Teacher gave out candy and certificates...

[soccerchick]

I just found out recently that either our county--or maybe it is just one school...rewards the teachers for perfect attendance for their classes. That I think is ridiculous.

Not to go too far off on a tangent, but...

Just curious as to why that's ridiculous? Wouldn't you rather have your child's teacher in his/her class than a substitute? Wouldn't you like to see your district save $. I'm also curious about what the "reward" is? My guess is that it's probably not much.

I know plenty of teachers who take their personal days no matter what: shopping before the holidays, a day out in the spring, an extra day when there are scheduled breaks. Your child benefits the most by encouraging teacher to not take personal days. I think this is much better than the companies that "force" leave on their workers to keep their books where they want them.

 

[Disney Doll]

Do you mean that "I" have issues with the teacher? I guess the issues are that they (school faculty) are not following a 504 plan that is in place and this is in violation of the law. I need to call a meeting for this. Also, the whole point of behavior modification is negated if she doesn't keep up her end of the bargain. All incentive is gone, if it depends on the teacher's "mood". The doc's jaw hit her desk when I told her about this.

You are correct in everything you say and I agree wholeheartedly with you. It seems now that you have shared more detail that the issue is less other kids getting rewarded than it is his teacher not following the reward/behavior modification plans set up for him, which presumably she agreed to. If there are instances when he is supposed to be receiving rewards for certain criteria that he meets, and she knows this, and he meets the criteria and does not get his rewards, then you have every right to be angry about that, and certainly should take it further, as you plan to do.

I guess with the added detail of your son's challenges it is clearer as to why you are upset that she is rewarding other children.

I wish you well in dealing with this. And continue to make sure he knows what is special about him!

So hard to be a Mama....

 

[ilovejack02]

I agree with you. They hand out candy at my kids school too. I have one kid who gets straight A's and one who gets straight B's and haven't heard any complaining from the B child about not getting the candy.

I really hate the "every child has to get something so they don't feel bad" mentality.

I dont get it either. While growing up I remember the teachers giving goodies to the kids that got honor roll and not to the ones that didnt get it. I didnt always get a goodie and just knew I had to work harder for next time.
Later in life, adults will get raises on job performance and others wont.
Kids win baseball games get trophies and go onto the playoffs.
It blows my mind when I go to a birthday party and someone gives the sibling a present so they wont feel left out. I went to a baby shower and someone brought gifts to the ladies younger children for the same reason. It wasnt Im the big brother t shirts either it was toys.
Life is about disappointments and we all need to learn to deal.
Now as far as perfect attendance awards, no folks should not send kids to school sick. Its really a stupid award and parents who are proud that they sent their kid to school sick just so they could get it should be slapped .

 

[Mermaid02]

You are correct in everything you say and I agree wholeheartedly with you. It seems now that you have shared more detail that the issue is less other kids getting rewarded than it is his teacher not following the reward/behavior modification plans set up for him, which presumably she agreed to. If there are instances when he is supposed to be receiving rewards for certain criteria that he meets, and she knows this, and he meets the criteria and does not get his rewards, then you have every right to be angry about that, and certainly should take it further, as you plan to do.

I guess with the added detail of your son's challenges it is clearer as to why you are upset that she is reqrding other children.

I wish you well in dealing with this. And continue to make sure he knows what is special about him!

So hard to be a Mama....

Trust me- I could take up page one of the Dis with what is going on.

We gave him his reward for being "on track" all week last night.

I HATE the thought of retaining an attorney. I'm going to call the state capital and speak with an education advocate first.

 

[ilovejack02]

Not to go too far off on a tangent, but...

Just curious as to why that's ridiculous? Wouldn't you rather have your child's teacher in his/her class than a substitute? Wouldn't you like to see your district save $. I'm also curious about what the "reward" is? My guess is that it's probably not much.

I know plenty of teachers who take their personal days no matter what: shopping before the holidays, a day out in the spring, an extra day when there are scheduled breaks. Your child benefits the most by encouraging teacher to not take personal days. I think this is much better than the companies that "force" leave on their workers to keep their books where they want them.

I just find that odd that they would give a reward when they are given a set amout of personal days to take off each year. My mother got 10 days a year. sometimes she took thema and sometimes not. Im not saying its good or bad, just odd.

 

[barkley]

our school does'nt do perfect attendance awards, but the teacher (in my opinion) does go overboard on the kids/parents about attendance. there may be some kids i'm unaware of with attendance problems, but i don't think that justifies making kids feel that it's the end of the world if they have a valid reason for missing the odd day here and there (nor does it justify getting interrogated when you call in your child ill ).

with my two i've told them not to worry about it-i'll make the decisions on weather they are fit to attend and if the teacher feels the need to discuss it she can discuss it with dh and i. but there are some parents who are so intent on pleasing the teacher (who also happens to be the principal) that in my opinion-they toss common sense out the window. we've had kids who came to school obviously not feeling well day after day-exposing all the other kids to whatever they have. one 'perfect attender' got so run down that when she finaly went out she was treated not only for the virus she had but exhaustion as well (and we are talking 2nd grader)-poor kid was off for 3 weeks on doctor's orders. kids who have had surgery-returning to school half way through the minimum time the doctors instructed the parents to keep them off. kids in bulky arm casts/slings/braces due to come off in a few days (when swell comes down so permanant more managable casts can go on) who can't go to the bathroom unassisted, can't use a pencil, hold a book, in obvious discomfort or nodding off from pain meds-so another kid has to do everything for them). it's just insane.

i understand how in public schools attendance is tied to funding, so despite a kid doing realy well, if the attendance is'nt there it results in lost moneys all around. but in a private educational setting, where missed days don't have a financial impact (i pay the same tuition if my child is there or absent)-it seems if a child is doing fine, let alone excelling (as most of the examples i listed are)-keeping the child home when they are not well or not able to benefit from the instruction by virtue of pain or an altered state just seems the right thing to do with no negative consequences impacting anyone.

 

[phamton]

What reward does yor son get for being "on track"? Do the other kids in his class get upset when they don't get a reward for being on track?

ETA: I do think your son's teacher should reward him as he has worked hard to stay on task, but others have worked hard to make the honor roll. Life is full of disappointements. Some kids get to go to Disneyworld on vacation, while others don't, or have nicer clothes or more toys. I work just as hard as my friend but I will never be able to afford the luxuries that she has. Life give us all different challenges and different rewards.

 

[BuckNaked]

I don't have a problem with either award, though my kids will never get perfect attendance - they get sick and miss school at least once per year.

Our school hands out certificates for first honors (all A's) and second honors (A's & B's). DD gets a cert every grading period, DS hasn't gotten one since last year. But as long as he's doing his best (their report cards show effort grades as well as performance grades), all is good with us.

 

[monsterkitty]

We don't do perfect attendance at our school because we got tired of, "but Sally only missed 1 day when she was out ill!" Well, that isn't perfect attendance, now is it? We also got tired of the people sending ill children to school because they wanted the PA award. Since we have ceased the perfect attendance awards, I have not contracted pink eye once!


OP, you stated:

I HATE the thought of retaining an attorney. I'm going to call the state capital and speak with an education advocate first.

However, you have also stated that you need to meet with the teacher as to why she isn't following the 504 plan. Meeting with the teacher is the first step you need to take. If you contact the state department first, chances are they will ask you if you have met with the teacher, principal, and others involved. If you have not, they will redirect to meet with the school before they will begin to investigate the 504 violations.

Finally, the candy thing. We give out candy as rewards simply because when a child gets candy at school from a teacher, it is a huge thing to that student. It really motivates students to try harder (we don't reward only honor roll kids, but we pick those who work their tails off as well). If a student is allowed candy all the time, the "oh, candy again" attitude diminishes the reward. However, when a student is rewarded with a pop or candy (the forbidden fruits), it becomes a real motivator to work harder for all students.

Finally (for real this time!), thank you for rewarding your child at home for his accomplishments. We get more than a handful of parents who never live up to their end of the reward bargain, which also negates the behavior modification incentives.

 

[Christine]

our school does'nt do perfect attendance awards, but the teacher (in my opinion) does go overboard on the kids/parents about attendance. there may be some kids i'm unaware of with attendance problems,

I just wanted to add: there are kids with attendance problems and, if you heard the excuses, you would just shake your head.

When my kids were in elementary school, I really had no clue what other children's attendance records were. I had no way to know nor did my kids ever notice. Now that my kids are older and more cognizant about what is going on around them, boy, do I hear some stories.

I am one of *those* parents who makes their kid go to school if he/she has:

a headache
a cold (even if it's pretty bad)
menstrual cramps
slightly upset stomach
fatigue

My kids will stay home if:
they are coughing uncontrollably
they have any sort of fever
they are dry heaving
diarrhea

Now, my kids have gotten perfect attendance awards off and on. Not every year, but some years. When my DD was in middle school, she was the ONLY child who got one in her 8th grade year. Honestly, I'm *sick* of being made to feel like a monster because my kid got one!

But, I digress...many of my DD's friends stay home because they are tired, they have a runny nose, or (the last one), they just didn't feel like going to school that day.

One of her friends missed two days of school last week because Friday was a half day and two of her teachers were on maternity leave so WHY BOTHER??? and last Wednesday she missed because "she just didn't feel like going to school that day." The parents are happy to let them stay home. These are 10th graders.

When my DD was in 8th grade, her friend had to go in to the office because she have 30+ something tardies at the end of the first semester? Because she is TIRED in the morning.

I just don't get it.

So, I think while this is not the way the majority of students are, there are many that are like this and I think the school tries to use some sort of incentive for these kids. I'm not sure if the awards systems works though. I think the laziness factor is too far ingrained in that type of student/parent to have it matter.

 

[barkley]

Not to go too far off on a tangent, but...

Just curious as to why that's ridiculous? Wouldn't you rather have your child's teacher in his/her class than a substitute? Wouldn't you like to see your district save $. I'm also curious about what the "reward" is? My guess is that it's probably not much.

I know plenty of teachers who take their personal days no matter what: shopping before the holidays, a day out in the spring, an extra day when there are scheduled breaks. Your child benefits the most by encouraging teacher to not take personal days. I think this is much better than the companies that "force" leave on their workers to keep their books where they want them.

see now i read this to mean perfect attendance for their classes (as in their students). that was something my employer tried to do with us sups and our staff. problem with it was that we had a largly female workforce, almost all of whom had little ones who got sick time to time (and god bless the moms for not sending them to school sick), and since we sups were working moms and knew exactly what the realities of parenthood were-we were not going to sign on for any kind of 'perk' program that made us give people a hard time for using sick leave they earned, had on the books and were well within their rights to use. our attitude was if they did'nt want people to be out more than x days a quarter then they should look at restructuring their leave allocations (good grief-you give people 6 weeks of combined sick, vacation and float per year begining the first year they come to work for you-and you don't think they are going to use it???).

personaly as far as teachers go i'de rather see them take their allowed time off. nothing's worse than a burned out teacher-and i had far too many of them as a kid. maybe if they had taken a day or two off here or there instead of trying to bank them all to cash out at the end of the year (district i grew up in had this policy to prevent using subs as much as possible) they would have felt better and been more effective educators.

 

[Mermaid02]

What reward does yor son get for being "on track"? Do the other kids in his class get upset when they don't get a reward for being on track?

ETA: I do think your son's teacher should reward him as he has worked hard to stay on task, but others have worked hard to make the honor roll. Life is full of disappointements. Some kids get to go to Disneyworld on vacation, while others don't, or have nicer clothes or more toys. I work just as hard as my friend but I will never be able to afford the luxuries that she has. Life give us all different challenges and different rewards.

This is a classroom behavior modification plan. Not just one for my child. Sorry if that was misunderstood. My son was the last child in the room the day he asked about the reward.

 

[Southern4sure]

I have not read all the posts but I have to say:

My youngest son gets perfect attendance. No I do not send him to school sick, it is because he is one healthy kid. Rarely does he get the sniffles the older he gets.

The award/ribbon is put in the evelope with his report card. The only time perfect attendance is made into something really special is at the end of the school year. They get to eat lunch with the principal and a little party.

Honor roll is similiar....certificate in with the report card. Students names mentioned in the monthly school letter. All is kept to a minimum.

Ds is the type of kid that if he doesnt make a team, sport, honor roll, perfect attendance and etc, he is ok. He is not devestated and cries. We teach our kids that it is OK to be dissapointed. We encourage them to strive hard to reach their goals and we are there to pick them up when they fall but also we teach them to learn by mistakes.

 

[barkley]

I just wanted to add: there are kids with attendance problems and, if you heard the excuses, you would just shake your head.

When my kids were in elementary school, I really had no clue what other children's attendance records were. I had no way to know nor did my kids ever notice. Now that my kids are older and more cognizant about what is going on around them, boy, do I hear some stories.

I am one of *those* parents who makes their kid go to school if he/she has:

a headache
a cold (even if it's pretty bad)
menstrual cramps
slightly upset stomach
fatigue

My kids will stay home if:
they are coughing uncontrollably
they have any sort of fever
they are dry heaving
diarrhea

Now, my kids have gotten perfect attendance awards off and on. Not every year, but some years. When my DD was in middle school, she was the ONLY child who got one in her 8th grade year. Honestly, I'm *sick* of being made to feel like a monster because my kid got one!

But, I digress...many of my DD's friends stay home because they are tired, they have a runny nose, or (the last one), they just didn't feel like going to school that day.

One of her friends missed two days of school last week because Friday was a half day and two of her teachers were on maternity leave so WHY BOTHER??? and last Wednesday she missed because "she just didn't feel like going to school that day." The parents are happy to let them stay home. These are 10th graders.

When my DD was in 8th grade, her friend had to go in to the office because she have 30+ something tardies at the end of the first semester? Because she is TIRED in the morning.

I just don't get it.

So, I think while this is not the way the majority of students are, there are many that are like this and I think the school tries to use some sort of incentive for these kids. I'm not sure if the awards systems works though. I think the laziness factor is too far ingrained in that type of student/parent to have it matter.

i agree with you-my kids don't stay home pretty much by the same criteria you've listed, but we have to admit-the ones whose parents are letting them miss school for any reason (or non reason under the sun) are not going to be swayed one iota by a perfect attendance certificate.

i worked for social services in a district that had some of the worst attendance issues in the state. district tried awards, perks, all kinds of incentives to improve attendance. nothing worked-UNTIL the district attny. and juvinile probation enforced the minimum standards of attendance policies-and kids that did'nt attend along with their parents became subject to prosecution. a few thought the d.a. would never do it-he did, and after a few parents who activly supported their kid's excessive absences cooled their heels in county jail for a weekend the message got out. incentives did'nt work-enforcement of standards, and consequences for both the kids and the parents did.

 

[Mermaid02]

We don't do perfect attendance at our school because we got tired of, "but Sally only missed 1 day when she was out ill!" Well, that isn't perfect attendance, now is it? We also got tired of the people sending ill children to school because they wanted the PA award. Since we have ceased the perfect attendance awards, I have not contracted pink eye once!


OP, you stated:


However, you have also stated that you need to meet with the teacher as to why she isn't following the 504 plan. Meeting with the teacher is the first step you need to take. If you contact the state department first, chances are they will ask you if you have met with the teacher, principal, and others involved. If you have not, they will redirect to meet with the school before they will begin to investigate the 504 violations.

Finally, the candy thing. We give out candy as rewards simply because when a child gets candy at school from a teacher, it is a huge thing to that student. It really motivates students to try harder (we don't reward only honor roll kids, but we pick those who work their tails off as well). If a student is allowed candy all the time, the "oh, candy again" attitude diminishes the reward. However, when a student is rewarded with a pop or candy (the forbidden fruits), it becomes a real motivator to work harder for all students.

Finally (for real this time!), thank you for rewarding your child at home for his accomplishments. We get more than a handful of parents who never live up to their end of the reward bargain, which also negates the behavior modification incentives.

I am going to meet with the team about 504.

I'm sorry there is so much more to this story- as is usually the case. I am calling the Education Advocate at the advice of 2 of my son's doctors and it has nothing to do with them not following the 504 plan.

 

[summerrluvv]

My son's teacher gives tallies each day to the kids. Each tallie represents a minute of free play time. Do the kids that don't earn tallies deserve something too? No. They didn't earn it. The district awards the kids with perfect attendance with pizza certificates. Again, those kids earned it.

Life's not fair sometimes, get over it.

 

[AmazingGrace]

I don't like perfect attendence awards at all.
It's funny that this subject came up, because my ds just got student of the month for February. There was assembly yesterday with all the students of the month. They got certificates and a blurb read about how each student earned the title. Before this sememster, my son had NEVER made honor roll or had been recognized like this. His blurb basically went on about how hard he works, his positive attitude and his improving academic performance.
I talked to his teacher briefly and she said that Benji got it because of how hard he works, and that grades are only a part of why she puts kids in for that sort of thing.

 

[leighe]

my mom is a first grade teacher and what she does is hand out awards to EACH child. it makes them ALL feel special. because she finds the good in them and puts it on a certificate. they love it! QUOTE]

That seems silly to me. ALL children aren't the best or deserving of an award ALL the time. I believe it is actually detrimental to kids to constantly reward them for doing basically what they should be doing anyway. I am a high school teacher and you wouldn't believe how kids expect to be rewarded just for doing even the most basic tasks. "Since we didn't whine taking notes today can we have the rest of the block for free time?" Part of me wants to yell, "You are getting an education! You are learning to become an independent, mature adult. THAT'S your reward!"

To the OP - I totally sympathize with your situation. You really should meet with the teacher and/or administration to ensure that your son's 504 plan is being properly implemented.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Our school has an honors assembly every quarter and awards the children who made honor roll. I don't have a problem with that. If a child works hard and makes honor roll, why shouldn't they be rewarded?

i completely agree that children who are working hard deserve to be awarded.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

That seems silly to me. ALL children aren't the best or deserving of an award ALL the time. I believe it is actually detrimental to kids to constantly reward them for doing basically what they should be doing anyway. I am a high school teacher and you wouldn't believe how kids expect to be rewarded just for doing even the most basic tasks. "Since we didn't whine taking notes today can we have the rest of the block for free time?" Part of me wants to yell, "You are getting an education! You are learning to become an independent, mature adult. THAT'S your reward!"

EXACTLY!