Administrator Britton Haney’s voice fills classrooms as students watch the weekly episode of Cougar Roundup posted on Feb. 3, 2026.
“Alright, Cougar nation, your mission this February is to be present in class as much as possible,” he says.
This minute-long announcement includes a new tactic to try and get the students at Northwest to attend 90% of their classes in the month of February: “incentives” including a 55-inch flatscreen TV, Beats headphones or custom Nike shoes.
“We are trying to get more of our students to not be labeled as chronically absent by the state of Kansas, which means you need to be in class 90% of the time,” Haney said.
The students who were eligible for an entry into the raffle must have attended 70 or more classes out of the 77 classes in the month of February. And for a bonus entry into the raffle, students must have two or fewer tradies.
“This is really a focus on all of our kids who are in the 80 , to see if we can get a perfect month out of them,” Haney said.
As a reward for obtaining a “perfect month” in attendance, the winning students have the option to choose from three prizes. All prizes — which are all above $100 in cost — were funded from the Northwest vending machine sales, according to Haney.
“My first impression was, ‘Oh, my goodness. We’re getting rewarded for something, you’re supposed to do?’” JCCC professor and SMNW math teacher Mira Davidovic said.
The students at Northwest have conflicting opinions in regards to the effectiveness of the administration’s attempt at increasing attendance.
“Everyone I know who doesn’t go to class isn’t gonna see the raffle ‘a 55 inch screen TV! I better go to class on time!’,” senior Wyatt Neis said. “You really think I’m thinking about headphones or shoes or TVs when I’m laying in bed, skipping class?”
Some staff believe that this incentive rewards students who are chronically absent, an issue that is spiking, and already illegal in Kansas.
“After COVID, we gave everyone grace. They have masks on, so we let them have headphones in. We let them take as many bathroom breaks as needed,” Davidovic said. “And then it seems like after COVID was over, even though the mask came off, the behavior and that mindset never changed, it just kind of got worse.”
To some, this raffle is seen as an act of desperation; especially when multiple missed days are overlooked, and seen as a minute offence.
“There’s no consequences for not coming to school. And if teachers say, ‘it’s okay, you can make this up,’ what’s the point?” Davidovic said. “Back in the day, if you didn’t show up a certain amount of hours, you lost credit.”
Some staff and students are not optimistic about the outcomes of this experiment. Though Northwest administration is hopeful it will motivate students to want to come to school and stay at school.
“Skipping class is so much fun, because you’ll be like ‘I don’t want to go to 5th hour. I’m gonna go take a nap.’ I’d be doing an assignment,” Neis said. “That feeling is way better than the chance to win something cool.”
