KC district fumbles attendance incentives

The Kansas City School District has made embarrassing news yet again.

The idea was to reward students for good summer-school attendance with gift certificates. But when students lined up to receive the awards, the district wasn't prepared for such a good response to its incentive program.

About 6,000 of the district's 9,500 summer-school students made it through the season missing fewer than three days of classes. Week before last, they were supposed to be awarded with gift certificates of up to $100 for their efforts.

On the day appointed for handing out the certificates, hundreds of parents went home hot and angry -- and many empty-handed.

"We weren't prepared to handle the amount of parents who showed up," said district spokesman Ed Birch, who added lamely: "It was a lack of planning, and we apologize for any inconvenience."

The whole attendance-stimulation program is dubious anyway, calling up memories of a few years back when a private business in St. Louis awarded color TVs to students who showed up for school.

Driven by the district's lust for money -- state aid is awarded based on daily attendance figures -- the gesture has something pathetic about it. Then the Kansas City district's bad planning came into play. Another sad episode.