Thank goodness our school doesn't have many contests! We had a penny drive last year, and my son's class was kicking as*, and I was freaking out because I was running the drive with my friend! [img]tongue.gif[/img] I was actually tempted to cheat the other way, and give money from my kid's class to some other's that were just pathetic, but I realized that wasn't fair either. I'm sure there was some talk, but the kids all saw us when we'd be collecting the containers, so they could see that my son's class was really into it.
You were lucky that the staff was on your side, AND that they were willing to do the right thing. Too often I've seen principals who agree in theory, but refuse to put their money where their mouth is. I suppose the only way to stop this sort of ridiculousness is to establish rules in writing, and make sure those who are inclinced to cheat don't get to chair those committees. Now that I think about it, I never really pay any attention to the winners of our Box Tops contests--hmmm...maybe I'll have to keep a closer eye on it!
We have sort of the same problem, but this gal has em all fooled!!!!!!!!! She can get this, do thet, go here, count this, her kids have won everything from A-Z and she always seems to have her hand in it some how or another. I mean she cheated the school out of money two years in a row! What are these seemingly intelligent people doing by not calling her on this! Why cause if they ask her to do something she does, it may take awhile she may have to pay for it herself (maybe that's why she still owes moneylike it'sowedto her, I don't know but I'm glad I'm out of there next year, I'm mean does the the principal really not see this, or do they just not care?
I also agree, this what quite a creative to jump start your BoxTop Fundraiser for the year! How unfortunate that it kids fun can be spoiled by slefish parents.
I also agree that your principal should announce the true winner bright and early Monday morning!
This reminds me of three years ago when we started our monthly guessing contests. We had a mother step up to do the first month(which was april and jelly beans) she filled the glass jar, stuck it in the lobby case for EVERY child to guess. we have a winner on each grade level, well on the last day when i got the count from her it was a little suppicious that her two children's three best friends were grade level winners as well as one of her daughters. They all had the EXACT number as the jelly beans. So I went to my principal and she agreed that it seem wrong, so she took out a couple of jelly beans ate them and said ...well the count isnt that anymore!! We picked the three kids that were closest to thr orginal count...no one ever knew and this mom moved three months later!! YEAH!! Oh and no we never let her be in charge of it again! she did mention the number and we just said that when it was sitting in the office some people ate out of so we recounted it! Think about how you would feel knowing that it was fixed...they might give you a hard time but you are doing the right thing!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
This was a one time only contest . . ..just a jump start for the first week of school and to encourage families to save over the summer. . ..no one knew who had the highest count until the count was started on Friday.
We do something for the top three classrooms at the end of the year . .this contest was just something fun to start off the new school year.
I totally agree that the "thought" is there and it is putting her kids in a "position" but to be honest with you, she doesn't think about her kids and their feelings, she's a winner winner winner that that's all that matters to her, that SHE wins!