Since the pandemic, Missouri schools have been dealing with a drop in attendance, and a northwest Missouri school district is now offering gift cards, with the hope of getting more kids to class. In St. Joseph, the district is offering parents the chance to win a $500 gift card for making sure their kids are present when the bell rings.
Ashly McGinnis, an assistant superintendent for the St. Joseph School District, said the incentive is strictly focused on parents.
“At the end of the day, parents are the ones who get their kids to school, whether that be physically driving them to school, or walking them to the bus, or even just getting them out of bed and forcing them to go to school,” she told Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph.
McGinnis said that it’s harder to get more students to attend schools that serve a low-income community.
“And just some unique challenges with poverty and there may be some other variables with parents not seeing the value in education,” she said.
McGinnis said attendance and academics go hand-in-hand.
“I’m a former math teacher, and math concepts constantly build on top of each other. And so, when students miss those foundational lessons, it makes it that much more difficult to come back,” said McGinnis.
McGinnis said a local donor contributed the money to give away a $500 gift card to one parent at each of the four St. Joseph schools battling low attendance.
Brent Martin, of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph, contributed this story.
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