Fresh off summer vacation, behavior can be an issue for school students.

L.B. Morris Elementary School in Jim Thorpe is getting ahead of the problem.Two assemblies, one for K-3 students and another for 4-8, on Monday highlighted additions to the school's Teamwork Organization Respect Choices Honor program."TORCH is our schoolwide positive behavior support program, which promotes a positive learning environment," said Jamie Kunkel, the K-8 educational intervention coordinator at L.B. Morris.Students receive red tickets from L.B. Morris teachers and staff when their good behavior is witnessed within the school building.Now starting its third year, the program is expanding to include blue tickets and golden tickets."We are partnering with several businesses in the community that are going to give out blue tickets if they see students exhibiting positive behavior in the community," Kunkel said. "It's a new twist that takes TORCH outside school walls."Actions "above and beyond" the TORCH values will net students a golden ticket from school staff, Kunkel said."If a student receives a golden ticket, they will get their name on the announcements, a positive phone call home from a principal and their name in the newspaper," Kunkel said.Students can accumulate non-golden tickets and cash them in for prizes, similar to a carnival game.Prizes range from pencils and erasers to bigger items such as books or stuffed animals."For higher ticket amounts, we also allow students to do things like cut a teacher's tie or put a pie in the principal's face," Kunkel said. "They also might be able to sign up for an extra gym class or a pizza party."L.B. Morris has a schoolwide positive behavior team made up of teachers and staff.Kunkel said the program has been effective in its initial years."We haven't looked at the data yet to compare one year to another, but you can see the difference with your own eyes," she said. "Detentions are down and students, especially the younger ones, really respond to this."Bus drivers are also stocked with red tickets this year as the school tries to improve student behavior on the rides to and from its building.Student conduct has also improved in the L.B. Morris cafeteria."We worked hard on the nonstructured environments like a cafeteria and the buses," Kunkel said. "Our whole goal is to put a stop to behavior problems before they start."Parents are also asked to play a role in the TORCH program by talking to their children about what they did to earn their tickets."We want parents to encourage and motivate their children to strive for positive experiences every day in school," Kunkel said.