TULSA -- Anderson Elementary is using a different approach to discipline their students by getting to the root of the behavioral issues inside the school.
"Last year, I was kind of bad," said Preston Price, a sixth grader at Anderson Elementary.
Price admits he wasn't the best student.
"I didn’t want to listen, or nothing like that," said Price.
In some schools, students could be suspended and sent home from school.
"Mom has several kids to take care of and I don’t want my mom calling out of work telling her boss why she’s got to get off work," said Price.
That's not the case at Anderson Elementary. They take a different approach to discipline and have the students write letters, help around the school, and use other forms of "discipline" to work through the problem of the behavioral issues.
"We have to have our students here in order for them to really learn how to do the things that they need to do to self monitor to be in class full time. We can’t teach you those things if your consequence is that you’re out of school," said Dionne White, Assistant Principal at Anderson Elementary.
Students who are having behavioral problems typically go to the focus room, which removes the student from class temporarily to calm down.
"It’ll get too loud where my head will start hurting, I’ll ask the teacher if I could step out a little bit, and I’ll end up going to the focus room," said Price.
What used to be a "punishment" for Price, is now a safe space that he visits voluntarily, which he says helped him tremendously.
"This year I got like A’s, A’s and B’s, I’ve just been staying focused," said Price.
School officials say it's not an easy approach, but staff members are committed to helping their students both inside and outside the classroom.
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