This month the Preuss PTA will be continuing their attendance challenge. Our first winners were Mr. Smith’s 8th grade advisory class. Their class had the highest attendance percentage in the whole school. 

“So I was actually surprised about the win, but at the same time when I think about it, the one thing I do not have a problem with is my students wanting to come to class! I believe it is because a lot of them are already friends, so they get an opportunity to talk with them if they don’t see each other throughout the day as much,“ stated Mr. Smith  

With this win, Mr. Smith maintains hope of higher attendance as well as more open participation.

“It does make me proud that my attendance is high, one because I make sure I take it and two because I think for some odd reason, I am getting through to some of them that have walls up,” states Mr. Smith.

According to students, this challenge is a good and beneficial one. The individual winner will come out of a raffle with multiple students and perfect attendance. 

“I think this challenge is great because it will give students reason to try harder to come to school on time, since many students get to school late everyday, this challenge is also great aside from the rewards because it rewards people who come to school everyday on time” stated Kayleen Valdez (‘27).

Ever since we lost our buses in 2022 and students had to start taking the trolley, Preuss has had a tardy and attendance problem. To solve this problem, students who accumulate up to five tardies will receive a referral and assigned lunch duty which can include trash pickup, lunch monitoring or other tasks as needed, If the student misses a full class they’ll will receive three tardies at once and if you lose 30 minutes of class you will receive two tardies at once. 

This challenge can also be useful for students to become more responsible and get to places they need to be on time.                                     

“I don’t think they’re truly motivated by me being their advisory teacher even though they keep asking me to stay with them through high school, but I think that I am starting to get them to understand that life has rules, and you need to follow them or there are consequences,” states Mr. Smith.