Presque Isle elementary unveils attendance-based book vending machine

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Elementary students in Presque Isle can earn free books through new book vending machines that reward good attendance.

Pine Street Elementary held an assembly Tuesday to unveil their machine and explain to students how they can earn books.

Attendance at Pine Street

Bill Guerrette, the Principal of Pine Street Elementary, said the school has an issue with attendance.

“We have an issue at Pine Street with truancy, and truancy are kids who miss 10% of the school year and it could be for any reason. It could be a family vacation, could be sickness, could be whatever but it’s 10%. So, in 181 days it’s about 18 days of school and we were about at 33% of our kids were missing at least that much school. So, we were looking at a way that we could kind of promote attendance, promote literacy, and doing things as a family. And so, we thought the book vending machine would be a good way to do that,” Guerrette said.

The hope is that a free book will give students one more reason to come to school every day.

How students earn books

Students who meet the attendance criteria each month earn a token to spend on a book.

“I think it will make an impact. I think they’re excited about it and it will just be our job as adults to kind of sustain that excitement,” said Guerrette. “Each month we are going to check with attendance records to see who’s been here at least 90% of the time and all of those kids will get a token for the month that they’ll get a chance to spend. So, we could be spending up to close to 200 tokens a month if attendance is really good. So, we’ve got to be prepared for that and have books ready to go.”

Donations fund machines and books

School officials reached out for donations toward the project. Presque Isle’s Kiwanis Club purchased the machines, and other businesses and organizations donated money and books to fill them.

Skyway Elementary also received donations toward a machine.

Students pick first books

Several students at Pine Street Elementary picked out books from the machine during the unveiling.

Walter Martinez Sanchez, a first grader at Pine Street Elementary, said the experience felt “good.”

Mary Stevens, another first grader, said: “It was cool. It’s about a lot of books.”