Any Alabama families out there? Got a question about taking kids out of school.

[eric8]

My child will start Kindergarten this Fall. I would love to pull her out of school and take her to Disney during some slow times. Since it's Kindergarten I figured she wouldn't miss too much. I don't want to take her during Christmas break because of the crowds. Have any of you guys pulled your child out of school for a trip to Disney World? I'm worried about excused vs unexcused absences and how that will affect her.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Not sure about AL, but we are in Louisiana and took my daughter out for 5 days in Kindergarten. She missed the 2nd week of December. It wasn't a big deal, but you need to check your school's attendance policy for how many they "allow."

ETA: We'll be taking her out for 3 days this year. I don't really worry about it as long as she doesn't miss testing.

 

[jwo1976]

It all depends on the school. We've always notified the school in advance that the kids will be traveling with family. One year my oldest missed 4 days. While at Disney we enrolled in the YES program as a learning experience. We were given a lot of grief and had to have a conference with the school. (county school at the time, she was in 3rd grade) Fast forward to 6th grade, became city school by this time. The 6th graders actually took a field trip to Disney and did the exact same YES program we did and they got credit for it. Also since it became a city school there have been no problems taking either child out to travel with family. In fact alot of kids are taken out of school in our system to go to Disney. Just keep the lines of communication with your child's teacher(s) open so they can make up anything they miss.

 

[smiths02]

Does your district have a website that you can look up the policy on?
States have some guidelines, but it can vary widely by school/district.

 

[dreiwhit]

We're from Alabama. We home school now, but my son did attend public school for several years.

We have friends who take their daughter out of school every year to go to WDW. They let the school know in advance (talk to the principal) that they will be going on vacation, and talk to their daughter's teachers to find out what work will need to be made up.

They've never had a problem.

 

[DisneyMommy9]

I am in alabama and my son is in 4th grade I only have him miss one day. His principal won't see it. So I would have to be excused by the county superintendent.

 

[bnhonest]

Birmingham Al resident here. I'm taking my 5th grader and 2nd grader out of school for a week in May. Both of my kids have exemplary attendance and are good academically, so I'm not expecting any problems. We will communicate with the teachers and principles and all that stuff. It ain't like we're missing a week of middle or high school though.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

From Alabama. I think it is more of a school policy than a Statewide Policy. That being said I have taken my son out for a week in Kindergarten, 1st, and twice in 2nd grade (the 2nd time was the last 3 or 3.5 days of school). In our school system we have to give the principal a note in writing at least 2 weeks in advance and typically the days will be marked excused. All of the days my son has missed over the 3 year period were marked excused.

 

[2Monkeys]

We live in Alabama, south of Birmingham. We took ours out the last week of school twice with no issues. They missed awards day, field day, end of the year party. One year we took them out in November for a trip to Washington DC not even for a whole week. I had to meet with the Vice Principal because the absences were unexcused. I told her about all of the educational things we did with the kids, and she said it didn't matter and that they were required to be in school. Both of my kids had straight As, but that didn't matter either. I just made sure they didn't have any other unexcused absences that year.

They switched to private school 6 years ago, and whenever we asked for absences to be excused, the answer is always yes. My son switched back to public 2 years ago, and we are awaiting a reply right now as to whether or not he can miss school for his cousin's graduation.