Fundraising Reward Assemblies: Who Should Attend?
February 19th, 2008 by Kathryn LIn the March issue of PTO Today magazine we ask:
“Fun-filled assemblies are common motivational tools for school fundraisers, but when they’re held to reward students, there is often disagreement about who gets to attend. Should reward assemblies be limited only to students who made sales, or should everyone be allowed to join the fun?
What do you think? How does your school handle this situation? Please add a comment below and share your thoughts.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Our school has done these parties in the past. I believe if a student wants to take time and effort to go out and help raise money for their school through a fundraiser then they should be able to be rewarded, however the principle or school chooses. It’s no different than if they want to receive good grades… they study. Kids are going to face challenges all their life and they’re not going to win everyone of them. We all learn by trial and error and come out better for the lessons learned…good or bad…in the end. I think in someways, it’s a life lesson on hardwork gets good results. Just my opionion of course…. I think sometimes some parents(especially these days) make things too easy for their kids and they’re not using a fundraiser (for example) as an opportunity to educate their kids oin “Life” which as parents, is their job.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
When the parents are the ones who mostly do the selling, like product sales, all kids should get to go to the party. If a parent doesn’t come in contact with a lot of people every day at work, or have time to canvas the neighborhood, the child is at a disadvantage that is not his fault, especially at elementary age when he can’t do things on his own. If a parent can’t or won’t sell, no amount of rewards will change that. Our school tries to use fundraisers that give various trinkets for different levels of sales, but the party is for all the students.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I most definiately believe that the awards assembly should only include the kids who participated. Yes, life is not fair. You get out of it what you put into it. The world is run by people who get involved. All the kids will benefit from the funds raised by the fundraising efforts, but the kids/parents who participated should be recognized. It only takes selling one item to be included in the assembly. This teaches that you will be rewarded for hard work and getting involved. Otherwise, I believe that you send a message that it doesn’t matter if you contribute your efforts or not, others will do the work and you are still entitled to benefits. (Sound familiar - welfare).
My time is just as valueable as the next parent’s and I have just as many excuses as anyone, but I choose to get involved with my child’s school.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I think everyone should be allowed to attend. Yes, life is unfair, but I don’t think our elementary students need to learn that the hard way, they will find out eventually. I do think students and parents who put forth effort should be recognized for their contributions, perhaps names of students who participated could be read and congratulated, that way everyone benefits from the fundraiser, and isn’t that the idea?