any school teachers go to disney when school is in session?

[ugadog99]

I have been able to take off a day or two early prior to a break. I've always liked doing this because it would give us a few days of lower crowds before the masses poured in. I have three personal days and can use them however I want. My principal is wonderful and would have no issue with me taking three personal days and then two "sick" days to be the entire week. I would only do that if it were for an extra special visit, though. All school systems are different. I just happen to work for one that has no restricitions on our personal days and really nothing on our sick days, etiher.

 

[amyy]

I work under the teacher contract. I took 3 days and we went in early December. We never could have afford to go right Christmas. Our district is very generous with personal days and there are some teachers who refuse to take any. In my opinion maybe they should and they would be a bit happier and happy teachers make good teachers Honestly our personal day help retain top quality teachers. I find making a bit less from other districts but having a few days off instead is worth it.

 

[akozlosk]

I'm a "30 year gal" so if we want to go during the school year I take off a few personal necessity days usually around a long weekend. We live on the West Coast so two days is flying. This time we are going in 13 days (Yippie!) because DD25 will be starting her final year in law school and won't be able to take any time until after she takes the bar I'm in Northern California and we are still so lucky with our school district insurance and retirement and our days off!

 

[flipflopmom]

We get 2 personal days but they can not be used before or after a school holiday. So even if I had Friday off, I could not take Thursday or Monday off to extend the holiday.

VA teacher here. 2 personal days, 10 sick days. Nothing can be tacked on to holiday, if you are sick, you better have a dr's note. I could take unpaid days and go during the year... IF the superintendent and principal will sign off on it. That would be 3 unpaid days for a week's vacation, and with the expense of a WDW trip, we couldn't afford to do that. SO June it is!

 

[icesk8abc]

I teach in Texas. We get 5 sick (local) and 5 personal (state) days a year. The sick days roll over up to 15 and the personal days roll over forever. Personal days must be requested one week or more in advance, but are always approved unless it is a the beginning or ending of a grading period or a state test day. By law, personal days are personal. The principal, superintendent, district may not ask why you want the days off. They must give you a good reason if they deny your days. We are required to find a sub who is a certified teacher if we are going to be gone more than 3 days in a row. I took a week off in December 2 years ago to go to WDW and my whole family (sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephew) are all taking a week to go in October this year. Yes, they are pulling their kids out of school (kinder, 1st, and 2nd), but they are taking a certified teacher with them (me). They work with their kids at home and make sure they keep up with their work. I requested the week off at the end of last year and it has already been approved. Although my principal may not ask why, I definitely tell her.

 

[cmcinc]

My wife does...she has personal days and we use them for Disney. We also take the kids out of school.

 

[luckyBelle]

I also teach in TX and we are not allowed to use our personal days for vacations if they are attached to a school holiday. However you could use your sick days, it may just depend on how supportive your administrator is. Last year we went to Disney World during the week of Thanksgiving, which meant I only had to miss two days of school (same for my children!). So many families take their kids out of school for those two days as well, that I didn't feel guilty and I never felt right about using those two days for intense instruction or tests because so many students would miss.

 

[chefmb]

I teach in a private school. I get 2 personal "use 'em or lose 'em" days a year, and 8 sick, which can accumulate up to 40. For the last 3 or 4 years, since I've accumulated the max sick time, I've lost 6-7 days each year since I hardly take off for sick or personal. This year, for the first time, I'm taking 3 days in Dec. to go to Disney. I got permission from my principal before making any plans. In the past, I wouldn't have even considered taking time for a Disney trip, but maybe with experience (and pay cuts), I've decided that this year I could take this special time for me. Part of me feels selfish, but I know I will leave good plans for a sub, and I'm not too worried about parents' reactions. I think I have a reputation that can hold up to three days off for Disney! I also agree with the poster who said that a happy teacher is a better teacher The thought of my Disney trip will keep me extra happy through the fall months, and when I return, I'll know I spoiled myself a little and will work extra hard to make up for it!

 

[nicki.momof3]

Teacher in Michigan here-

I would never take a week off for a vacation during the school year. It is not fair to my students. I know going into teaching what to expect schedule wise and I accept it. We travel in the summer, Easter, or X-Mas.

On the same note I don't appreciate parents taking there kids out for a week and expecting me to catch them up. Many parents say "there child will do all the work on vacation and they do not expect the teacher to catch the child up". The real facts are a week of missed school requires work to catch a child up no matter what and it always happens at some point during the school day - to the disadvatage of the other students.

Most parents would freak out if they know their child had a sub teacher for a week while their teacher was at WDW. Children should be held to the same standard - school is their "job" and they should be there.

 

[jlhill4444]

Both my husband and I are teachers. He teachers college and I teach high school. Since his school is on quarters he is off from Thanksgiving to Jan 1. So I end up taking the days after Thanksgiving and go. Usually we go from Wed before Thanksgiving to Wed after Thanksgiving. My school gives us Wed-Monday off so I only take Tues and Wed after using personal days.

This year I am using personal days right before Christmas break and going before Christmas. Our kids are still young at this point, so we are fine with pulling them out of school for a few days. Once they get older we will most likely plan during Christmas break (which we dont mind the crowds so much) and summer.

 

[Disfan3]

I have 2 personal days a year and can use them in any way I want. We can bank up to 4 and use 3 together but no more than three. We get anywhere from 10 to 20 sick days (given your years with the district) they can obviously be used only when sick but if we are sick say on the day before a break, so be it but we CANNOT use personal days before a break or holiday. I have taken short trips before using my two personal days but this last year, I banked them and will take 3 days together to go in February with some friends...the family will go in June. I won't take my 9th grader out, she gets too far behind. We have a great "pot" of subs available so I am comfortable doing that.

This year we are also taking furlough days but they are wonky....2 half days and one full professional development day are furloughed although we are getting TQ money from the state that was banked from our district (long story) so we are actually getting paid even though they are "furlough" days.



Long story short, yes...I do and will continue to take short trips during the year.

 

[tarheel_girl]

I could just imagine what the parents would say to me! " What do they say to all of you that do leave?" I am jealous! We get one personal day a year and sick days are for being sick. Ugh!

Honestly, the parents of the students(kindergartners) I taught this year were so supportive. They understood that we were celebrating my DD3 adoption day. Most wished me well and told me that they wished they could go too! I also brought back little presents for my students and actually got thank yous from parents. Usually, I am gone just a long weekend but this year it was an entire week.

 

[Schmeck]

You can't use personal days for vacations? What are they used for then? Basically in our system the only difference between personal and sick is that for a personal day you have to request it at least 24 hrs before using it (and it could be turned down, thus forcing you to use a sick day, but I've never heard of that happening) They really don't care if we use a sick day to travel or a personal day for vacation or whatever as long as we understand that anything over 10 days we "owe" them for on our last check. With teachers that means deducting the days from their pay. As an assistant I have it better and can make my time up OR let them take the day from my check. Makes me glad I work for the system I'm in

Personal days are only for business that cannot be attended to at any other time - closing for a house sale, etc. I used my 2 personal days this year to attend to family business that involved the loss of loved ones. Not funeral/grieving time (that's a separate entity) but dealing with issues and situations that came about because of the death of my father. One day was used on what would have been my parents' 47th wedding anniversay, which was a month after my dad had died.

 

[nessz79]

I didn't read through all of the posts, so sorry if I'm repeating anything unnecessarily.

I'm a FL teacher so we go for short (3-4 day) trips when I go. I usually take 1 day off before a vacation so we can catch some of the lower crowd days of said vacation. This year we're taking off 1 day before Christmas break so we can head up there that day and have slightly lower crowds than later in the week.

We use personal days and ask for them off way in advance.

 

[beccamarie]

This is a very "political" issue. Some districts absolutely will not allow this, while others will. If I were to take off during the school year, I would be on the principals "bad" list for sure. I am happy for the teachers that can though!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

We get 13 days - sick/personal combined. We can bank whatever we don't use. We used to get paid a certain amount per day of whatever was in our bank once we retired, but there's a limit now. It's very helpful for maternity leaves, though!

I have taken four days off before to do our very first family trip in 2005. We were transitioning principals, but my current administrator didn't have a problem with it, she told me, as long as it wasn't a yearly thing! Of course, there are people in the building who have taken an entire week for the past couple of years in a row for cruises, etc...I know we're very fortunate, though. I can't complain at all about our leave allowances.

We have a new superintendent, however, and money spent on subs is being scrutinized. We're being strongly discouraged from taking time off before or after breaks, though we haven't been told we can't yet. I'm not sure how things will change in the future. DH and I would love to see the Christmas decorations some day, and so we've discussed taking two/three days off around a weekend in December and flying out. We have to do this in the next three years before my oldest goes to the middle school, though, so hopefully we'll get it in!

 

[huffjoann]

DH teaches and I have been trying my hardest to figure out something for this myself,, DD is starting Kindy so I am not concerned pulling her out,, but the problem is they cannot tie personal days onto holiday weekends,, so if they have a monday holiday they cannot have friday. Then he only gets 3 personal days to boot,,
He has furlough days built in galore this school year (unfortunately) and I am trying to swing a deal around those if possible,, since you don't get paid for them and you didn't get to pick them perhaps they will be relaxing the rules around that?
Spring break is a horrible time around my job plus the crowds,,

 

[flipflopmom]

Personal days are only for business that cannot be attended to at any other time - closing for a house sale, etc. I used my 2 personal days this year to attend to family business that involved the loss of loved ones. Not funeral/grieving time (that's a separate entity) but dealing with issues and situations that came about because of the death of my father. One day was used on what would have been my parents' 47th wedding anniversay, which was a month after my dad had died.

Just wanted to give you a . I lost my Daddy in September. We don't get funeral/grieving time. I took days off under the Family Medical Leave act, b/c he was hospitalized for 10 days before he died. My mom doesn't drive in traffic, big hospital and city, and I had to stay with her and take care of her. We fully expected him to come home, so I took an extra week to help take care of him, which would have been 3 weeks total. Unfortunately, we didn't, so I took it to be w/ Mom. I used banked sick days for this!

 

[rainydayplay]

We're going in December and I'll take my 2 personal days to make a long weekend of it. We want to go see the Christmas decorations, and, let's face it, everyone says that, by the time Christmas vacation comes about, you're lucky if you can move at WDW. This will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime trip because of all that.

In the future, we'll be looking at going in the summer. My DD is in a different system than where I teach. They've cut back to 2 days for fall break, and decided this year to add it to the Thanksgiving holidays -- she'll be out for a full week @ Thanksgiving. I'll have a full week in October (plus the three days in November for Thanksgiving.) Last year, their spring break was in April and ours in March...I was thrilled when they moved ours to April, but her system moved their back to March. How can two pretty much neighboring systems have such different calendars!

 

[wendydarling826]

I plead the 5th.