School district kicks-off attendance campaign
Grand Prairie ISD School Superintendent Dr. Susan Hull introduced the district’s attendance improvement initiative, Every Child, Every Seat, Every Day, at Monday’s district leadership meeting.
With the ominous prediction of a state budget deficit of between $18-20 billion next year, Dr. Hull said, “We would be remiss if we did not know that is going to impact school funding.”
As Dr. Hull discussed many of the ways the district plans to save money next year, she said improving school attendance is one way for the district to maximize its state funding. By improving the district’s attendance rate from 96 to 98 percent, it can save up to $2 million.
Every Child, Every Seat, Every Day is an attendance incentive program that will have a positive impact on student achievement, and state funding, for a stronger school district. Each week students with perfect attendance will be eligible for a drawing to win prizes with one lucky high school student at the end of the school year winning a car courtesy Graff Chevrolet and a year’s worth of fuel courtesy Texas Trust Credit Union.
Teri Wilson, GPISD Director of Community Relations, said all the prizes for the campaign were obtained at no cost to the district. She said they were either donated by local businesses or purchased from local businesses with proceeds from the Vendor Fair held in August that showcased local businesses’ products, services to GPISD employees.
