Raising the bar

On Friday the seminary co-ordinator met with me to go over my responsibilities as the seminary principal. Turns out that our building has the worst tardy rate of all the seminaries in the area and he is hoping I can do something about it. Right! I spent the weekend contemplating different ideas to inspire the kids to come on time. Over half of the kids come in after 7:15. I discovered that the kids think seminary starts at 7:10 not 7:00 so they think 7:15 is okay. I wanted to find a way to help them that would be fun and motivating, hoping that would give us a better chance of success. So today I presented the plan to raise the bar. Starting next week I will be taking roll at the door. Each of the kids will have to check in with me as they come in the building so I will get to know them by name and know which class they are in. Tardy's will be counted starting at 7:05. The classes are divided by grade with the freshman in one class, sophomores & juniors together and seniors in their own class. For the month of March they will compete as classes to see which class will have the lowest number of tardies. That class will get a reward breakfast at the end of the month. Since some of the kids will come on time and end up not getting the breakfast due to others in their class, in April we will be rewarding individual students. Those who come on time for March and April with no tardies for 2 months will be treated to breakfast at the end of April. Believe it or not they did not stone me for this. Quite a few of them liked the idea, then there was the lukewarm crowd who may or may not participate, and of course the "no way am I doing that" group. I don't know how this will go but we are giving it our best shot for now. Talking with the teacher that I had subbed for in November I commented that I wasn't sure I was the right person to get this done. She replied that I was the only person who could get it done as I already have a reputation for being strict. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but Kelly assured me that it was a good thing. In the meantime any of you who have suggestions on how to motivate and inspire teenagers to be on time please let me know!