Jack wrote on August 03, 2008 09:51 PM: Giving students prizes for attending is like paying an employee for punching in and doing nothing all day. Yes some employers, such as the school district, do not link pay to performance. Most industries however do link pay and performance and showing up is not performance.
The perfect attendance awards are a complete crock!

teacher wrote on August 03, 2008 09:20 PM: I hear you, Troy. We need a lot more hands on vocational ed that is interesting to kids for whom academic work is not. Not all kids need to go to college, or do college prep school work. (God forbid they should all go to college!)

Quentin wrote on August 03, 2008 08:29 PM: Travis - John doesn't have the answers. Look at his campaign website. He is a political science major. He wants to be a pure politician. He has an agenda - punishing those who gave his sons detention.

You are wrong to have high expectations for him to answer your q's. He will not even try. Just like his work ethic for the school board.

Travis wrote on August 03, 2008 07:04 PM: John, what will it take for a solid response? Should I exaggerate your positions to get your attention? I won't, but I wonder if that is what it would take.

I've come to two possible conclusions.

1) You are a concerned parent and public servant who saw a problem with the opinion and practices of some elected and district officials. If that is the case, the reason you are not responding is because you have a very narrow view of education. You have probably realized that the issues are wide-reaching, beyond my own perspective, and require much more knowledge than you currently possess.

2) You are a politician.

If you are the first case, there is hope. Be willing to listen to others, especially those involved daily in the interactions of a classroom and policies of a school district.

If you are the second case, there is no hope.

troy wrote on August 03, 2008 06:25 PM: while i have no answers to your problems, i can maybe help you understand why. when i was in high school i had a problem with attendance. school was just boring me to death. i also had a drinking problem at 16 and school interfered with that. i later was expelled from school which was fine by me. i got so out of hand that my dad took me to a military recruiter. i was lucky, it was Vietnam war time. the army recruiter was out to lunch, so the navy chief asked me why army? he took the time to get me over to lawton ok. for the ged test, which i passed easily. then to Oklahoma city for a navy entrance exam. i passed that with the highest score they had to date. i was soon signed up for 6 years for nuclear sub school. during boot camp this got changed to aviation machinist mate a school with a 4 years obligation. i went through the "a" school and then a "c" school for helicopters given by the marines. ended up spending 8 years in the navy and wish i had done the 20 now. the idea behind my writing is it didn't matter what anyone said i didn't got to school when i didn't want to, no matter the punishment. i did great in the navy schools because it was thrown at me fast,not repeated 1000 times. it was here it is get it or go to sea with no rating. it was of interest to me so i learned it fast. it also provided me with a livelihood after the navy. i have no idea how to solve todays problems, but maybe this will help everyone understand the why behind our school system failure.

Travis wrote on August 03, 2008 05:24 PM: "These students have perfect attendance because their parents can't stand to have them at home either!"

Anybody curious as to how many parents paid $200 for 6 weeks of daycare, er ah, summer school? These are just the ones who admit it.

Brian wrote on August 03, 2008 05:24 PM: One aspect of the attendance policy I do not like is allowing students three days to bring a note from their parents.

Here is a plan for change:

When a student doesn't show up to the school, a parent must call the school by 10:00 A.M. If there is no call, the attendance clerk at the school will call the parents at home or at work to tell them their child is not in school.

The next day the student must bring in a note signed by the parent. The parent must have a signature on file, and the clerk will check the signature.

To get into the classes, the students will carry a pass from the attendance office. Two colors will be used. A blue pass means the absence is excused and the student will have two days to make up the work. A red pass if the absence is unexcused. The teacher will record a zero for any homework due the day of absence and a zero for any work done in the class.

Also, if unexcused, the parent will get a warning, and the student must serve detention. Second unexcused, the parent is fined $500.00, etc.

And on the third unexcused, any welfare monies will be stopped.

Robin Vircsik wrote on August 03, 2008 05:12 PM: John W. Schutt wrote: Therefore, yes the parents are ultimately responsible, however you need someone to start the process, aka the administration and courts. NOT TEACHERS!

My response: I hope that if you are elected, you will make every effort to include teachers in the problem-solving process. Every individual, including teachers, has a right to contact state legislators with their ideas for bill draft requests prior to the onset of the legislative session. Also, once the session has started, we also have the right to participate via video conferencing at the Grant Sawyer Building, here in Las Vegas. At that time, we can suggest ammendments to bill drafts.

Teachers are not the problem .. We have answers!

Shannon wrote on August 03, 2008 05:11 PM: teacher wrote: "In my school this past year, when a student I had won a bike for attendance, I was thoroughly disgusted, because that student was absolutely obnoxious and a poor student. But miserable behavior didn't exclude anyone from the drawing. And, trust me, even if this student showed up day after day, she was not getting good scores on any tests. What she was doing was frustrating teachers, but bringing in her funding by showing up."

This is another problem. We have some students who have perfect attendance, yet don't do a thing in the classroom. They refuse to do any work and all the parent/teacher conferences in the world don't do a thing. These students have perfect attendance because their parents can't stand to have them at home either!

Shannon wrote on August 03, 2008 05:08 PM: John:

It is my understanding that there are already laws on the books regarding the truancy issue. However, administrators are afraid to actually report the students as truant and let the parents go through the court system. The school district needs to quit being weenies about the truancy issue and do something to hold the parents accountable for their children.

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