Principal offers year-end cash to students for not fighting

PHILADELPHIA – The principal at a Philadelphia elementary school in a violent corner of the city is paying eighth-graders to not fight.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Mitchell Elementary School Principal Stephanie Andrewlevich is taking the innovative approach to manage behaviour at the school.

If all eighth-graders make it to graduation with no physical violence, each child will get $100.

The principal says the incentive is working.

So far this year, only 8 per cent of the eighth-graders have been suspended. That’s down from 17 per cent at the same point last year, and down 21 per cent from 2016.

One student says not fighting feels natural now, and it’s no longer about the money. She says she’d give the money to her mom to buy school supplies.

Andrewlevich says she’ll put up the $3,300 herself, unless a sponsor emerges.

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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com