School attendance

After reading Jeff Edelstein’s column concerning perfect attendance 2/7/2020, I disagree with him. He believes that perfect attendance celebrations are “silly and pointless”. Kudos to Hamilton schools for rewarding students with perfect attendance!

While I do agree that chronic absenteeism is a problem in schools, there are parents that make a conscious effort to send their children to school daily.

I work at a Trenton school ( Elementary). We have a Perfect Attendance Parade inside the building for those students who have perfect attendance for a given month and includes grades K-5.

All classes stand at their respective classroom door with their teachers and congratulates the Honorees as they pass by. Our Principal leads the parade!

We clap, shake Pom poms etc. The students who didn’t make perfect attendance see that they too can be a part of the celebration also when they come to school daily and on time.

I believe this gives them an incentive to want to be a participant in future Parades with their classmates.

Our parents appreciate when we plan our Perfect Attendance celebration because the Parade is getting larger.

— A Reader

Positive reinforcement goes a long way to help kids learn good habits and behavior. I’m all for celebrating the wins for kids, and people need to chill about their kids feeling left out.

— Ed Note

Got something you want to get off your chest? To contribute to Back Talk, call Ed at 609-3580861 or email him at EdNote@ Trentonian.com.