Abilene ISD -

The first sign of friendly competition emerged on Facebook on Friday, Sept. 6, when Stafford Elementary School challenged Bonham Elementary School to a one-week attendance competition.

The bet? The losing campus provides popsicles for the campus with the highest average daily attendance for the week.

The two schools' average daily attendance rose during Sept. 9-13. Stafford eventually emerged as the winner, and Bonham kept their end of the bargain by providing popsicles for Stafford’s celebration. 

The competition eventually spread to other campuses around the district, serving as a morale booster and a way to get students and parents involved in increasing attendance. Ortiz Elementary School challenged Mann Middle School, Martinez Elementary School and Bowie Elementary School went head-to-head, and Ward Elementary School and Alcorta Elementary School got in on the action last week.

At Madison Middle School, principal Josh Newton said his campus has an ongoing contest between grade levels for the highest daily average attendance, but not with another school. It’s all to get students excited about being in school and trying to be there every day.

Stafford principal Melissa Scott said that AISD Superintendent Dr. John Kuhn’s push to increase daily attendance led to the idea of a competition with Bonham.

“Dr. Kuhn has been emphasizing attendance and reporting the success of other schools when a certain percentage of classes reach 100 percent attendance or an overall campus percentage,” Scott said. “(Stafford Assistant Principal) Christina Dooley had the idea to challenge Bonham to a week-long competition, and our team ran with that idea. We decided to bet popsicles and have some fun with our marquee sign.”

Scott didn’t give her counterpart at Bonham, Principal Kevin Wellborn, much time to prepare. It was a surprise move from Stafford, one that Wellborn and his campus welcomed with open arms.

“Melissa probably picked Bonham because our campuses are similar in makeup and had similar attendance through the first few weeks of the school year,” Wellborn said. “She texted me about two minutes before publicly challenging Bonham. She knows me well enough that she knew I would happily accept.”

And the challenge was on.

And so was the good-natured needling from one campus to another, delivered via messaging on campus marquee signs

From Bonham to Stafford after winning on the first day: “Knock, Knock. Who’s There? Not Stafford!”

From Stafford to Bonham after winning on the second day: “Our attendance is basically the best. 96.7,” a play on Bonham’s social media hashtag #basicallythebest.

From Stafford to Bonham when victory was near: “Hey, Alexa … remind Bonham to buy popsicles.”

Despite Bonham's win on the first day, Stafford rallied and won the final four days, securing bragging rights and the coveted popsicles. Last year, during the week of the West Texas Fair and Rodeo, Stafford’s average daily attendance was 94.07 percent. This year, during the same week (the week of the competition), the average daily attendance was 95.72. 

Stafford posted a congratulatory message on Facebook, thanking Bonham for engaging in the competition and being good sports throughout the week. The marquee signs garnered local media attention and might have been Scott and Wellborn's most stressful part of the week, but Wellborn said people found them entertaining.

“I had a competition within our staff to see who could come up with the wittiest marquee message,” Scott said. “Late in the week, I asked parents to develop ideas for the wittiest marquee message. We had a lot of participation on Remind with different ideas from parents. Our community is great and loves a little competition.”

Wellborn said that Bonham’s community was just as engaged as Stafford’s.

“The best thing about this aside from the increased awareness it put on daily attendance was the attention it received from parents on our social media pages,” Wellborn said. “I had parents messaging me asking what our attendance totals were for the day.”

Wellborn said Scott shouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t receive a challenge through a marquee sign or social media post at some point during the 2024-25 school year.

“We’ll wait a little while, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t ask for a rematch down the road,” he said. “We don’t want to overdo it and have the idea lose its effectiveness. We’ll challenge ourselves to improve our numbers and reach our goals for a while.”