The Warren County R-III School District will offer gift cards for attendance at the 2023 summer school offered by the district. 

The R-III school board last week voted 6-1 to approve the 2023 summer school proposal as presented. Rodger Tucker was the lone board member to vote against approving the summer school proposal. 

“What I would like to propose is that we reintroduce the attendance gift cards to try to increase that attendance with our students K-8,” explained Dr. Janelle Stanek, head of the summer school program. The district last offered the gift cards in 2020. 

The district will offer $100 gift cards for students who miss up to one day, $75 gift cards for students who miss up to two days and $50 gift cards for students who miss up to three days. 

After seeing an increase in enrollment from 2020 to 2021, the district saw a drastic decrease in summer school enrollment from 2021 to 2022. The district’s enrollment went down 250 students last year. The enrollment last year was 676 students. The district’s average daily attendance was just under 70 students, the lowest mark in three years. 

After finishing 2021 with over $96,000 in excess funding, the district ended 2022 with an $83,000 deficit. This was due to decreased revenue caused by the loss in enrollment. 

Stanek noted that in 2020, the district offered summer school during the height of COVID-19. As a result, they took a two-week break in 2020. 

“In 2021, it was kind of back to the traditional summer school,” Stanek said. “I think at that point, I had a lot of parents that said we were ready for them to go back. I feel that attendance was better then because I think the parents were the driving force behind that.”

Board member Sarah Janes thinks there isn’t much of a gamble with offering gift cards since the district does not purchase the gift cards unless a student earns it. If a student attends enough days to earn a gift card, the district would receive the revenue to cover the cost. 

Tucker thinks the district has inconsistent data on how productive gift cards are to increase attendance. Tucker said he would like to see the district have greater control on its expenses.

“For having less kids attend because of scheduling issues, can we adjust our expenditures to compensate for those losses?” Tucker asked.

The only way for the district to save funds when students stop attending summer school would be to send teachers home who are not needed that day. However, this could create a recruitment and retention issue for summer school teachers. 

“It’s part of the staffing and the perk,” Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith said. “You know you’re going to work and get this amount of money. That allows us to staff it. We kind of struggle to staff summer school. We always have to hire outside people to get summer school staffed. So it’s just one of the perks to get that.”

Board member Franci Schwartz said it may be harder for the district to find staff the following year if they are not guaranteed to earn pay for the time commitment. 

Tucker noted in other fields, individuals are not paid for work that is no longer needed. 

Board member Rich Barton stressed the education field cannot be compared to other work fields. 

“I know that lots of people want to compare education to the ‘real world,’” Barton said. “But education is a beast in its own self. And so much different than the real world. I would love to see that mindset, but it’s not feasible in an educational situation.” 

Board member Deanna Zwyers thinks the district will have a better idea of the success of gift cards after the 2023 summer school session. 

Board member Jeff Schneider thinks the board also needs to look at the timing of summer school as a potential factor in summer school attendance. Summer school is expected to finish after the July 4 holiday this year. 

“You’ve got the timing of it, which I do believe moving it back a week has had an impact,” Schneider said. “Once you get into vacation mode around the Fourth of July, very unlikely that’s not impacting attendance.”

Summer school is scheduled to begin June 12 and end on July 13. Summer school will run Monday through Thursday.