Building Culture at Scale with Lakin Whitesides: PBIS in a Virtual School

School culture is built through consistent expectations, shared language, and reinforcement over time. In a virtual school, creating that kind of culture requires intentional systems that reach students and staff across locations.In this episode of GCA Unmuted: Voices of Virtual Education, we’re joined by Lakin Whitesides, PBIS Coordinator at Georgia Cyber Academy. Lakin shares how Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) helps establish and sustain a positive school culture across a large, fully virtual environment.The conversation explores how expectations are defined and reinforced, how students are recognized for positive behavior, and how educators work together to create consistency across classrooms. Lakin also discusses how success is measured, how PBIS adapts to a virtual setting, and what other schools can learn from building culture at scale.This episode is part of GCA Unmuted’s ongoing documentation of how virtual schools develop systems that support student behavior, engagement, and community.Thanks for listening to GCA Unmuted: Voices of Virtual Education, a podcast documenting how virtual school works in practice at Georgia Cyber Academy.Each episode features educators, staff, and leaders sharing real stories and systems that support teaching and learning in a virtual environment.Learn more about the podcast and explore past episodes at: https://www.georgiacyber.org/about/unmutedYou can also watch full episodes and highlights on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GCAchampions