Teacher James Traylor and his student, Antonio Weatherspoon, got Lockeland Middle School involved in a program that gave students points for being good. The school ranked fourth in the nation for its work, and Antonio was named the school's Man of the Year.

Antonio Weatherspoon, 12, wanted to change the image of Lockeland Middle School.

He wanted the halls to be safe, for pupils not to fight and for the community to praise the school at the end of Woodland Street in East Nashville.

When his teacher asked his class to develop such a program, Anthony asked his class to join the "Set a Good Example" campaign, based in California.

His classmates agreed and the pupils began acting nice, saying please and thank you and shaking hands with strangers who entered the building. Soon pupils throughout the school wanted to participate and were being caught being good

Pupils were given points for good behavior, being polite and being helpful. Points were taken away for fighting, arguing and being disrespectful.

The program became so successful that yesterday the school was recognized for placing fourth out of 1,300 schools nationwide taking part in the Set a Good Example program.

And Lockeland kids couldn't have been more excited if they'd placed first.

The school has had a past tarnished by a negative public image and was often falsely labeled a bad school to visit.

The school's fifth- and sixth-graders are predominantly black, and many come from single-parent homes and from parents with little education.

That's what makes this program so successful, said chiropractor Gene Snead, who sponsored the school in the campaign.

"What you are looking at is children taking responsibility for themselves in a community where responsibility is kind of lost."

Principal Vanessa Barbour said the campaign has turned the school around.

In addition to making Lockeland a kinder, gentler school, the campaign has made it safer, Barbour said.

"We have decreased the violence by 70%–80% over the school year. We have decreased disrespectful attitudes toward teachers, decreased vulgar language and gestures."

Before the program began, the school averaged about 19 referrals a week to the office for pupils fighting and misbehaving. In the program's first week, those referrals were cut in half.

"You name it, it's better," Barbour said.

"Kids now are more apt to sit down, calm down, think about what to do and set a good example. It's not 100% but it's 100% improvement.

Antonio, who was voted Set a Good Example Man of the Year, said he is pleased with the change in the school.

"I think this is making our community a better place," Antonio said. "Working on this is a way to stop some of the killing and some of the badness."