THE EVENT
Classes: The whole school
Number of students: 640 students
Subject: Positive behavior
South Kearns administrators decided they could get more results from a positive program that rewards children for good behavior than they could from identifying problem students and dwelling on the negative.
THE SCHOOL
Location: 4430 W. 5570 South
Students: 640, kindergarten through sixth-grade
Number of teachers: 21
Principal: Carla Wonder, Karen Schleifer assistant
School district: Granite
THE LESSON
The school's objective: To help children realize good behavior gets them further than bad behavior.
Santa would be proud. This year to date at the year-round school, 8,063 tickets have been issued to children "Caught Being Good." Forty-three such good-behavior tickets are issued for every white slip denoting a negative behavior, said Wonder. Fifty-six children have been caught being good 25 or more times, an accomplishment that brings them special recognition before their peers and a South Kearns Top Cat pencil.
Each Friday, the week's "best behavers" - two from each grade level - are rewarded by having their names announced throughout the school and being allowed to pick a prize from the principals' treasure box.
"Over time, every child gets something," said Wonder. "We all make a real effort to see that every child gets some recognition." Teachers, administrators and school support personnel all keep their eyes open to catch children being good.
The positive program has significantly reduced the number of disciplinary actions the school finds necessary. White slips declined 57 percent in the first five weeks of school and among the remaining students by another 51 percent in the second five weeks. Children who repeat bad behavior are targeted for special help, along with their parents, Wonder said. Missing out on assemblies is a consequence that helps children understand that negative behaviors are not acceptable.
The children say:
Corey Camomile, a sixth-grader who was one of a recent week's batch of honorees: "I brought back my green slip (a school notice) on time and got a ticket."
Ashley Thompson, one of the two kindergarten children was recognized "For getting my work done all the time."
Vernon Leonard Coggle III "walked nicely and was quiet."