St. Louis school officials really want parents to take an active role in the children’s education – so much so that they are offering incentives to get parents to school buildings on the first day, September 8th. Every St. Louis Public Schools parent will get a free Metro pass on that Monday in hopes they will visit their child’s school on the first day. City employees with schoolchildren will get the morning off to take their children to school. Volunteers plan to canvass neighborhoods the Saturday before school starts to encourage first-day attendance and local clergy say they will encourage it as well from their pulpits on the Sunday before. The St. Louis School District has traditionally had trouble getting all its students to show up the first day. Last year, one out of four schoolchildren failed to come to class on the first day.
