Chapter 17: August 19, 2015 – The Point System
Chapter Summary: Buffy's revised point system needs another revision.
Crossover: Harry Potter, Facts of Life, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, The Cosby Show, Stargate SG-1, NCIS
Challenge: for the livejournal 2015 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: Storywise - summer after Buffy's first year as Headmistress.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. The Facts of Life characters belong to Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon, Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. The Cosby Show characters belong to Ed. Weinberger, Michael Leeson, Bill Cosby, Carsey-Werner Productions, Viacom Productions and Carsey-Werner Distribution. Scarecrow and Mrs. King characters belong to Brad Buckner, Eugenie Ross-Leming and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Staff meeting
Buffy listened as several of the teachers pointed out the flaws in her point system; most notably, the difficulty in fairly judging 1st years' accomplishments in a similar manner as the 7th years. Even by giving the different years different expectations, it would still leave the system biased.
"What if we do away with the competitive nature of the system altogether?" Mrs. Garrett asked. "Just leave the competition for sports and academics."
"No point system?" McGonagall asked in horror. First the Sorting Hat was made obsolete and now this.
Quickly shaking her head, Mrs. Garrett reassured the transfiguration professor, "We'd still have a point system, but the reason for it would be to earn rewards appropriate for the age group. For example, if one of the upper year houses earned a certain number of points, they'd receive an extra Hogsmeade weekend. For the younger years who can't go to the village, maybe a pizza party?"
That made them all think for a few moments. Most of the teachers were nodding as they starting considering the different 'prizes' the students could win.
"How often would these rewards be given?" Clair Huxtable asked.
"How many different levels of rewards do we want for each house?" Jonathan O'Neill asked.
Dawn suggested, "What about several smaller monthly rewards and one major reward for end of term – like one just before the winter break and the other after end of year exams?"
"Like maybe a prom-type party in the great hall for the older students as their end of term reward," Buffy said. "I'd like that goal to be easy to achieve so most of them can go."
"I think all of the students would enjoy a carnival," Amanda Stetson remarked.
"What about special awards for the individual students who earned the most points for their house?" Pomona Sprout asked.
"Like maybe a gift certificate for the school commissary," Jackson Gibbs offered.
"What would we be awarding and removing points for?" Flitwick asked.
"Since we've eliminated sports and academics, I'd say for good or poor behavior," Buffy answered. "For example, if we have weekly dorm inspections and if a student's area is messy, they're docked a point"
McGonagall listened to the ideas flowing around the room and felt her earlier horror slip away. While it wasn't the same program that she had known all her life, it did have its merits. Without the competitive aspect, there would be less chance of bias on the part of staff to skew the system.
When somebody suggested a standardized list of ways to earn/lose points – along with the number of points for each event – bias was further reduced from the situation. Nothing could remove bias completely, of course. Nobody was suggesting that. But this plan was doing its best to keep it to a minimum…including random audits of each staff members' "Points Given/Taken" journal throughout the year.
A/N: Since I knew this was a concern for some people last year, I tried making the system a little better.