Any teachers going to WDW during the school year?

[DisneyHardin]

I'm a teacher and we go during the school year every year. We get 3 personal days, so I usually pair them with an already scheduled day off so we can be gone from Tues-Sun. The last 3 years we were off the first Friday in October, so we went that week. This year we are off for Election Day the first week of November, so we are heading down that week.

 

[momtosam]

We went this past May and I teach third grade. We are fortunate enough to be able to accumulate/carry over five personal days. I am fortunate to have a principal who encourages family time and quite frankly the superintendent has no idea who is there or not, at least at the elementary level.

 

[rev02a]

For the last two years, I have gone in September. I work for a virtual high school and so I would just check in with my kiddos during the day (most of mine aren't online until after 2 Colorado time anyway) and do most of my grading at night or early in the morning.

This year, sadly, the state testing window crazy2 has added 2 more months of testing, so no Food and Wine for this gal! Oh well, I'm going with the other Summer Crazy People!

Good luck!

 

[bastos]

My wife and I are both teachers. We get three personal days each year. We can 'bank' two until the next year - for a maximum of five days. We used one for our kids' Christmas concert - and moved the rest around a weekend. We worked on Wednesday, and had a flight the following morning at 6am. We were in Epcot by 10:30 for the Flower and Garden Festival. We saw the Star Wars weekend celebration the following Sunday. We flew out of Orlando at 8:30 pm, and worked the next day. It was in the middle of May, and I returned to 11 days of work.

It was perfect. A beautiful way to spend our 20th anniversary. Go.

 

[Rosanne]

If I am understanding correctly, you are talking about two separate vacations... one in September and one in November/December.

I would do one or the other. I would do the special activity to celebrate your anniversary in September.

The following year I would take five days to enjoy Disney at a relatively uncrowded time.

I'm a music teacher also. I see each class for 50 minutes once a week (total of 30 classes). Missing one week if I had the right sub and the right materials would not be bad as really it helps to keep all classes aligned if they do the same thing. I would feel that missing more than that could confuse my colleagues about my dedication.

Honestly, though. I haven't taken a personal day in five years as I'm in a pretty intense district in terms of faculty attendance.

 

[Snow Shoe]

My wife and I are both retired secondary teachers. During our teaching careers neither one of us would have considered taking a vacation at Disney or anywhere else for that matter. We both believed it was all about our students during the school year. Now summer was different! We were always at Disney for some special time.

Our district's policy then was, if you were out for more then three consecutive days ,you had to have an doctors excuse. Longer medical problems required permission form the Asst. Super. of HR and the Super. There was no policy regarding taking "vacations" during school time/days.

I am aware of only one teacher during all of my teaching time who requested time off during school days for a "cruise" she had won. She had to take the cruise on a specific date as well. After much back and forth, they gave her permission to go. They then created a local policy preventing you from doing such "time off" during the school year.

 

[collyflower]

I'm very jealous of all of you who are allowed to attach personal days to a school holiday- a big no no in my small district! ( I teach pre-k btw) Having said that, my boyfriend and I are going down in October for food and wine with some friends, so I'll be using my three personal days to take off Wednesday-Friday in October. The program director I report to has an "I don't want to hear about where or why you're going, but have a great time" policy, which I am extra grateful for!

 

[Gru]

My wife and I are both retired secondary teachers. During our teaching careers neither one of us would have considered taking a vacation at Disney or anywhere else for that matter. We both believed it was all about our students during the school year.

As a mother of four I would like to thank you for your dedication! I wish my children had teachers that were so committed to their students.

 

[momtosam]

Not trying to get ruffled, but putting my family first to enjoy our family vacation does not make me an undedicated teacher. One thing people often overlook when judging teachers for taking time off is the teacher's spouse. It happens that summer is the craziest time of year for my husband. It is very difficult for him to take time away then. During my trip this past year I spent countless hours preparing thorough lesson plans for my substitute. Learning continued in my absence.

Again, I try to keep my posts light but that hit me the wrong way.

 

[amomma23]

Not trying to get ruffled, but putting my family first to enjoy our family vacation does not make me an undedicated teacher. One thing people often overlook when judging teachers for taking time off is the teacher's spouse. It happens that summer is the craziest time of year for my husband. It is very difficult for him to take time away then. During my trip this past year I spent countless hours preparing thorough lesson plans for my substitute. Learning continued in my absence.

Again, I try to keep my posts light but that hit me the wrong way.

Agreed. DH is a teacher. He is very dedicated to his students, and was even chosen as teacher of the year for our district. That said, his biological children are a priority, and he banks days to take our kids to Disney every other year.

 

[BensWife]

As a mother of four I would like to thank you for your dedication! I wish my children had teachers that were so committed to their students.

I'm sorry, but does this comment assume that all teachers who want to spend time with their family are not dedicated? You can talk to my husband and he can tell you how many hours I work after school a week while school is in session. Just because I want to take a vacation with my family doesn't mean I am not dedicated. Do you know how many teachers would lay down our very lives for our students? I guess you are right. All us teachers are just in it for a paycheck and the summers off (oh, and an extra week for a WDW vacation).

 

[Angel Ariel]

Not trying to get ruffled, but putting my family first to enjoy our family vacation does not make me an undedicated teacher. One thing people often overlook when judging teachers for taking time off is the teacher's spouse. It happens that summer is the craziest time of year for my husband. It is very difficult for him to take time away then. During my trip this past year I spent countless hours preparing thorough lesson plans for my substitute. Learning continued in my absence.

Again, I try to keep my posts light but that hit me the wrong way.

Amen. How many times here do we hear that people are taking their kids out of school because school vacations aren't compatible with their work schedules? Just because one person in a couple is a teacher doesn't mean that the other spouse has a school-vacation-friendly work schedule.

I took a few personal days my first year teaching:

The day before my husband deployed to Iraq for the first time, so I could spend the day with him; the day he deployed, so I could be with him; and the day after he left so I could begin to deal with him being gone without breaking down in front of students.

I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have given a second thought to anyone who thought I was less dedicated to my students because I needed to spend that time with my husband.

 

[Crl1817]

In our district, if my kid missed that many days of school for a vacation, he would be considered truant. And our principal says she will report parents in those circumstances. So it's hard for me to think that it is okay for a teacher to miss school when it's not okay for the kids.

 

[flyfire]

In our school district student can miss 10 days a SEMESTER! Students often start taking personal Days the last few weeks of school if they can. They make sure to use all of their days. FYI parents must call in to excuse their kids so they are all in on it.

Teachers have 2 personal days but if used before or after a holiday they must be approved by the superintendent. I think it have used two personal days in 10 years of teaching. The planning just isn't worth it unless I really have to. My youngest graduated this year and guess what yep I worked that day.

 

[Spacepest]

Good grief! I feel sorry for some of the teachers in this thread.

When I was growing up, in my local school district the teachers were allowed to take two weeks of vacation off during the regular school year, in addition to their summer leave. And many of them did! The kids made due with substitutes if that happened, and life went on. Now they get harassed by their district administration if they want to take off a few days in a row to take care of an ill family member or attend a funeral! What a load of rubbish.

 

[Crl1817]

In California students are considered truant if they are absent or late more than thirty minutes without an excuse THREE times in a school year. And vacation is not considered an excuse even if parents call.

https://oag.ca.gov/truancy

It's not just teachers who have trouble scheduling vacation. We won't be going on vacation this summer because dh's work obligations shifted last week and now he can't get away. So our next family vacation will be at Disney World over Christmas because that's the next time we can have a vacation without pulling ds out of school.

If my kid can't miss school for a disney vacation, I'm really struggling with the idea that his teacher should.

 

[cheryl.UK]

Wow! UK teacher here and we get no personal days. It's down to the discretion of the head teacher who usually doesn't allow it unless we have a hospital appointment (we need to show a letter), our child is ill or we have a funeral of a close relative etc. I've even know people have to cancel holidays when they have changed schools and the holiday dates aren't the same.

 

[Aliceacc]

Nope, not a chance. We're both teachers and we go over the summer. Today is my second day of vacation, and I have to be back just before Labor Day for Freshman Orientation. Plenty of time to go on vacation.

If I'm not in school, it's because I'm sick, one of my kids is too sick to stay home alone, or there's been some sort of family or house emergency.

I do have a friend who goes every year over Columbus Day weekend for F&W, and again over February break. She doesn't miss school, but has DVC and her kids are grown, so it's financially doable.

 

[eangel12]

I had planned to go in September during our break which meant taking 3 personal days. I decided to move the trip to August because the idea of taking off in September was making me feel too anxious. I'm glad I made the switch!!

 

[Haygar2]

In California students are considered truant if they are absent or late more than thirty minutes without an excuse THREE times in a school year. And vacation is not considered an excuse even if parents call.

https://oag.ca.gov/truancy

This is the most RIDICULOUS thing I have ever read. And, yes, I did read it. I think they are taking it a little too far. If my children are with me, and I know what they are doing, they are NOT truant. I have talked to doctors and teachers and they agree that making memories and spending time as a family is priceless. School work can be made up. Thankfully, we don't live in California. If we did, my husband would get his wish of me homeschooling. Not my wish. This just makes me angry. Kids who skip school, without their parents knowledge and/or for no reason, are truant. My vacation does not make them truant.