Open Forum

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

We are the district performing arts magnet. We have a series of awards for each year, with two possible for 3rd and 4th, depending on how much work they do. We just had our planning meeting yesterday and this topic came up. We made the decision that if someone wants to "take a sabbatical" for a year and not take a class, they still have to do all the other requirements (fall meeting, senior performances, spring meeting, awards night, play for theatre pathway and concerts for music pathway) in order to get any awards that year. So...they can't just fade away and expect to get a senior cord.

------------------------------
Ellen Di Filippo
Tracy CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

We have pretty stringent requirements to earn graduation honors for the seniors. There are separate awards from the troupe and both are presented at an Honors, Inductions and Awards night in spring. If students don't earn the honors they don't receive them. Actually, if the seniors don't ensure that all of their point requests are in by the end of February I will only order appropriate honors based on the points that I have already approved and inputted. This has led to students not receiving all of the honors they have earned during the course of their time. I find this is a really important lesson in responsibility; in real life if they aren't following through on all of the expectations and responsibilities it can lead to major repercussions (like getting fired from a job). It's far less painful to lose a graduation honor than to lose a job than is paying the bills. 

I'd stand your ground. If they checked out then they checked out of the possible honors earned. It can become a very slippery slope if you give special dispensation to these few students. If you want specifics on how we handle awards shoot me an email and I'll break it all down for you :)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 10:45
From: Ellen Di Filippo
Subject: Graduation honors

We are the district performing arts magnet. We have a series of awards for each year, with two possible for 3rd and 4th, depending on how much work they do. We just had our planning meeting yesterday and this topic came up. We made the decision that if someone wants to "take a sabbatical" for a year and not take a class, they still have to do all the other requirements (fall meeting, senior performances, spring meeting, awards night, play for theatre pathway and concerts for music pathway) in order to get any awards that year. So...they can't just fade away and expect to get a senior cord.

------------------------------
Ellen Di Filippo
Tracy CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

Shira, I'd love that if you don't mind sharing. I want to make sure I'm setting the right precedents for my fledgling program.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 11:42
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: Graduation honors

We have pretty stringent requirements to earn graduation honors for the seniors. There are separate awards from the troupe and both are presented at an Honors, Inductions and Awards night in spring. If students don't earn the honors they don't receive them. Actually, if the seniors don't ensure that all of their point requests are in by the end of February I will only order appropriate honors based on the points that I have already approved and inputted. This has led to students not receiving all of the honors they have earned during the course of their time. I find this is a really important lesson in responsibility; in real life if they aren't following through on all of the expectations and responsibilities it can lead to major repercussions (like getting fired from a job). It's far less painful to lose a graduation honor than to lose a job than is paying the bills. 

I'd stand your ground. If they checked out then they checked out of the possible honors earned. It can become a very slippery slope if you give special dispensation to these few students. If you want specifics on how we handle awards shoot me an email and I'll break it all down for you :)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 10:45
From: Ellen Di Filippo
Subject: Graduation honors

We are the district performing arts magnet. We have a series of awards for each year, with two possible for 3rd and 4th, depending on how much work they do. We just had our planning meeting yesterday and this topic came up. We made the decision that if someone wants to "take a sabbatical" for a year and not take a class, they still have to do all the other requirements (fall meeting, senior performances, spring meeting, awards night, play for theatre pathway and concerts for music pathway) in order to get any awards that year. So...they can't just fade away and expect to get a senior cord.

------------------------------
Ellen Di Filippo
Tracy CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

Glen makes a good point. We want every troupe to have a constitution and bylaws. That's exactly where you want to spell out your rules and protocols for honor items and other specifics for your program. Have your administration approved the document. Many teachers have every theatre student review the constitution and bylaws and sign off that they understand and accept them. That has helped many a teacher when these situations show up. 

To get to the templates, go to the ITS site, click on the middle or high school teacher links in the navigation bar, then scroll down. The link is under resources to the right side of the page. 
Home - International Thespian Society  

Thank you for maintaining the stature, honor, and prestige of ITS.

------------------------------
David LaFleche
Director of Membership
Educational Theatre Association
Cincinnati OH
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 12:19
From: Josh Kauffman
Subject: Graduation honors

Shira, I'd love that if you don't mind sharing. I want to make sure I'm setting the right precedents for my fledgling program.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 11:42
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: Graduation honors

We have pretty stringent requirements to earn graduation honors for the seniors. There are separate awards from the troupe and both are presented at an Honors, Inductions and Awards night in spring. If students don't earn the honors they don't receive them. Actually, if the seniors don't ensure that all of their point requests are in by the end of February I will only order appropriate honors based on the points that I have already approved and inputted. This has led to students not receiving all of the honors they have earned during the course of their time. I find this is a really important lesson in responsibility; in real life if they aren't following through on all of the expectations and responsibilities it can lead to major repercussions (like getting fired from a job). It's far less painful to lose a graduation honor than to lose a job than is paying the bills. 

I'd stand your ground. If they checked out then they checked out of the possible honors earned. It can become a very slippery slope if you give special dispensation to these few students. If you want specifics on how we handle awards shoot me an email and I'll break it all down for you :)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 10:45
From: Ellen Di Filippo
Subject: Graduation honors

We are the district performing arts magnet. We have a series of awards for each year, with two possible for 3rd and 4th, depending on how much work they do. We just had our planning meeting yesterday and this topic came up. We made the decision that if someone wants to "take a sabbatical" for a year and not take a class, they still have to do all the other requirements (fall meeting, senior performances, spring meeting, awards night, play for theatre pathway and concerts for music pathway) in order to get any awards that year. So...they can't just fade away and expect to get a senior cord.

------------------------------
Ellen Di Filippo
Tracy CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

I've had a lot of emails asking for the breakdown so I thought I'd just post it here ;^)




------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 12:19
From: Josh Kauffman
Subject: Graduation honors

Shira, I'd love that if you don't mind sharing. I want to make sure I'm setting the right precedents for my fledgling program.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 11:42
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: Graduation honors

We have pretty stringent requirements to earn graduation honors for the seniors. There are separate awards from the troupe and both are presented at an Honors, Inductions and Awards night in spring. If students don't earn the honors they don't receive them. Actually, if the seniors don't ensure that all of their point requests are in by the end of February I will only order appropriate honors based on the points that I have already approved and inputted. This has led to students not receiving all of the honors they have earned during the course of their time. I find this is a really important lesson in responsibility; in real life if they aren't following through on all of the expectations and responsibilities it can lead to major repercussions (like getting fired from a job). It's far less painful to lose a graduation honor than to lose a job than is paying the bills. 

I'd stand your ground. If they checked out then they checked out of the possible honors earned. It can become a very slippery slope if you give special dispensation to these few students. If you want specifics on how we handle awards shoot me an email and I'll break it all down for you :)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 10:45
From: Ellen Di Filippo
Subject: Graduation honors

We are the district performing arts magnet. We have a series of awards for each year, with two possible for 3rd and 4th, depending on how much work they do. We just had our planning meeting yesterday and this topic came up. We made the decision that if someone wants to "take a sabbatical" for a year and not take a class, they still have to do all the other requirements (fall meeting, senior performances, spring meeting, awards night, play for theatre pathway and concerts for music pathway) in order to get any awards that year. So...they can't just fade away and expect to get a senior cord.

------------------------------
Ellen Di Filippo
Tracy CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------

I have it written into our bylaws that Seniors have to be Active in order to receive graduation honors, I've had a few drop out their junior year and still expect the honors, and I simply showed them the bylaws.

------------------------------
Glen Carpenter
Tooele UT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2017 22:30
From: Kristin Fernandez
Subject: Graduation honors

I am a sponsor at a school that puts A LOT of importance on awards and honors at graduation. Knowing this, I raised the bar. I insisted that members receiving honors at graduation meet a minimum requirement to receive any sort of honor. 

I currently have two members that checked out last year and showed up a week ago to "collect" a graduation cord. Seniors that only joined this year, don't necessarily meet a minimum threshold to receive a cord, and they worked diligently and steadfastly all year. I suppose I feel like there should be more honor in a member before receiving any sort of honor. 

Am I wrong? I just don't feel like we should arbitrarily hand things out because a student who "phoned it in for a year" demanded it. 

Thoughts! Thank you in advance!

------------------------------
Kristin Fernandez
Sponsor
Lafayette CO
------------------------------