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

[SRUAlmn]

Boy, I'm jealous! I teach in SC. We get 3 personal days and we're not permitted to use them back to back, we're not permitted to use them the day before or after a vacation/holiday, and we're 'technically' not allowed to use them for vacations. New this year, if we don't use them, the hours go into our sick bank. They don't accumulate. This is why you'll see in my signature that most our trips have been in the summer, Thanksgiving, or Christmas

 

[StitchBuddy]

Our district policy is you can have 3 consecutive personal days off, so with that in mind, I could leave on Friday night and be at Disney until Wednesday. Hmm.... that's not a bad idea!

 

[TheZenMaster]

My wife is a teacher in MA. We're planning on going for a few days in 2011 for Veteran's Day weekend. She should have the Friday off (the 11th) and we'll take off Wed and Thurs. Anything more than 2 straight absences and I think she needs a doctor's note or something like that.

Considering I'm no teacher and I want to go to Disney all the time during light crowd seasons... makes it tough for me. But nice that she has summers off.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

What is the difference between a state day and a local day? Does this mean your sick time and personal days, or are these all personal days?

I know my district is generous with 18 total...but if you have 7 personal days a year, I wouldn't call that getting the "shaft". Good for you!

State days roll over from year to year and local days do not. All 7 can either be used for sick or for personal reasons. My wife works in a different district 30 miles down the road and they get 10 total days per year. Most Texas school districts give 10 days. I had to use most of my days finishing my masters program and getting married but have managed to save up 25 days in 8 years.

 

[YodaGirl]

Our school system has "year-round school," meaning we start the first week of August and end around the first week of June.

Summer is shorter, but we get 2 weeks for spring break and a week off in October for fall break.

I'm guessing the teacher in question is going during fall break.

 

[miprender]

Does anyone who works in a school district manage not to go during school vacations? I Have a friend who says he knows someone who works in a school who is going in October and we live in Massachusetts so the only time off is Colombia day. Is that possible? Has anyone done it and would you get in trouble at work for using some sick days to go aweek at disney? I work in the special education department in a school and its hard to deal with the crowds during vacations (especially looking at our April vacation next year)

My DH is a teacher in RI but only gets 2 Personal days off and has used them at the beginning of our trip. They don't accumalate so he will loose them. But if he used sick time for vacation then he probably could get fired if he got caught.

But friends of ours who also teaches in RI, but another town has gone twice in May using his 5 personal days and never has had a problem.

I guess DH works for the wrong school dept.

 

[southern_redhead]

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.

I'm very sorry to hear about your father's passing. I'm glad you were able to use your days to be with your mother on their anniversary. I understand what you mean about the difference between personal and grieving days. We get 3 bereavment days a year for family members. A friend of mine had to use 6 last year as her father died and a month later her FIL died. Ours are outside of our personal/sick days as well.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

I teach in a charter school, so we are not subject to district sick and personal day limits. My school's philosophy is that if you need time, take time, whatever it is for. That said, I hate being away from my students, writing sub plans, and costing my school money, so I only take off the occasional personal day (1-2 days per year, probably) and when I am too sick to work or contagious.

I run a lot of Disney races, so we often take the Monday after a race off. Living only two hours away, we can drive to Disney Friday after work, run the race Saturday or Sunday, enjoy the parks all weekend and Monday, and then drive home Monday night. Then it's three whole days at Disney and only one day off. I have a wonderful team who understand my love of running and Disney, so they always help me make it happen!

 

[adtillma1]

I'm employed by a LEA in North Carolina (compliance specialist) and will be taking off time in November to go to Disney. I have 2.7 personal days (which will be 3 by the time we go), one holiday (Veteran's Day) and then I'm taking sick leave. My LEA really doesn't care as long as you take off days that you have banked, they sort of frown upon you taking leave without pay for vacation times.

 

[princessmom29]

I'm employed by a LEA in North Carolina (compliance specialist) and will be taking off time in November to go to Disney. I have 2.7 personal days (which will be 3 by the time we go), one holiday (Veteran's Day) and then I'm taking sick leave. My LEA really doesn't care as long as you take off days that you have banked, they sort of frown upon you taking leave without pay for vacation times.

Our district pretty much works the same way. Although the policy on paper is that "sick" days are only to be used for sick time, most principals do not really enforce that. If you have the time most don't mind if you use it, as long as you are mindful of what is going on in the school at the time (testing, site visits ect)and don't abuse it. I try not to violate the on paper policy unless i absolutely have to because I am just not a rule breaker. I don't think i would be willing to do it for a vacation.

 

[Future Cinderella]

This will be my second time taking off of school and heading to Disney. The first time was a week after I got hired. Hey, I booked the trip months agao, who knew I was going to get a job. This time I sat in the office while I booked my flight. My principal knows, they are my days and I am free to do what I choose with them. I love Disney in the fall so, you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

[mindync]

In our district, we are not allowed to use our 3 yearly personal days for recreation so the only opportunity teachers would have to take time off during the school year is to submit a letter to the Board of Education and ask for the days without pay.

In most cases, these are approved. But, if they see a history of someone asking for it on a regular basis, it could be a problem.

I went on a long weekend a few years ago with my family as a grand gathering and ended up taking 2 days, Friday and Monday, without pay.

I got lucky, though, as we had a major snowstorm on the Monday, the school ended up calling a snow day, and I only got docked the one day!!!

Some of us wish that they would relax the reasons for personal days but so far, no luck, so I am resolved to going in the summer.

What?? They are hardly personal days if you can't use them for whatever reason you like. That is crazy.

 

[PSUGuy]

I'm an Adjunct Faculty member in a small Pa university and I regularly skip out on my Wed. classes prior to Spring Break, Wed. is my last class day for the week. I usually assign a take-home project and monitor the students on my laptop from the resort, so they're not being cheated and my conscience is clear.

Bill From PA

 

[Artzkathy]

I'm also a teacher in Maryland. My family always goes during the school year because we can't do the crowds and heat that is summer in Disney. I save my personal business days until I have enough to do a trip. It usually takes a year of saving, then add them to the next year's PB days and we're off to WDW. So basically we're able to go every other year!

 

[mindync]

This is a very interesting thread. I like to read about the policies in different states. I guess I imagined they were pretty much the same but clearly they are not.

I have 2 personal days that I can use for anything and 10 sick days. The sick days accumulate but the personal days do not. Last year I took 2 personal days and 3 no pay days. At least if I take no pay days then the county isn't paying me AND a sub.

I'd like to say I feel guilty but we haven't received our step raise in two years, we no longer get ABC bonus money, and I buy a crazy amount of things for my classroom each year with my own money. So...I'm not going to feel guilt about a week at Disney.

 

[softballmom3]

We are also going in October but that is our Fall Break (we get a week). That being said I,personally, would not have any problem using some of my personal days to take a vacation during the school year if I needed to or if it just made sense. I have a co-worker that ALWAYS takes a week off in March to go on trips with her hubby (they are freebie trips given by his work to him). The past few years they have went to Hawaii, Los Cabos, Disney and this past year a cruise~~~sure wish I had his job (or my DH did ). Each district/state has different policies but here we get 10 sick days and 3 personal per year that roll over if unused. We also are one of the lower paid districts in our state and actually anywhere across the nation so it's not like we're getting a ton of benefits here with those "extra" sick days. Some people I know use their sick days to go on a vacation. They do not require any proof of what was wrong with you while out.

 

[JerseyDisneyGirl]

I am married to a former teacher, he is now an administrator who works 12 months. He gets vacation time and we don't take vacations during the school year. He never took a vacation while he was teaching either. We got married in the summer, and always went on vacation while the kids were off. You knew what you were getting in to when you got the job. It is your job to be there during the year, suck it up and deal with the crowds.

 

[webster76]

I work in special ed/pre-school age. I'm a teaching assistant and get 4 personal days and 9 sick days a year. They can be used hourly if we want , which I really like! Also the unused personal days roll over to sick days. We aren't supposed to use these days on a Friday before a holiday ( or Monday for that matter). For the past two years I've taken 2 personal days late in September for my trip to WDW. We don't have kids on Fridays so I generally take Thurs and Fri or Fri and Monday so I only miss one kid day. I've been in the summer too many times and between the heat and the crowds, I wouldn't go during the summer again. I guess we're pretty lucky to be able to take off during the school year!

 

[daisyduck123]

I've pulled myself (1st grade teacher) out many times for WDW vacations & have never had a problem with it. Our schools reading teachers (both of them) pull themselves out for Disney vacations every year as well. Our principal usually goes on an overseas vacation each year too.

 

[gracelrm]

DH & I are both teachers - so we vacation during school breaks. We are fortunate to have a fall break in early Oct. We've been to WDW twice during this break. Once during Christmas break - which we left 1 day early (before the break in order to make it to a MVMCP) and once during spring break. Generally, however, we go during the summer months. We have 10 sick days and 1 personal and 2 emergency days each year. We are limited to not using personal or emergency days prior to or following a scheduled day off. We would never use sick days for a vacation - since there are two of us teaching and three kids in school - it would be rather obvious that we weren't sick. Besides, I just wouldn't do it since that is not how the days are supposed to be used. I do have a friend in a different district who is allowed to "bank" her 3 personal days to the following year and take a week off during the year - every other year. That would be a very nice perk, but not something my district would ever consider doing. DH and I are looking forward to a few years from now when we can retire and take a trip to WDW during less crowded times.