Catch our kids being good

The Odessa School District (K-12) staff is continuing the behavior intervention system put in place three years ago called Positive Behavior Intervention Systems. Throughout the first year of implementation and beyond, the Odessa staff has focused on “catching students being good.” The idea is to catch students doing positive things as a way to eliminate negative and disruptive behavior.

The staff came up with the idea of handing out tickets to students throughout the school (in the hallway, cafeteria, playground, classroom, etc.) doing positive things. These are called S.T.A.R.S. tickets.

S = safe behavior

T = trustworthy and responsible

A = active learner

R = respectful and civil

S = strives for success

At the end of each week, tickets are taken out of the S.T.A.R.S. ticket basket. They are sorted by grade level and a winner from each group is randomly chosen to pick a reward from an already created list.

We are asking you, as Odessa business owners, to “catch” our S.T.A.R.S. doing positive things in the community. Feel free to fill out and distribute tickets to students you see being respectful, civil, trustworthy and responsible in your place of business. Students will then bring the ticket to school and place it in the S.T.A.R.S. ticket box for the weekly drawing.

At this time, it is our hope that the tickets have been handed out to each business. If you have not received your tickets, then please let the school office (982-2111) know and we will get them to you as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay or the oversight.

Thank you for your support with this program! We believe positive and proper behavior should not stop when students walk out of the school building. Our hope is the behaviors will be practiced in everything they do and everywhere they go.