One of the biggest complaints of teachers and school administrators is that not enough parents are involved in school affairs. This is particularly true in urban areas where single parents don’t have the time to visit schools as much as they’d like or both parents work a lot of hours just to make ends meet and can’t squeeze in school events.

Well, Mount Vernon is providing a little incentive to parents through its “Passport To Success” program, offering them gift certificates and other rewards for attending parent teacher meetings and school events. Read on to learn how the program works.

Trustee Charles Stern gives some details on his blog, Mount Vernon SchoolTalk. In order to participate, parents have to visit a school and pick up a passport booklet. Afterward, each time the parent attends a “qualifying event” officials will stamp the passport. Qualifying events include parent teacher conferences, PTA meetings, board meetings and Communities That Care Coalition meetings. Parents can also get stamps by chaperoning a field trip, participating in a school-related committee, attending a parent workshop or class and attending a library event with their child.

The greater the number of stamps a parent gets, the better the prizes. A passport with five stamps will earn $25 gift cards from Target, Macy’s, Barnes & Noble and other stores. Ten stamps will get four movie tickets or a dinner for four to a local restaurant. The top prizes will go to parents with 20 stamps and they include a $300 scholarship for a child to attend summer camp or another enrichment activity.

“We’ve had very good response,” Ellen Garcia, project director of the district’s Safe Schools/Healthy Students program, told The Hall Monitor. “It’s designed to promote student school success by increasing parental involvement and parenting skills.”

Garcia said the $15,000 program is being funded by a Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant. This is the last year of the grant, so the program is a one-time event, she said.

All parents are eligible, even those who already regularly attend school functions.

Mount Vernon’s program isn’t as broad as one planned for New York City. School officials in that city plan to give parents $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences and students can earn up to $500 for taking and doing well on state tests.

Is this the best way to increase parental involvement or improve student performance? Let us know what you think.