Anyone have problems taking their kids outta school for vacation?

[BeckWhy]

The school system in my area(and I don't know how many other schools in NY) states that a child can only miss school due to ligitamate reasons. And vacation is not one of them. That means (accord to the JPS) that if a child misses school due to a vacation they can not make up any homework or tests they have missed during that time. My dad challeneged this about 10 years ago when my sister missed like 2 days of school to go to Seattle. Then challenged it again when I went to Seattle. But this time he contacted the Board of Ed in Albany and they stated that the school HAS to let me make up missed work and tests and it HAS to count. Most people aren't as intelligent as my dad and know any better, so they fall victim to this problem.

Any of you have similar problems with your schools?

 

[seashoreCM]

My $.02 is probably not welcome because I don't have kids but...

I would simply not take kids out of school for WDW trips except...

If due to snow or other emergency, makeup days are scheduled to conflict with a vacation I already booked (not during the two weeks after the nominal last day of school in June), the kids go on vacation as I planned.

Also it is not wise to contact the state board of education to challenge your school board right and left. Once every two years, you may get away with it if the kids don't suffer from homework overload a little before and a little after. If you booked your Disney vacation complete with non-refundable plane tickets, you may well have to miss Aunt Anne's funeral.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

<small>Most people are not as intelligent as your dad and fall victim to other things too like misusing leftover tickets and ending up spending much more than they need for theme park admission.</small>

 

[2BOYMOM]

I am taking my kids out 2 hours early Wednesday to catch our 3pm flight. They will miss school on Thursday and Friday - Monday is a holiday. I don't feel badly about Friday - it was a Teacher Workday (no school) but now it is a snow make-up day (school closed in January one day). Both my boys will get the work for Thursday and Friday from their teachers today so they can have it completed when they return on Tuesday.

So, NO, I do not have a problem with this. They realize they have to make up the work and they will do that.





Kim

 

[nutsforgolf]

I think it depends upon the grade level that your children are in...I am taking my daughter out for a week this September, but she is in only 1st grade and the homework is not as crucial and there are no tests. By the time she is in 4th or 5th grade, I am sure I will not be taking her out for such a long period of time. In our district, her absence will be labeled "unexused" which will only count against her attendance record, but not anything else. Even if she was in a higher grade, she would be allowed to make of work and/or tests.

 

[cricket429]

We are not taking our DD out of school for vacation. That is the reason we are going over Easter. She is only in Kindergarten but I want her to learn that school comes first. Actually, she will be missing one day but it is the last day before her two week vacation starts and its mostly a party day.
I would say if they have to miss a day or maybe two, thats not too bad, but I feel a week is too much. But thats just my opinion.

 

[teachingmykids]

I'm a radical, I think family time is more important than anything! But, you still have to live with the consequences of any decision. Talk to the teachers, get their permission (in writing) that they will accept homework and give assignments. Each school system is different, some will be more family oriented than others. Good Luck!

 

[DMRick]

But this time he contacted the Board of Ed in Albany and they stated that the school HAS to let me make up missed work and tests and it HAS to count. Most people aren't as intelligent as my dad and know any better
************
I think we're pretty intellegent, however here in our area of NYS, it is school policy that work cannot be made up for illegal absences. The Board of Ed certainly knows this practice, and they leave the decision up to the individual school district The schools do not get money on the days that children are out, and it reflects poorly on the schools report card. These illegal absences are condsided truancys. I suppose you could get a lawyer and fight anything..but I'm not sure what the sense would be to let your kids miss school, and then let them watch you fight for their homework.
That said, back in the olden days we have taken our children out of school, and when our grands schools ok'd it, we took them out. Now that the policy in one of the grands schools is such, we are going over school vacation. I have no problem with people who take their kids out, if the school allows them to make up the work.

 

[Autumngirl]

Only YOU know your kids. If you feel that your children can make up the work then by all means take them and have a great time.

20 years from now, they are NOT going to remember whatever then learned in class that day, but they WILL remember family time and the familytrip to WDW and FAMILY is much more important whatever they will learn and forget in class that day.

The last time I was challeneged (In NJ), I just said "Any time you folks want to take over paying my property taxes, YOU can tell me what to do with my kids!" (Our hefty property taxes support the schools in this area.)

 

[missypie]

I've never taken my kids out of school for vacation, and now the older two are too far along in school to do that (they'd miss too much.) But DS14's French teacher took a couple of extra days off before Thanksgiving to go to DISNEYWORLD! (And one of the third grade teachers took a week off of school last semester to go to Europe!)

 

[Matt'sMom]

A lot depends on your state and school district, I guess. We took my son out of school to go to WDW during 2003 and will be doing the same again this Fall. Here in PA, and in our local school district, they have absolutely no problem with us doing so, and are very cooperative and helpful regarding his receiving all of his school assignments in advance and allowing him to make up any exams that he might miss. He was able to do most of his work and turn it in before we even left for FL--the remainder he completed while on our trip. He also had an assignment to take photos and keep a daily journal, and then gave a report/presentation in front of the class after his return.

Here, they allow each student to miss up to a total of five (5) days for 'educational' trips. These are legally excused absences, and we fill out a form in advance for approval. They consider going to WDW to be a legitimately educational experience... and in truth my son did learn a lot while there. He learned about multiple subjects, such as conservation while at DAK, world cultures at WS, all sorts of technical and environmental info at Epcot, special effects & movie magic at MGM, etc.. He also had to budget his own spending money, and help to plan out an itinerary for our visit.

Visiting WDW involves a lot more than just a typical 'family vacation', water parks and thrill rides. Thankfully, our local school district understands and appreciates that it really is a wonderful educational opportunity too.

 

[Terry S]

We also feel that family time is much more important than anything. Not that school is not important. Family time is just more important. My kids are doing well in school and they are in 2nd and 3rd grade. If and when there comes a time when we feel that they will miss to much by missing a few days of school we will stop pulling them out.

 

[my3princesses]

We are leaving next week and my kids will be missing 6 days of school. We generally take a holiday at this time every year and we always take them out. There is no way I would travel anywhere on our spring break in March, plus my girls are in a big skating competition during March break every year and they don't want to miss this.

The staff at our school are more excited for my kids when we go on holidays than we are sometimes. They always encourage the kids to bring pictures when coming back and tell the class about what they did. We always try to fit something educational on our trips and Epcot will do that with the countries. Last year in Mexico we took them snorkling and they learned about the fish and where they live. We also took them to Tulum to see the Mayan ruins which was perfect because one of them was learning about this culture in school. Mind you all three of my girls are quite bright so they always catch up on whatever they have missed and the teachers just give us the homework that covers concepts that they need to know, not colouring sheets and pages of math. As long as they understand what they have missed than everything is fine. My oldest is in grade 8 and the youngest in grade 4. I think we will still do the same next year when the oldest is in highschool, and again from what I have heard, the staff are always accomodating.

I think your school board has to learn to relax a little and enjoy life.

 

[Bride In The Attic]

Our school district allows for one occurance (up to 5 days) for a family vacation as an excused absence. Of course, the child is still responsible for any projects/homework that would have been due during this time. We took our dd out last year (she was then a 1st grader) for a week in November to go to WDW and we'll be doing the same thing this year.

We set aside time every day of our trip for her to read and do homework and we printed out a journal from the Disney Dollarless site that she wrote in every night about her experiences and what she learned during the day. She also brought in her Kidcot mask she made at EC for show and tell when she returned. Overall, I think it was a great experience and, as long as she continues to keep up in school, won't hesitate to do it again.

Just my 2cents...I know every child/school system is different....

 

[*Fantasia*]

I don't have any problem taking the kids out. The kids go to Catholic school and their school has no problem with "family time." They understand that and value that and of course so as education too.

I took my kids out this past Dec and the kids are in grade 2 and Kinder. I was more worried about my son cause he will miss more in school. And felt guilty about it. We went cause we want to celebrate my husband's "life" and our "could have been" 10th year ann. So this trip was very special, so I let them skip 4 days of school. No harms done.

The school has vacations, and I am planning to only take them when they are off from school, this way, I don't have to worry about what my kids are missing from school.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We have ALWAYS taken kids from school for vacation.
2) The kids would do homework every morning.
3) My positions don't permit the luxury of summer or holiday vacations.
4) One school system did object.
5) I threatened a lawsuit.
6) The relented.


NOTE: It is nice to have school try to deter vacations during school to avoid truancy, but this is not always possible. As long as the work is made up, I see no problem. Twenty years later, the kids will not remember that week's history lesson, but will remember the vacation. This is jut another case of schools trying to make one situation fit all. It is no wonder the schools are as terrible as they are.

 

[MinnieM3]

In my Catholic school (my kids go/went here and I teach 3rd grade here)the principal has a COW if kids are pulled out for vacation. I don't know why. Here in my class, I have two kids out today going on a ski trip. MY policy is to give them the work they would miss in class to be done on the trip and take any tests they miss when they get back. So far, it works for me. MANY teachers in my school do NOT do this and the kids get zeros on all missed work

It's not like the kids are driving *themselves* to WDW!

The only thing I don't agree with is letting kids do a WDW journal *instead* of the missed school work. Knowing what a fez is from Morocca isn't going to help on the multiplication test on the 9's when the child gets back. It's fine if this is done *in addition* to the school work, though.

 

[Bellefan66]

I tend to agree w/alot of the posters. Family time is so precious.I would be more apprehensive about taking my 16 DD,who's in highschool,then our youngest DD. It depends on their grades.Are they struggling? Can they make up tests? You know your kids best,not the school board.If your family is like most,you have to go on vacation,when it's best suits YOUR family. My DH is in retail mgmt.That mean, Oct-Feb NO vacations.We live minutes from the beach,so this particular SuperCenter that he's at,does alot of business during the summer,therfore,managers' have a hard time asking off. So we do vacations when it's best of US. Go,and have a ball!

 

[eddieras]

i agree with those stating that this type of vacation will forge memories that last a lifetime-- while it also depends on the grade.

for us, my son is in 3rd grade, my daughter kindergarten. my wife was very reluctant to take them out. i called his teacher to tell her we're planing a family vacation in May (didn't initially state WDW) --her immediate reaction was - 'that's fine, in fact my sister asked me yesterday if i thought it'd be ok to take her kids out of school to go to disney world'! i nearly fell out of my chair- so i told her about our week plan and she said 'well you can't go to disney world in the summer!'
i did state that i didn't want to make more work for her and that we can give him assigments, etc. she could not have been nicer- and said not to worry about anything.

i believe that learning can come from numerous places-- vacations included. remember, mark twain said 'don't let schooling get in the way of your education'

 

[momto2inKC]

My kids will (unexpectedly) be missing school for our Disney vacation in May. Their last day of school was supposed to be May 13th, but they are now going until May 19th or 20th to make up snow days. We had already planned on leaving the evening of thier last day and had already planned our vacation and paid for it. I talked to their teachers when we found out they were going to be adding days to the end of the year and all of them have no problem with the kids missing. They said they will be missing no work as the last week is more of a fun week.

 

[DBC]

We took the kids out for a week when they were in 1st and 2nd grade. The teachers were great about it and it worked out fine.

Now that they are in 4th and 5th were weren't so sure. One of them gets nervous about missing school. We asked the teachers about it and they thought it would create a bit of a burden for the kids, but not set them back academically. The teachers said they would prefer we wouldn't do it, but they didn't give any indication that they would be upset. They did offer to set us up with their schoolwork, etc.

I did get the impression that it would be a little extra work for them (the teachers). You multiply that little bit of work by other parents that may do the same thing and the teachers may end up doing a lot of extra work.

We decided to go during vaca, though we are coming back a day late and missing Monday.

I think reasonable people can listen to opinions, consider the burden they are placing on their kids and their teachers and make up their own minds. We would never do it if the school had a policy against it. The school does a lot for us and deals well with our special needs. If they said it was against policy I would honor that.

I don't think that makes the OP's dad any smarter than me though, just different.