On Thursday, March 5, Oceana County Sheriff Office (OCSO) Deputy Tim Simon, the School Resource Officer for Shelby Public Schools, served pizza to Shelby Elementary School second grade students.
This pizza party was a reward for the students responding to his attendance challenge, and the second graders had the best attendance in the whole school during the month of February.
Deputy Simon has attended some absenteeism training sessions and learned strategies to improve attendance. Trying to decrease truancy in a positive way, Deputy Simon asked the question, "What can we do to get butts in seats?"
Deputy Simon was working on a truancy report when he came up with this idea. “Incentives drive kids, much like what he had seen in the high school with Ride with Pride.”
Deputy Simon presented his idea to both elementary and middle school principals. Deputy Simon worked with Shelby Elementary School Principal Jordan Chacon and Shelby Middle School Principal Geoff Kies to make this happen.
“Shelby Elementary School’s second grade classes (Ms. Hoemke, Mrs. Schamber, and Mrs. Scouten) had the highest attendance rate in the elementary building, with a combined 97% positive attendance rate for February,” Shelby Public Schools Superintendent Mark Olmstead stated. “SRO Tim Simon’s attendance incentive resulted in more students regularly attending school and increased parent communication with the school when students were absent.”
The entire elementary school has seen a 9% increase in attendance since January. The Shelby-Benona Fire Department partnered with OCSO and served ice cream from Country Dairy to the students.
Deputy Simon said that Little Caesars helped out by giving OCSO a discount on the 20 pizzas he purchased. Once the staff at the sheriff's office learned that Deputy Simon was funding this out of his own pocket, many pitched in to raise some funds to help him out. Deputy Simon is doing the same challenge and reward at the middle school next month.
