School and Unexcused Absence!

KathyM2 said:

Geez where you do all live? I find that nuts. Our kids are 12 and 9, and they have missed at least a week if not more each year of their elementary school lives each school year and no one bats and eye around here. For Kindergarten? Seriously? Some parents take their kids out for weeks at at time and I know one family whose kid missed almost 6 weeks of school and it's not a really big deal.

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I know you're in Canada; I'm in NY and I say the same thing whenever I read one of these threads My boys are also 12 and 9 and have missed at least a week every year since kindergarten for vacation - one year they missed 11 days (although that was for 2 separate trips so not in a row). I've always told the teachers about a month out, reminded them a week out, then sent a note in to the main office the day before we left so they knew the boys would be out. The note always says we'll be out of town (by now they know where we'll be lol). NEVER have an issue. The year we took 2 vacations, older DS was absent a total of 16 or 17 days - no problem.

I have no idea what our districts policy is nor do I care. As long as my boys are doing well in school, which they always do, I'll tell the schools when and if we're going away. When I see things like, "my district allows zero unexcused absences" or "my district doesn't allow absences for vacations" etc., I realize how lucky we are to be in the district we're in!!! Never realized crap like that existed till I started reading these threads!

In 2013 I had a WDW trip planned during Christmas break. Booked it a year in advance. In May 2013 DH lost his job of 19 yrs due to reduction in force. We were blessed beyond belief when in Oct of 2013 DH received a job offer that was outstanding. He notified them of the vacation before accepting the position. They said they would work with him. Dec 1st, they told him he couldn't have off the week of our vacation, but he could have off the week before. I panicked majorly. Called Disney, managed to change the dates, they were very understanding. Next call was school. DD was in 1st grade, my cousin is principal at the elementary. I explained it all to her. First three days were excused, next 2 days were unexcused. Teacher said no make up work, all she missed were all the Christmas crafts, Polar Express days & Christmas party. Next call was Jr High, DS was in 6th grade, he has to work hard to earn his grades. Explained it all to Jr High principal. She was aware of all that my family had been thru in the last few months. She said go, the life experiences, family time and happy memories were more important. All of his days were excused. SAME SCHOOL DISTRICT. My kids had only missed 2 days before this absence for our vacation due to the passing of my grandmother in September. I had a letter from the elementary school warning me of unexcused absences being excessive when we got home. But the semester ended with the Christmas break.

Long story short, All school districts are different and have different attendance policies. This can even differ by campus as I found out. I say be open and honest and communicate with the attendance clerk/principal & teacher.

We took our children out for at least a week for 5 years straight. The only thing the teachers said was they were jealous they weren't going. I wouldn't think twice of it.

Crystal824 said:

That is really harsh. My DD starts kindergarten next year. DH is already asking about the policy for days off. We would like to go to WDW next October.

To the OP, I wouldn't worry too much about it in kindergarten.

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check the schools vacation policy before you book a lot of states are cracking down on kids missing school for vacation in some states its a court date and a fine

Another Ontario Mom here who's always surprised by these threads.
We pull our kids for a week or so every other year for vacations. We also miss a LOT of school for appointments. 3 of my 4 kids have special needs and we're constantly on the road for medical specialist appointments. We live an hour and a half or more from most of these Dr's and hospitals and don't have access to childcare for after school hours. Many times I've picked them all up at 1pm to go to a doctor for one child. The school staff completely understand that there's no way I'd get home to get the others off the bus, and the board's own policy doesn't allow for an older child to get off with them at my home either. There are months that we have weekly appointments. Add in sick days and before Christmas, my 5 year old had missed 20 days of kindergarten. Nobody's ever batted an eyelash.

If we were bound to school holidays, we'd never get to go anywhere. My DH works as a marine and power-sports mechanic in a large tourist area. From the first week of May to Labour Day, he can't even take a day off. That's prime season for boats. After Canadian Thanksgiving in early October, it's a rush to winterize and store them before the freeze, then he's up to his elbows in snowmobiles until the trails close March 31st. We can only take holidays in April or September. Or we don't go at all.

I'm really bothered by the whole "not allowed to be absent" thing. What ever happened to a parent making the choice that's right for their child/family?

All vacation days are considered an unexcused absence by our district - but policy states that if the child misses school due to the parent (i.e. not kid skipping school) then they can make up their work. We usually take a 10 day vacation and line up around in service days/parent teacher conferences to minimize absences.

That being said - your child is in Kindergarten. They will benefit more from traveling than 2 days behind a desk. I'd take the unexcused absence even if they were not allowed to make up the work.

Really? Missing two days of kindergarten isn't the end of the world. Every school district that I have attended or worked for counted days like that as unexcused, but they don't do much about it unless it starts getting excessive.

Here, the kids in the upper elementary grades are doing their standardized testing those last weeks of school, so no family trips are approved during that testing time for any grade level. Absences will be unexcused unless due to illness. Our principal is very strict on the attendance policy because attendance is so crucially tied to success in school. She REALLY encourages parents to schedule family trips during our school calendar breaks. (Unexcused absences become serious when there are 10+ days unexcused in our school district. It prompts an investigation.) I'd say missing those 2 days in Kindergarten is no big deal. However, missing even 1 day in 3rd grade and above can set your child back a little. They cover a lot of material in school as they get older. Enjoy the trip with your precious Kinder student! That was my DD's first Disney trip age too!

I am hoping to go to WDW Nov 8-17,2015. My DD will be in Grade 1 French Immersion. Our school has no set policy (I checked after reading these boards). She would only miss 4 days of school as Nov 11 is the Remembrance Day stat and then 2 Pro D days on Nov 12-13. It is also Reading break at the University where my DH works. I work doing job costing /accounting for a road paving company so taking a chunk of time off in the summer is not feasable. I live in Canada (BC) and I know 3 kids in my DD class took extended holidays this year. I don't anticipate any issues, I'll just let the teacher know ahead of time when we are going.

At the high school level after so many absences the *can* deny the student credit for the class. That's after 9 absences. Where I work it doesn't matter much until the kid has about 30 absences.

For your kindergardener, 2 days for disney world. No problem!! They will learn life experiences on that trip. When my son was in first grade he was sick a lot and we did a week in disney. He had 12 absences that year. They sent home a letter letting us know it was too many. That's it. I did get his doctor to write a note about his multiple ear infections and bouts of strept throat. No real punishments.

I am a high school teacher. Our district policy is more than three unexcused absences in a quarter and you MAY fail at the teacher's discretion. We are on a block schedule, also. Maryland has specific reasons that fall under "legal" absences. Vacation is not one of them. If the child misses too many days of school, the county can call the PPW (Pupil Personnel Worker) for intervention. This could even result in pretty hefty fines for the parents.