Students in Monroe Schools Aim at Better Behavior

A community development organization is working with schools in the Monroe area to promote a safe educational environment.

The YMCA’s “Positive Action” program focuses on stopping truancy, bullying and drug use.

Educators and students welcome the project’s timeliness.

Martin Luther King Middle School sixth-grader Christopher Perry is like many young students. He contends with the realities of peer pressure and has to make decisions about his behavior. Perry says the YMCA’s “Positive Action” program has helped him make better choices.

“I knew I was doing something bad, but I can fix it now, like talking in class. I made good grades but I just talked too much and I acted up in class. And stressing out your mama and yourself and you make her think she’s a bad parent, but she’s not. You can change it.”  

The “Positive Action” project takes renewed aim at old problems. Coming to terms with perennial issues such as cutting class, fighting and drug use requires fresh thinking in schools.   The local YMCA chapter is trying to get students to think about their behavior with the help of surveys. Still, the surveys aim to curb even more serious violations of school policy, while building up the student at the same time.The positive action program is paid for through a $92,000 grant and is geared to serve more than 3100 students in the Monroe City School System.

New YMCA positive action director, Jessica Holley, says bringing about positive thoughts and positive actions for students is the project’s goal.

“You are to fill in the bubble: ‘never, sometimes, most of the time, all the time.’ And you are given scenarios like, ‘do you do good work in school? Admit mistakes when you do something wrong? Try smoking cigarettes, even one puff? Hit other people?’ So it’s basically asking the kids to tell the truth to themselves. It’s self-realization; the only time you can change anything is when you realize you’re doing something wrong.”

Twelve-year-old Tony Frith also attends Martin Luther King Middle School. He says the survey made him think about stopping violence before it starts.

“It was good – like bullying, because when they get to cracking and you say ‘mama’ jokes and stuff, then they get for real and that’s when they want to fight and stuff. And that’s how everything goes on.”

Sixth and eighth grade teacher Cathy Walters says Tony’s assessment is insightful.

“Cracking is one of the steps that lead to bullying. They ‘crack’ on one another as friends and then suddenly somebody says the wrong thing and it can turn into bullying.”

Sixth grader Tony Frith says the positive action surveys are good for everyone in the classroom.

“Being bad in class and stuff…I used to be a class clown and I read the survey and I started being good and respectful to my teacher.”

Teacher Cathy Walters says the surveys can be a powerful tool to help teachers.

“The surveys by themselves aren’t some wonderful thing that can make a change in the student. They are a tool. They are something that a teacher can use to make difference in the lives of these students. However, if a teacher does not get on board, if they are not passionate about the positive action plan, about helping these students change their behaviors and the way that they think about things, they won’t truly be effective.”

Educators and administrators hope the program will offer widespread benefits. The surveys are administered periodically throughout the school year. And instructor Cathy Walters expects her students to participate in the next round of them in December.