Ours is handled by the Optimist Group in our area. THe student gets a certificate, plaque, and their name goes on a plaque at our school. The student is chosen by the teachers.
We have Student of the Month but it is ran by our local Rotary Club. There are two or three students selected each month like fourth and fifth. We even have it for the middle and high school. You might check in to your Rotary Club or Lions Club to see if they would be interested that way you are not involved.
I figured that it was like that. Sorry to take such a harsh view, but I just hate to see programs that are unfair. Since they ask your group to provide the prizes and stuff, tell them that you would like to see the program be fair to all the students, not just a few, and certainly not the same ones over and over, no matter how well deserved. Tell them you'd be happy to purchase the stuff.... if it were fair.... if it were uniform and everyone followed the same rules and guidelines...
Just to clarify... The Student of the Month program is not handled by the PTO. It is part of the social skills program at our school. The teachers choose a student or students from their class as SOTM. One of the problems is that the standards for SOTM are not consistent from one teacher to the next. One teacher may not choose a SOTM from her class for several months, while another may choose the same student several times. The reason I bring it up as a PTO issue is only because the PTO is asked at times to provide t-shirts, bookbags, or other "gifts" for the students who are SOTM, and there is some concern among parents that the program is not a good/fair one. Apparently there is some research that "Employee of the Month" programs at businesses actually lower morale, and I was wondering if there is any comparable research for "Student of the Month" programs. Thanks for your feedback.
Just out of curiousity, why does the PTO/PTA handle this for your school? Or did I mis-understand? That is one of the areas that our principal and asst. principal handle. I think that as a PTO it is important to treat all children as though they were A students who never misbehave...lol... Programs done by our PTO are for ALL the students, not just a lucky few. I will say that at our school, they take a SOTM from each classroom. It seems to work very well, but it has nothing to do with us.
At our school we had many problems with Student of the Month when we implemented it...it was the smae students year after year that were chosen because they were the best behaved, best academic students and the other kids were always left out. The program we use now is wonderful all kids have the opportunity to be chosen. We use themes for each month...some have been honesty, preserverance, most improved, etc. This allows students who aren't in the academic elite to have a chance. The kids are told at the beginning of the month what that months theme will be. We have even had one where the kids in each class picked the student that they felt helped each other the most. The change has made a big difference and the kids seem to realize that they all have a chance. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
