Working hard at school and having all your homework handed in can get you a day off at Don Ross Secondary.
The school has something called Incentive Day (I-Day). Students who are caught up in their work and have all their assignments completed get to stay home this Tuesday (Oct. 26). Those who aren't have to head into school.
The day is meant to benefit those students who need a little more help to get their work done.
"Some students need that one on one to survive," said Diane Gould, the parent advisory committee president at Don Ross at a PAC meeting.
I-Day is a strange concept, and it's had its fair share of criticism and praise at Don Ross.
Principal Rick Smith surveyed the teachers to find out how they felt about the day.Two thirds said it was a good thing, and one third said they weren't sure, Smith said.
But "The consensus was yes, let's go," he said.
Smith himself was one the detractors of the day off. When he started working at the school he had never heard of anything like I-Day, but he wasn't strongly enough opposed to the day to veto it.
"I couldn't believe it," he said.
He said about one third of student get the day off, and two thirds come for whatever classes they need to get caught up in.
Deb McSweeney, a parent at the PAC meeting, was surprised to find out two thirds of the students would be in class.
"When you said two thirds, I could see the merit in having a day," she said to Smith. "It reflects the student body as a whole."
But McSweeney viewed it as a quick fix.
It's a short-term solution to a long-term goal of teaching kids to stay ahead and organized, she said.
Smith said it was reaching students who may otherwise not survive school without hurting the ones who are already ahead.
"This is one of those days where we reach some of those kids," he said. "I think we are making a difference for some of those kids."
And it teaches another lesson.
"If you do real well then there are incentives in this world," Smith said.
Whatever the teachers decide, the students want that day off.
"The rush of students to get caught up in that week is phenomenal," Smith said.
"I think it's a pretty good day," said Grade 10 student Danielle Gartside, who doesn't have to go to school to catch up. "It's kind of a reward."
Gartside said she sometimes goes to I-Day to do extra work and get ahead. She doesn't see it as an unfair punishment.
"I think it's pretty reasonable," she said.
Courtney Deno, who has to attend school on I-Day, agrees with Gartside.
"You can go in and catch up," she said. "Then you have everything handed in and you're not worrying. It's not so stressful."
She said I-Day could help students stay caught up and motivated to hand work in on time.
"Sometimes it works, sometimes not," she said. "It depends on the person."
"I think it might help in the long term," Deno said. "This year my teachers say I've done a lot better than last year."
However Deno admits it's a drag to go to school when others get to stay home.
"I don't really love it," she said. "I don't enjoy going to it, but I want to go so I'm not behind and not failing."
Students who have the day off can also choose to go on a field trip to Archeology 101 at the Science Centre.
