Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Merits vs. Demerits

I want to clear up the difference between merits and demerits in Renweb, as many parents have mistaken a merit for a demerit. I apologize for the confusion. Let me take a minute to explain the difference between the two. A demerit is a consequence for student behavior that is against the policies of ECS. A demerit accumulates for the year and removes them from the discipline free trip each quarter. In most cases a demerit is given, the parents are called to notify them of the incident that took place involving their child. A merit is simply a way for ECS to track student behavior. Every behavior incident entered in the computer is emailed to me. I then look at the child's history to check for patterns or issues. One child, for instance, might have gum in first, second, third and fourth periods (4 different incidences). Each teacher tells the student to get rid of it and logs it in as a merit. The teachers in periods 2-4 don't know that the student has already been warned by the previous teachers. In a case like this, gum is not the issue. The student is being disobedient. It is important to know that merits do not dismiss a child from the discipline free trip each quarter. Thank you for your patience with the new system. We are working very hard to make it as smooth as we can. I have heard mostly good things about it from you, the parents, and we believe it will only get better.

1 comment:

God's Love Changed Everything said...

Mr Warner- I am a 4th, 5th and 6th grade teacher at a Christian school and have been thinking about bringing a merit/demerit system to the administration (we are a young school). Could you please send me a copy of your program and/or explain to me the benefits/drawbacks?
I appreciate your help in figuring this out.

Thank you so much!

Blessed to be a blessing,
Mrs Poms
bonk_poms@ yahoo.com