Kids and missing school?

[jbshell]

My son missed school last year for the cruise and the school wasn't upset. We actually brought a letter about why he missed school, and what he learned. We made it funny, starting out We as a group as you to excuse the days missed during (the time we were gone)...
He will learn... Time management waiting in the lines at Disney, How the ocean looks up close and 10 stories high on the cruise ship.. We went on with things that we thought were great in the letter. Then we got Mickey to sign 3 copies of it and gave it to the teacher, principal and counselor! They all loved it.
I'm going to take him out again this year, but haven't informed them. He has missed a lot of school, but they are all medical excuses, so this will be the only time that isn't medical... but we need it!

What a great idea...

 

[carmie3377]

And as an aside. My mom always let me stay home when I wanted. It was never crazy or anything, but I did stay home on occasion. She always said family and yourself is more important than a required school day. Guess what? I went on to participate in 10 years past high school, residency,and then Army, so those absences did not affect me in a negative manner. I remember thise days with my mom, when i was "sick". Way more memorable than a forgettable school day. I love that when I drop my dd off and am asked for a doctors note, i stand there and write one. The look on their faces is priceless.

Point is school attendance is not related to school success. Family participation is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly!!

Yeah, i've been told by some (former coworkers, ect), that taking the kids out of school for trips is sending the message that school is not a priority. Really, then why has DD seen her daddy go to school almost her entire life, then residency and fellowship? (he returned to school when dd was baby) He too has 10 years post high school and 5 years residency/fellowship. Taking a few days for vacation or a day here and there just because can have a much greater impact on a child than the missed school. We're thankful that the kids' schools are open to vacations.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[jbshell]

Exactly!!

Yeah, i've been told by some (former coworkers, ect), that taking the kids out of school for trips is sending the message that school is not a priority. Really, then why has DD seen her daddy go to school almost her entire life, then residency and fellowship? (he returned to school when dd was baby) He too has 10 years post high school and 5 years residency/fellowship. Taking a few days for vacation or a day here and there just because can have a much greater impact on a child than the missed school. We're thankful that the kids' schools are open to vacations.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Yep.. My Dh is an over the road trucker so he is never home if we wanna take the kids to do something fun while he is home we do

 

[SA53]

Another Texan and former teacher here,

In my district you cannot make up work that occurs during an unexcused absence so that would be a whole lotta zeros for a week long cruise.

Here our kids start getting grades in the second grade so for us it is a no brainer (but a costly one) to take the kids cruising in the summer.

My two are now in middle and high school and I am amazed how much they cover in a week and wouldn't want to put that kind of pressure on them. It would be no fun doing homework when they should be partying with Mickey and no fun making up homework at home when they already get so much now. I think they would miss some serious knowledge for sure.

On the teacher's side, it was always so much extra work to make up a packet for the kids who traveled for a week. One or two days was no problem, but please remember that your teacher needs to organize and then do grading off time so that your child can make up their work. (At least in our district when a child is hospitalized there is a between manager that organizes missing work so I don't think this is a fair comparison.)



K in SA

 

[luv2sleep]

Another Texan and former teacher here,

In my district you cannot make up work that occurs during an unexcused absence so that would be a whole lotta zeros for a week long cruise.

Here our kids start getting grades in the second grade so for us it is a no brainer (but a costly one) to take the kids cruising in the summer.

My two are now in middle and high school and I am amazed how much they cover in a week and wouldn't want to put that kind of pressure on them. It would be no fun doing homework when they should be partying with Mickey and no fun making up homework at home when they already get so much now. I think they would miss some serious knowledge for sure.

On the teacher's side, it was always so much extra work to make up a packet for the kids who traveled for a week. One or two days was no problem, but please remember that your teacher needs to organize and then do grading off time so that your child can make up their work. (At least in our district when a child is hospitalized there is a between manager that organizes missing work so I don't think this is a fair comparison.)

K in SA

I didn't realize that. I feel bad now. My son was out 2 weeks. She gave us a ton of work to take. I'm sure that required a lot of her time.

 

[cruisecrasher]

Another Texan and former teacher here,

In my district you cannot make up work that occurs during an unexcused absence so that would be a whole lotta zeros for a week long cruise.

Here our kids start getting grades in the second grade so for us it is a no brainer (but a costly one) to take the kids cruising in the summer.

My two are now in middle and high school and I am amazed how much they cover in a week and wouldn't want to put that kind of pressure on them. It would be no fun doing homework when they should be partying with Mickey and no fun making up homework at home when they already get so much now. I think they would miss some serious knowledge for sure.

On the teacher's side, it was always so much extra work to make up a packet for the kids who traveled for a week. One or two days was no problem, but please remember that your teacher needs to organize and then do grading off time so that your child can make up their work. (At least in our district when a child is hospitalized there is a between manager that organizes missing work so I don't think this is a fair comparison.)



K in SA

We're in Texas, and this is why we private school.

 

[HollyRN]

My kids school has always given me grief. My response to them was that my kids are well behaved A/B students that cause no problem in the school. Concentrate on the kids who are bullying and causing problems.

 

[mcmckuf]

Which district in GA? My DD starts in Gwinnett Co. for fall 2013.

We live in Roswell. If you are out for more than 6, you have to see the principal. Not a big fan of ours for other reasons, but I digress.

2 years back, 3rd grade, my DD10 had strep 3 times in a row resulting in multiple days off. The county gave us soo much grief.

 

[barbja99]

While we haven't had any trouble, I think it depends largely on where you live and what the rules are in that district. I understand from postings here that Texas is particularly strict about kids missing school for vacation - statewide law or something.

In Texas, you get sent a formal letter to meet with a judge and you will be fined. It brings a criminal record.

I live in Texas. The party line that they send to you in the "policies" every year is "the children aren't learning if they aren't here" blah blah. Well, ya, that's true. However, my mother was an attendance secretary at an elementary school for a lot of years and she gave me the skinny: the school gets paid from the state for how many students that they have. They get paid on a day to day basis based on the number of students that they have at 9am. If a kid isn't there, they don't get paid. If a kid is late, they don't get paid. You can see that THEY have a vested interest in making sure that your kid is at their school. They aren't being completely altruistic.

Oh, and now they are instituting REVERSE tardies (at least they did last year in his elementary school -- I don't know if they are in his middle school now). You get a tardy if you pick up your kid from school early without a valid excuse. Geez.

 

[pdwimmer]

We have not had a problem with my children's schools. I ensure they take their work with them and we spend a little time each day to get it done.

If the school did have a problem and wouldn't allow my children to make up the work, I'd be at the Superintendents office ASAP. They work for me, not vice versa!

 

[KateMW]

Why is the neighbor stupid?

Better that she lost her job than her husband!

Because she was willing to do all that over a vacation. So silly and irresponsible. What a lesson to teach your children.

 

[KateMW]

The school district said that 7 days of unexcused absences was excessive.

7 days of UNexcused absences is excessive.

 

[KateMW]

No. BUT, I think that they should have 'allowable amount of time' for vacations and things like that. BECAUSE there are families that pull their kids out for vacations several times a year, and that is A LOT of extra work for the teachers!

Now, don't get me wrong. If a child is doing poorly in school, I do NOT believe taking them on vacation is doing them any good. "Hey kid, you're not doing well- so lets reward you by taking you out of class and going on vacation."

I have sisters-in law that are teachers. They've NEVER minded kids in their class missing school for a week or so to go on vacations. In fact, for a lot of kids- they LEARN A LOT while on vacation...AND they learn in different ways than just sitting in a classroom hearing people talk, they gain life experiances.

Where I do have problems is the parents that take their kids on vacation and then they turn around and ACT LIKE IT'S the TEACHERS fault if the kids aren't getting better grades for the time that they are gone! That is unacceptable. If a kid does poorly on his/her assignments over the missed school time, then it's the kids and parents fault. It is NOT the teachers!

One of my SIL's has twins in her classroom- the parents of those twins are HORRIBLE. They'd gone on TWO vacations already before Christmas and missed 8 days one time and 11 days the next time. Both kids are "C" and "B" students. They got a lot of homework sent home to work on and my SIL said if there were any questions, to e-mail her or she would even allow them to visit her durring her regular after school classroom hours to get help with anything from when they were gone.

Both kids turned in most of their homework, a few sheets were missing and some sheets were 1/2 done or done very poorly. She asked them if they could stay after school any night for the next week and she'd help them with the missing sheets AND to finish up the 1/2 done sheets.

One of the kids told her- I'm done with all my home work, grade it as is.
The other said nothing.

She graded the papers as they had handed them in, she gave them each zero's for the papers they didn't hand in. She told them AGAIN that she'd grade the 'Zero's' papers if they handed them in and she'd help them.

About two weeks later, she got a FURIOUS CALL from their mom! This mom YELLED and CUSSED her out for giving her kids Zero's on assignments. My SIL could not get a word in at all and the mom said "You and me will be having a meeting with the principal!" and hung up the phone.

The meeting with the principal had a lot of the same screaming and cussing from the mom- because the teacher said she gave the kids time to work on it, offered her help and told them when she was available (EVERY SINGLE DAY after school for 2 1/2 hours each day)...

That mom still blames my SIL for her kids bad report cards that 1/2 of the year.

AND, my SIL just got another e-mail telling her that her twins would be missing school again for 9 days in March. She sent a nasty letter to the school board saying that her kids should be 'excused from those assignments, because they learn more on vacation than they do in the classroom'...IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT.

My SIL was teacher of the year this year, so we all know that she is a great teacher. Some parents just can't accept the fact that they cannot be dragging their kids out of school SEVERAL times during the year for vacations when the kids did what they did for the first vacations they went on.

It is unacceptable to blame the teacher for poor homework and not turning things in if she offers to help AND the kids/parents refuse to take it.

This attitude from parents amazes me. Lets call a spade a spade...you are not learning a ton at Disney or on most vacations. You are spending time with family, which is also great, but come on...just admit it. I'll never understand the people that act like they can do whatever they want and still receive a free education. There are rules to follow...don't like it? Homeschool.

 

[GoHabsGo]

Believe me, they argued about it. She "won", he still has his job, and she has some "interesting" stories.

...and the rest of us have never met the boss or husband!

 

[jahber]

This attitude from parents amazes me. Lets call a spade a spade...you are not learning a ton at Disney or on most vacations. You are spending time with family, which is also great, but come on...just admit it. I'll never understand the people that act like they can do whatever they want and still receive a free education. There are rules to follow...don't like it? Homeschool.

As much as I hate to say it (because I think the militant truancy laws are shameful and truly believe vacations can offer a lifetime of value), I agree. If you can't play by the district's rules you have two choices: elect a new school board (or state legislature) or homeschool. We homeschool.

I hope parents in Texas are fighting for their rights! It would make me seriously angry if someone threatened to throw me in jail for taking my kids on vacation. To the OP, I hope you have a wonderful vacation, one that your kids will always remember.

 

[jhowell08]

Which district in GA? My DD starts in Gwinnett Co. for fall 2013.

We live in McDuffie Co and have received a letter indicating that the school social worker will schedule a home visit due to our daughter missing a combined total of 5 days though out the school year when she was in first grade. I too said "visit away". We never heard another word.

 

[kriswin1]

we do Homeschool. i am of the belief that kids learn more outside of school. I tell my friends here in texas that complain about 4 to 5 hours of homework for middle schoolers on up, that they are homeschooling. teachers do the best they can with 25 kids in the classroom all with different learning levels. they present and the the kids have to do at home. my kids are done in 4 hours (3rd grader) and 6hours (7th grader).

 

[cruisecrasher]

This attitude from parents amazes me. Lets call a spade a spade...you are not learning a ton at Disney or on most vacations. You are spending time with family, which is also great, but come on...just admit it. I'll never understand the people that act like they can do whatever they want and still receive a free education. There are rules to follow...don't like it? Homeschool.

It's not free.

If you pay taxes, that pays for the schools.

I wish they'd let us credit private school costs against the taxes we pay for the public schools.

 

[kriswin1]

that is right. i wish i got a refund for not using the system...but alas, i must pay the tax as well as buy all my curriculum and pay for any extra activities like PE, band,...

 

[JodyTG]

I live in Texas, and we have pulled DS out for several years now. We get a nasti-gram from the district saying that they can prosecute, but they never do. What district did this occur in?? --Katie

They lived in Dallas when that happed and were told that since it was 3 kids then just the fine wasn't enough.