Teachers are giving me a hard time pulling kids out of school

[princessmom29]

This is how our school is. I call in and say my child will not be in school. They say okay. They never ask why. Our school handbook doesn't say anything about the number of days you can miss. It says nothing about excused or unexcused. I don't think people abuse it.

Now once you get to highschool it changes. Then you have limited number of days. You can miss up to 6 per trimester. (I think it is 6 maybe 7) For vacations they only count every other day. It is all excused as long as the parent informs the school ahead of time. Even if you go over the number they still look at your grades. No automatic failing or anything.

My niece will be in WDW during her 10th grade first trimester exams this year. She gets to take them early.

must be a private school. DD's school is this way.

 

[creativeamanda]

must be a private school. DD's school is this way.

I noticed both of the posters are in Michigan. State laws vary as far as education goes, because each state handles things differently.

I don't know how we could be carted in to family court, though. We live in North Carolina, but our kids go to school in South Carolina.

We give phone calls at the 3rd day of absence. We have truancy meetings at the 5th. It is left up to the truant officer based on meeting notes as to whether or not he wants to pursue in family court. Usually when taken to family court, if there is no good excuse for further absences (medical excuses, etc.) then the parents are fined after being given a court order for attendance. Usually it's after the 10th day that the truancy officer is involved and only if he feels that the kids are truly being truant.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

must be a private school. DD's school is this way.

No. It is a very small town public school.

 

[LaughingGravy]

No. It is a very small town public school.

I suspect very similar to ours. If people abuse it, they will be forced to put their foot down.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Another very valid point that I've seen made on previous threads like this is that the schools allow students to go on field trips, leave school early for football games out of town and cheerleading competetions, among others. It really burns me that because these are "school sanctioned" trips (sometimes even to WDW!) they are excused. I'm sorry, there's A LOT of hypocrisy there.

 

[princessmom29]

I noticed both of the posters are in Michigan. State laws vary as far as education goes, because each state handles things differently.

I don't know how we could be carted in to family court, though. We live in North Carolina, but our kids go to school in South Carolina.

We give phone calls at the 3rd day of absence. We have truancy meetings at the 5th. It is left up to the truant officer based on meeting notes as to whether or not he wants to pursue in family court. Usually when taken to family court, if there is no good excuse for further absences (medical excuses, etc.) then the parents are fined after being given a court order for attendance. Usually it's after the 10th day that the truancy officer is involved and only if he feels that the kids are truly being truant.

basically the same system we have as far as courts go, but our kids loose all credit for the course after the 5th unexcused absence. By then they are usualy failing anyway because they have 5 days worth of zeros.

 

[princessmom29]

Another very valid point that I've seen made on previous threads like this is that the schools allow students to go on field trips, leave school early for football games out of town and cheerleading competetions, among others. It really burns me that because these are "school sanctioned" trips (sometimes even to WDW!) they are excused. I'm sorry, there's A LOT of hypocrisy there.

We don't do this in our school. These types of trips are only taken over spring/winter break. The only exception I know of that we have made is that the group going to China over spring break on a learning exchange is getting an extra travel day before and after the break so they will miss two days of school. Field trips during the school day are very limited and are strictly for educational purposes. Our environmental science classes visit a locak park to do wate quality testing. etc..

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

basically the same system we have as far as courts go, but our kids loose all credit for the course after the 5th unexcused absence. By then they are usualy failing anyway because they have 5 days worth of zeros.

Quite appropriate. Why should a child who has been on vacation be eligible for the same grades as children who have fulfilled their school commitment?

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Quite appropriate. Why should a child who has been on vacation be eligible for the same grades as children who have fulfilled their school commitment?

Yeah, you're right. My dd who missed school to pay her respects to her deceased grandmother should fail because she wasn't there. Nevermind that she knows the material.

Black and white rules are never appropriate. There will always be exceptions. Illnesses, family emergencies, a whole multitude of situations that don't need to be legislated. You shouldn't get credit just for showing up. A mastery of the material should be what is required. Some students need many hours/days of instruction to "get it", some need a fraction of that.

 

[princessmom29]

Yeah, you're right. My dd who missed school to pay her respects to her deceased grandmother should fail because she wasn't there. Nevermind that she knows the material.

Black and white rules are never appropriate. There will always be exceptions. Illnesses, family emergencies, a whole multitude of situations that don't need to be legislated. You shouldn't get credit just for showing up. A mastery of the material should be what is required. Some students need many hours/days of instruction to "get it", some need a fraction of that.

That would be an excused absence in our system for up to 3 days if you had to travel, so the loss of credit would not apply. It would also not count towards the total for descretionary absences. I really think our system is pretty fair as parents get 4 "descretionary days" per semester to be out with no reason before they have to provide any documentation at all. There is a page long list of situations that constitute an approved absence, and everything I can think of that would be a ligitamate reason is on there. Death in the family, illness, college visit, court dates, driver's liscense testing, doctor/dentist appointments, birth of a sibling even gets you 1 day. I think that all of these combined with the 4 "free days" should be more than enough to cover anything that needs doing.

 

[Withacy]

basically the same system we have as far as courts go, but our kids loose all credit for the course after the 5th unexcused absence. By then they are usualy failing anyway because they have 5 days worth of zeros.

With such strict rules, you'd think Alabama would be doing better in national comparisons.

I was just checking out the NCES web site, and it seems the unofficial Alabama motto rings true in education too. ("Thank God for Mississippi.")

Sorry, a little bit regulatory humor. Who said soulless bureaucrats don't have a sense of humor?

 

[bakenatj]

I noticed both of the posters are in Michigan. State laws vary as far as education goes, because each state handles things differently.

I don't know how we could be carted in to family court, though. We live in North Carolina, but our kids go to school in South Carolina.

We give phone calls at the 3rd day of absence. We have truancy meetings at the 5th. It is left up to the truant officer based on meeting notes as to whether or not he wants to pursue in family court. Usually when taken to family court, if there is no good excuse for further absences (medical excuses, etc.) then the parents are fined after being given a court order for attendance. Usually it's after the 10th day that the truancy officer is involved and only if he feels that the kids are truly being truant.

I'm sorry state of NC, but that is BS. My kids would never go to public school if we lived there. That is just ridiculous.

 

[chuckml]

With such strict rules, you'd think Alabama would be doing better in national comparisons.

I was just checking out the NCES web site, and it seems the unofficial Alabama motto rings true in education too. ("Thank God for Mississippi.")

Sorry, a little bit regulatory humor. Who said soulless bureaucrats don't have a sense of humor?

 

[princessmom29]

With such strict rules, you'd think Alabama would be doing better in national comparisons.

I was just checking out the NCES web site, and it seems the unofficial Alabama motto rings true in education too. ("Thank God for Mississippi.")

Sorry, a little bit regulatory humor. Who said soulless bureaucrats don't have a sense of humor?

The reason Alabama does so poorly has a lot to do with lack of funding. Funding for schools is tied to sales tax, not property tax. We literally have no money for books right now at my school, and I do not have enough for even a class set. You can forget technology funding, ect. Class sizes are out of control. Factor in that plus hte fact that we have one of the lowest average houshold incomes in the nation, and one of the highest poverty rates. A lot of kids come to school never having actually held a book before. They don't know colors and shapes. Some of them don't even know their last name. We have a lot of catching up to do, and no money to do it with. Our system lost 200 teacher units this year, so those of us that are left have to pick up the slack.
I teach in an IB school that performs well above the national average, so there are good schools here. There are also schools that have no facilites, no money, and 45 students minimum in a class. It is a recipe for disaster. I really get tired of people poking fun like we are all rednecks. We graduated 4 children from our school with full rides to ivy league schools last year, and a total of 65 out of the 180 that graduated had full rides to 4 year colleges. There are places in ALabama that do it right, and there are places that are so desperately poor that they just cannot keep up.

 

[Tinkio]

One of my daughters is in elementary and if your child is on early dismissal (greater than a total of 60 minutes) or missed days, they require doctors notes. If for some reason the excuses are unexcusable then after 3 days you are reported to the SRO. The last 2 years our school district has really tightened the belt on school attendance.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Quite appropriate. Why should a child who has been on vacation be eligible for the same grades as children who have fulfilled their school commitment?

I can't believe people feel this way. A child should be eligible for grades based on knowledge of the material. Attendance should have nothing to do with it. A child who makes up all the work after vacation is fulfilling their school commitment.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

The reason Alabama does so poorly has a lot to do with lack of funding. Funding for schools is tied to sales tax, not property tax. We literally have no money for books right now at my school, and I do not have enough for even a class set. You can forget technology funding, ect. Class sizes are out of control. Factor in that plus hte fact that we have one of the lowest average houshold incomes in the nation, and one of the highest poverty rates. A lot of kids come to school never having actually held a book before. They don't know colors and shapes. Some of them don't even know their last name. We have a lot of catching up to do, and not money to do it with. Our system lost 200 teacher units this year, so those of us that are left have to pick up the slack.

Thank goodness there are teachers like you willing to put the time and effort, especially when your state probably doesn't have the best pay scale.

 

[Darcy03231]

As this thread shows, different school districts have different policies. Some schools give out work ahead of time, some give it out after and some give zeros on everything missed. I think its up to parents to find out what the district's policy is BEFORE booking a vacation that requires their child to be out of school and follow it, without taking it out on the teacher. If you don't like your district's policy, work to get it changed.

I live in one the strict districts. The only absences that are excused are illness, up to three days for a funeral and seniors are allowed two days during their senior year to visit college campuses. I know what the policy is and if I decide to take my children out of school for vacation I will live with the ramifications of my decision.

 

[princessmom29]

Thank goodness there are teachers like you willing to put the time and effort, especially when your state probably doesn't have the best pay scale.

unfortunately, no they don't, but i love my job and I love the kids I teach. It gives me the ability to get DD to all of her afterschool activities, and get my work done at home. I couldn't do that when I was working 60+ hours in a lab, so I am glad I made the switch.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Yeah, you're right. My dd who missed school to pay her respects to her deceased grandmother should fail because she wasn't there. Nevermind that she knows the material.

Black and white rules are never appropriate. There will always be exceptions. Illnesses, family emergencies, a whole multitude of situations that don't need to be legislated. You shouldn't get credit just for showing up. A mastery of the material should be what is required. Some students need many hours/days of instruction to "get it", some need a fraction of that.

ITA. Some children waste so much time in school listening to subjects they have already mastered. The teached must continue until the rest of the class "gets it."

Credit just for showing up is useless if the child doesn't know the material.