Good for you, Jax - I am so glad that it's working out for you. I doubt that anyone who is selected will have a problem with it and random is always good!
Whoops, sorry IMovePeople, I didn't see your post until today.
I went ahead and used the staff person we had already selected and then had a long conversation with the paraprofessional who brought the issue to my attention. I basically said that we had put a lot of thought into the program and that she could be assured that we would handle things in a fair manner. She said that some of the parapros were still not interested in participating, and I told her I was sorry to hear that.
I noted that one of the main purposes behind the Staff Star was to give some recognition to some employees who may not be known to parents or school visitors, which is the case with the paraprofessionals (and other support staff). Kids come home and talk about how Mrs. Jones helped them with reading but the parents have no idea who Mrs. Jones is. It's nice to put a name with a face when it comes to the recess monitors, food services staff, etc.
Apparently some of the parapros are known for being difficut to work with, so I'm kind of taking this with a grain of salt.
We've done two Staff Stars thus far, and they've both thrilled, and that's what I'm focusing on.
We have ours implemented through the Character Ed program. Our County has the Word of The Month. Students, parents and staff can nominate a teacher/staff member and at the monthly staff meetings a name gets pulled from the nominations. That staff member receives a gift certificate from a local merchant - the PTO pays for it. Each month the nomination forms and folded and placed in an envelope and given to each of the staff members who was nominated so that they know what they were nominated for. Our first month was for Fairness.
I think, in this way too politically correct world of ours, that the teachers/staff should just be happy that you are doing this very nice thing. Tell them it has already been set up to work a certain way and that is the way it will work. That they will just have to trust you to be fair. You might mention to them that if they were doing a Volunteer Star of the Month, you would just be pleased to see them appreciating volunteers, that you would trust them to be fair, and that even if your name and picture weren't on the wall, you'd be happy for whomever was chosen.
I say do it the way you've already layed it out. If pressed on why, I would tell them what I said above, but if you want to be politically correct you could just say that you've already done a lot of the work for the first one. That if a change is going to be made, it will be after month one.
Our PTO decided to implement a Staff Star of the Month program after reviewing some of the ideas posted here on the website. We thought it would be a nice way to salute our staff, boost school spirit and generally introduce staff members to parents, students and school visitors. It was going to be pretty basic - draw a name out of a hat each month and then create a bulletin board about the honoree (photo and some brief info), and get them a few small gifts throughout the month.
The first Staff Star of the Month was supposed to be announced on Tuesday, October 1 - someone we selected at our September meeting. On Friday one of the school's paraprofessionals approached me and said some staff are concerned that this will be a popularity contest (even though we are picking at random) and they will feel bad if they aren't selected. She asked if we could choose alphabetically so it was obvious it was fair and random.
There are a few reasons I don't want to do this, but maybe I'm being difficult. I already had the photo, bio information and artwork ready for the October honoree. Should I just start over and do the alphabet thing? My fellow officers say it's up to me, as I'm the one coordinating it. The principal felt the way we were doing it was fine.
Sorry this was long, but I hate it when people insert negative feelings in something that is supposed to be positive!
