HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A new initiative with Hillsborough County Schools looks to reward kindergarteners who consistently show up to school.
When the school bell rings, students at Broward Elementary in Tampa are listening and learning, but kindergarten teacher Natalie LaRoche knows it's more than just ABC's and 1-2-3's.
"They're learning how to learn, and it's really hard to reach them when they're not here,” said LaRoche.
LaRoche said absences add up, making it that much harder to close the gap.
"You can see in the kids that missed kindergarten because of COVID, and those kids had a lot more difficult of a time because their foundation was a lot weaker,” said LaRoche.
Hillsborough County Schools in partnership with Florida Prepaid has launched a new kindergarten attendance initiative, where students with strong attendance will earn college scholarships.
"We're looking to reward over 400 students with some type of Florida college Prepaid scholarship,” said Shaylia McRae, the Deputy Superintendent for Academics and Transformation at Hillsborough County Schools.
Each elementary school principal will award three $1,000 scholarships to randomly selected students from a qualifying group.
On top of that, kindergarteners who are present for at least 90 percent of school days during the challenge period will get a $100 contribution into a Florida 529 savings plan.
“We kicked off our challenge February 1, and it’s going to go all the way until April 30th, so that’s our challenge window to try to get our kids in school every day,” said McRae.
In all, it’s a $1.6 million investment from Florida Prepaid.
“It’s a big deal to miss any day, so we really encourage students to be at school every day, and we know that kids get sick, so we’re not saying the world is going to crash if you miss a day of school, but what we’re saying is regular attendance is going to equate to having a really strong foundation for first grade and beyond,” said McRae.
It’s an effort, with incentive, to help give kids a foundation for their future.
"We're not just doing letters and sounds. They're reading,” said LaRoche. “All my kids are reading, and it's because they come to school every single day."
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