolescents living in the homes and was soon extended to the schools on the Boys Town campus.
  The success of the program continued in the educational environment, soon drawing the attention of other public schools who began to request training and consultation in the program. Since then, personnel from hundreds of schools across the nation have received the training.
   “The Boys Town program is behavior modification with a twist,” said Rod Waller, the Boys Town USA Education Training Site Coordinator who oversaw the Waller ISD training program. “We teach alternative behavior and we teach staff how to teach the students. Our goal is to teach teachers to deal with behavior in the classroom – not in the office. It’s hard for a student to learn math, science, or anything else if he’s sitting in the principal’s office.”

  The Boys Town model was implemented district-wide in Waller ISD in the 1999-2000 school year, making Waller ISD the first district in the nation to train all its personnel at one time in the program. (Because of the expense, most districts train personnel as funding permits. The Waller ISD training was made possible by federal funds already allotted to the district.)
  Waller ISD Boys Town training was done in June 1999 through special seminars geared for different staff levels – administrators, teachers and ancillary personnel. Today, training is provided for new teachers before the start of each school year.