Field trip ahead for good students

• By C/J/ FUTCH
• Advocate Ascension section writer
• Published: Nov 5, 2009

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Positive Behavior Support programs have been around for a while, Trudy Bates, an eighth-grade teacher at Donaldsonville High School, said.

But this year, she said, the administration at Donaldsonville — the high school shares its campus with seventh and eighth grades — have taken a different approach to rewarding students for good grades and good attitudes.

“We are trying for more significant rewards,” Bates said. This nine weeks, it’s a field trip to see “This Is It,” a movie dedicated to Michael Jackson’s music. “It’s one of our first major outings, and our first field trip,” Bates said.

There is also an educational element, Bates said. The English language arts classes have been reading horror and mystery around Halloween, and have watched some excerpts from Jackson’s “Thriller” music video.

“The kids are excited about this,” Bates said. Soon after the qualified students were named, she said, the permission slips came rolling in.

Kelsey Helms and Kelsey Landry both like Jackson’s music, they say, but being able to leave campus, take a break from classes, and wear normal, non-uniform clothes is almost as big a reward.

“The kids who didn’t qualify, they’re kind of sad because they’re getting left here,” Helms said.

The idea, Bates said, was to give students rewards that make it worth their while to follow the rules.

Student Davontai Rodrigue said it’s working. This year, out of a total of 112 eighth-graders, 68 qualified with no Ds or Fs on their report cards, and no discipline referrals for the first nine-week grading period.

What he described is an overall change in attitude, respect, and discipline. “It does make it easier to learn,” he said.

Eighty students qualified academically, Bates said, but some had disciplinary referrals. Those students have been asking what the reward will be next nine weeks.

“I said, ‘I can’t tell you for sure what we’ll be doing, but I can tell you we’ll be doing something good,’” she said.

It’s part of a push by the school’s administration, Bates said, to get students to buy into this statewide program.