Detroit schools to pay students with perfect attendance

Students with perfect attendance from Jan. 6 through March 21 will earn $1,000 in gift cards.

DPSCD sign. Photo: Samuel Robinson

Detroit Public Schools Community District is offering high school students up to $1,000 in gift cards in an “out of the box” effort to improve attendance.

“We are excited to launch our ‘Perfect Attendance Pays’ initiative when you return from Winter Break in January,” DPSCD superintendent Nikola Vitti wrote in an email to district high school teachers obtained Thursday.

The district will provide high school students with the opportunity to earn a gift card valued at $200 every time they have perfect attendance during a two-week cycle (10 school days in a row) once they return from winter break.

Vitti says the two-week cycles will run through March 21, giving about 14,000 high schools students across the district an opportunity to earn up to $1,000 in gift cards.