So, if I were a knuckleheaded jock in my third senior year, I could win a car because I was able to consistently sleep in class without getting kicked out while Susie Smarty who hangs on every teacher’s words and studies 6 hours at night but missed a day because she had to drive her dying dad to the doctor can’t? Cool, dude!
Too young to drive, she wins a car
For her strong school attendance record, Ashley Martinez won a sparkling new Dodge Caliber—a sporty hatchback that starts at about $15,000.
Unfortunately, she needs to wait four years to drive her prize. She’s only 12.
[…]
Incentive offers make sense financially because some state funding is tied to the number of students in attendance.For each percentage point increase in average attendance, the city’s school system receives up to $18 million in state funding.
The cost of the car, including taxes, was donated by Clear Channel and South Chicago Dodge.
Students did not even need perfect attendance for the whole school year to qualify for the contest.
Man, did I attend school in the wrong era. Now if they only could do the same to get kids into tech programs after graduating…
Kinda silly for school kids, but if one ignores the unfair aspects of “required” absences, may be of some use.
I once got a nasty letter from my kid’s school Superintendent’s Office. She had a couple of “extra” unexcused absences. I thought that was a little odd, because she was pretty good about getting to school, and hadn’t “skipped”, and we were conscientious about getting Doctor’s notes in when she was sick for more than a day or two, or somebody asked.
Then I looked at the dates. Three Jewish Holidays and her Grandfather’s funeral….
“Gentlemen: … While I’m going to ignore this, other than this letter, it’s quite possible that somebody will sue you should any action be taken against a student based on your computer’s unedited output, or however these letters were prepared. I NEVER want to get another letter like this if she’s not really skipping school….” It seemed to have worked.
The former day job, having a nasty absentee problem, decided to put the name of everybody whose attendance was 100% for a month into a hat, and draw for a TV set each month. $400-ish set…. It got some attention. One guy, whose attendance was, charitably, spotty, tried, and while he didn’t win the TV set, he walked into the office the day after the drawing and said: “Keep your TV. I never realize I could make this kind of money working here!”
Regards,
Stu.
Dang.
At my high school perfect attendance put you in the running for coupons from local restaurants.
I had perfect attendance, 3.5 GPA (all AP courses), and a 30 on the ACT and all I got was a $250 scholarship… from my JROTC unit.
Perfecto! Not only the schools warehousing nonstudents they are also encouraging a life taped together with lotto tickets. Might as well buy an xbox and coke machine for every class room.
“Incentive offers make sense financially because some state funding is tied to the number of students in attendance.”
– This is a classic case of government bureaucracy losing touch with reality.
For the state government, it makes sense to them to pay (or provide extra incentive) for students to attend school, because they get funded according to attendance.
But where does the money come from? The tax-payer. So the tax-payer pays for the state-funded education, then pays again to provide the incentive for the student to show up and take the free education.
And the government bureaucrat who dreamed up the idea thinks they’re doing a great job.
hahha
looks like dad has got himself a new car
Back in my time (a couple decades ago), you got mentioned in the ‘perfect attendance’ list. That list was printed along with the honor roll list. (remember the honor roll list?).
First of all, how much of a “prize” is a second-rate American car? Make it a Toyota or Honda.
Second, when I was in grade school, I was promised a whopping $20 from Mom and Dad if I completed the school year with no absences. Back then (early 70’s) that was pretty big money to an eighth-grader who didn’t get an allowance!
To follow up on the story…
The kid was then slapped with $5000 in taxes and registration fees, due immediately. In addition, it was also demanded that she provide proof of insurance. Being a 12 year old girl she did not have the money, or the ability to sign a contract for insurance.
So her wages as a babysitter were garnished and her credit trashed for 7 years.
(remember when Oprah gave away new cars to her audience and they all got screwed over on taxes?)