Musselman High School is recognizing attendance this year by rewarding students with the goal to increase knowledge of what good attendance looks like and to promote higher attendance rates.
October’s rewards were dirty sodas and popcorn. Also, for the first nine weeks, the freshman class won an ice cream party to reward them with the highest average in attendance.
The attendance awards have been and will continue to be given out on a monthly basis.
When asked if there were any new plans for rewarding students assistant principal, Chandler Dehaven explained, “During the 2nd nine weeks we will be doing random room checks for attendance over 90% in classes. Students will then receive rewards if they are in the class.”
Motivation to attend school has been the main goal of the awards.
“They encourage students to attend school because it gives students something else to strive towards,” stated Dehaven.
According to research from the district, missing multiple days of school can result in a decline of a student’s understanding of a topic or class, which can possibly lead to failing a grade.
Berkeley County Schools acknowledged that students can’t be present at school everyday, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t maintain good attendance.
“We want to work with you to help your student succeed and reach the goal of less than five absences per semester,” stated Berkeley County Schools.
However, any absence over five days absent will be addressed. Messages and emails may be sent home to address concerns towards a student’s attendance or just to remind parents of the importance of attending school.
There are a couple visible ways a student can find a report on how a class grade or how the overall school is doing. Two stoplights have been placed in the school to represent attendance rates and are located near the main office and in the PLC.
As a school, the goal is to strive for a green light, which represents 95% or more of the student body in attendance. If the green light is shining on the stoplight, a wheel will be present in the cafeteria at all lunches fort students to spin and receive a prize.
To additionally help students know what the current attendance rates are, the morning announcements sometimes posts the average attendance of each grade.
