Punctuality Pays Off At Sheridan Program Rewards Students For Consistent, On-Time Attendance
Four years ago, Sheridan Elementary School Principal Vern Hogberg and teachers became more concerned about the steady increase in tardy and absent students.
Fifth-grade teacher Pam Kimbrough recommended enrolling the school in the Miss School-Miss Out program, sponsored by KXLY and Washington Water Power Co.
The program was originally designed for middle school students. Sacajawea Middle School is enrolled in the program. However, Sacajawea doesn’t recognize individual students with exemplary attendance. The school instead recognizes the homeroom whose students have the best attendance, best grades or school spirit.
Sheridan is the only elementary school in Spokane School District 81 participating in the program, said Principal Brian Melody.
During its participation, Sheridan has experienced a dramatic decline in the number of absent and tardy students, Melody said.
At Sheridan, the program rewards individual students who have no more than one tardy day or miss no more than one day of school during the 90-day semester.
This past semester 168 Sheridan students qualified for the honor. Each received a bagful of goodies, including a T-shirt, a six-pack of pop, candy, and a coupon good for a slice of pizza.
Contributors include Pemco Insurance, the East and South Rotary clubs of Spokane, and Tidyman’s Warehouse Foods.
Punctual students will be honored today at 1 p.m. in the school gym. Parents are invited to attend.
Melody said research suggests that students who develop attendance problems in elementary school are more likely to drop out in later years.
“Sometimes parents are aware kids are coming to school. Sometimes they’re not,” Melody said.
“Some families might not place the priority on school attendance as they once did.”
Though children who break an arm or catch the flu and miss school can’t qualify for awards, Melody stressed that children have two semesters a year - two chances - to earn recognition.
“Kids have a lot of pride in the program,” Melody said. “And parents take as much pride in the program as kids. Parents play a big role in getting kids to school on time, particularly the younger kids.”
Police chief promotes reading
“Anyone can be a great reader,” Spokane Police Chief Terry Mangan told Grant Elementary students last Thursday at an all-school assembly.
“You don’t have to be big or strong or a fast runner,” the police chief said.
Mangan’s talk was the final program in a monthlong series of events highlighting the importance of reading at home.
Throughout January, teachers at Grant encouraged students to borrow books from the classroom, the school and public libraries to read after school and on weekends.
Sixth-graders Josh Ramsey and Deedee Morgan read aloud at the school assembly.
Mangan followed their reading with an extemporaneous talk on “Why Reading Is Important in My Job.”
Mangan told students that a police officer’s most important resource isn’t a gun, handcuffs, patrol car or computer but the ability to read well.
Police officers must learn rules, regulations and procedures, Mangan said.
They also must be able to read the law and write well in order to “fill out all the forms” that a police officer encounters everyday, the chief said.
Reading is also a good way to become a better writer, said Mangan, a history buff whose own reading fare includes medieval, Civil War and Russian histories.
“During the ice storm, when many people didn’t have radios or TV,” Mangan said, “a lot of people found out reading is not such a bad way to pass the time.”
He added: “If you want a job in law enforcement, you need to know how to read well. If you want a good job in any field, you need to be able to read and write.”
Sally Rainey, reading specialist at Grant, added: “If we get three families to read for the rest of the year, that in itself is worth it.”
Cheney School Superintendent
Phil Snowden, Cheney Police Chief Jerome Gardner and Kaye Aucutt, principal of Windsor Elementary School, Friday congratulated 75 fifth-graders who successfully completed the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.).
Sheriff’s deputy Tom Blair taught the drug-abuse awareness program in the fifth-grade classes of Dale Aebly, Vicky Carter and Gail Moos one hour a week for 15 weeks. Students completed essays related to the dangers of illegal drug use.
More than 100 parents, grandparents and friends attended the ceremony at Windsor.
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MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the South Side Voice. Please let us know about interesting programs and activities, and the achievements of students, teachers, administrators, staff and volunteers at schools on Spokane’s South Side and in Cheney, Medical Lake and the Liberty School District. Contact Janice Podsada, South Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: janicep@spokesman.com Or call: 459-5439 Fax: 459-5482