BURLINGTON — As Brett Olson and Max Grigsby poured flour and cornmeal into a mixing bowl, they debated the proper amount of water to add.

The recipe says one cup, Olson said. But the texture isn’t right, Grigsby countered. Olson turned on the mixer’s motor and poured in water while keeping a watchful eye on the dough’s consistency.

Grigsby, 15, and Olson, 18, are two of eight students in Burlington-Edison High School’s Positive Behavior Support program, one that teacher Stephen Knoefler says has reduced behavior problems by more than 80 percent and raised grades for students here.

It is a program for teens with behavioral problems that require an intensive regimen of supervision, counseling and teaching. The students also include four from the Secret Harbor program, which has a group home in Burlington.

Students in Secret Harbor’s program have endured abuse or neglect and often exhibit disruptive behavior as a result.

Knoefler, who has a background in corrections, attributes the program’s success to a combination of structure and staff attention.

“Once you let these kids know you care about them and want them to be successful, they blossom,” he said.

As one of many classroom projects, students are making dog treats from scratch and selling them to teachers and staff in the district.

If popularity is any judge, the student venture is so far successful. It’s been less than a month since they started making Tiger Doggie Treats, and they’ve already sold more than 150 bags at $2 each.

Grigsby rolled out the dough onto a cutting board, and he made short work of cutting biscuits out of the thick dough. Knoefler bought paw, fire hydrant and bone-shaped cookie cutters for the task.

“It’s quite fun because it’s a lot like making cookies,” Grigsby said.

The flavor, though, leaves something to be desired for the human palate.

“They taste really bland,” Olson said. “But the dogs seem to love them.”

Of the eight students in the class, four live in Secret Harbor’s Lillian Johnson House in Burlington.

“We’re dealing with a wide variety of behavioral disorders,” Knoefler said.

As a result, the classroom also has two instructional assistants, adults to help keep the students on task, and, at times, also help keep the peace.

“Some people write them off as a lost cause,” Knoefler said. “Each of these kids has a story. Each of these kids has a background.”

The program is located in a portable classroom north of the high school — and north of Burlington North, the district’s alternative school. It’s so far north that students have dubbed the classroom “Burlington North North.”

But the students’ isolation does not keep them from participating in the community. Far from it.

They volunteer at the YMCA by cleaning the exercise room in exchange for being able to use the facility twice a week. The students also volunteer at Sedro-Woolley’s Helping Hands Food Bank.

“It’s good to get them integrated and building customer service skills,” Knoefler said.

Students also have a chance to graduate on time if they take extra classes, as Olson has.

Olson, who will be the first Secret Harbor student to graduate from Burlington-Edison, said he was four credits short of graduating this year, but with the help of “Mr. K,” as students call him, he’s on track to graduate with his peers in June.

One of those classes was a cooking class. Olson hadn’t done much cooking before, he said, “unless you count making a bowl of cereal.”

“I used to hate it because I knew I wasn’t good at it and I didn’t know much about it,” he said.

But last week, as he mixed up another batch, he talked about what he wants to do after high school. Olson said he will get his own apartment after graduation and plans to attend classes at Skagit Valley College to work toward something in the human services field.

“I’m succeeding in everything I do,” Olson said. “I’m actually really happy right now.”

Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .