Midland ISD school has incentives toward students and parents

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) -One school in Midland ISD is doing something different to make sure students show up to school everyday.

Bunche Elementary has one of the best attendance records in the last couple of years.

It’s because of the incentives that they offer and the schools communication with parents.

MISD recently announced that over 28,000 students enrolled this semester, which is a district record.

Bunche Elementary incentivizes students to come to school by promising parties, snacks, and field trips.

Something that Bunche does to make sure they have good attendance is by having a parent liaison.

One of her jobs is to contact parents directly and ask why their child isn’t at school.

Many of the excuses are due to illness, but they also have to do with transportation issues that the parent liaison fixes with the help of local organizations.

“What she has done is given me $25 gas cards. I keep them in case of an emergency and if any parent needs that, I make sure it happens. MISD also has a transportation organization here in Midland.” said Lydia Bills, Parent Liaison at Bunche Elementary.

They also have incentives for parents. If their child has perfect attendance they get treated with a breakfast from the school.

However, they have more incentives in place for students.

“I had two girls this morning celebrates their class because they got 100% two days in a row. And so when I asked them why they were excited, they said because we cannot wait to dance with you on Friday miss Daniel.” said Krista Daniel, Principal at Bunche Elementary.

That incentive is called an Atten-Dance Parade.

If by every Friday, the school meets its goal, they have a big dance parade in the school with teachers and staff to celebrate.

The goals can be to have 94% attendance that week, less than 50 kids absent a day, or if they have one of their best attendance records of the school year.

One new thing this school year involves taking kids on field trips for good attendance.

“So, we are a big capturing kids hearts campus and so we build the philosophy that relationships matter. So if our teachers aren’t out the door greeting the kids, welcoming them in the morning, that plays a big role and impact on kids wanting to be here.” said Daniel.

Principal Daniel said the schools’ ultimate goal is to have 20 or less students absent a day, out of more than 1,000 students on campus.

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