PEORIA -- All District 150 schools are required to use a positive behavior program. One middle school is taking things to a new level today.
Teachers at Calvin Coolidge Middle School are having a little fun teaching students the importance of good behavior and the golden rule.
P.E. Teacher Trish Schmidt said the school is using an approach that includes the students and lets them have a say. "Well you have to buy into it first of all, and if kids aren't going to buy into it it's not going to work. So we ask them a lot of input, what would you like to do with the blumer bucks, what would you like to do for the monthly raider rewards."
Named after the school mascot and principal Tom Blumer, raider rewards and blumer bucks are changing the way kids behave.
Teachers encourage good behavior by giving entire classes raider rewards and individual students blumer bucks. They can then cash them in for a bigger prize.
Prizes can be anything from a class field trip to free dress days.
Students say those incentives are worth behaving for. Sixth grader Rosey Thomas said, "I try to do it because they give us all these opportunities to spend them, to have some fun in the gym or get snowcones or something like that."
Sixth grader Shaelyn Johnson said she behaves, so she can "be teacher for a day or get a uniform free day pass."
Most importantly, Schmidt said the program is doing its job.
Behavior at Calvin Coolidge is improving, and students are holding each other accountable.
Schmidt said, "If they see a teacher walking down the hall, they'll tell a kid in front of them, get in line! get in line!"
Students can earn as many rewards as they want, For August and September, teachers are passing out rewards for things like wearing the correct uniform and coming to school on time.
