Does the please excuse absense letter really work and when to tell teacher?

OP,
I would not worry at all about this. Your state has compulsory attendance beginning at age 7, your dd is only 5 or 6?
there will be no repercussions for this.
she is not even mandated by law to be in school yet.
just tell the teacher you are going, keep it short and simple.
and most of all ENJOY!!"


This is exactly what I was thinking. In our state (MA) kindergarten is not required so there are no rules regarding how many absences you can have. My DD missed 3 weeks in kindergarten for Disney, St John & Mexico and the teacher had no problem with it. Their only rule is that they do not give make up work. We just brought some work books on the plane & worked on her reading & math skills. Last year she was in 2nd grade. I asked the secretary how many days she could miss. She told me that "around 15" the principal will start asking questions but that they probably wouldn't tell you couldn't go somewhere. We pulled my DD & DS (he's in kindergarten) out for 12 days for vacations this past year & they had no problem at all with it. Her teacher's only request was that "she have a great time and do lots of reading". So just relax & enjoy!
 
I really urge you to speak with both the teacher and principal to be on the safe side.

I live in Louisiana, and as I stated, my kids were in PRE-K, and I was still sent a letter stating if my son missed 1 more unexcused day my name would be sent to the DA's office. How the DA would have handled it, I don't know, but I think you should check into it ahead of time just so you really KNOW how the school plans to deal with it. At no time did the principal nor the teacher tell me that we could be sent to the DA's office...the thought never occurred to me, especially since they were only in pre-k. I would think most schools would be fine about it, but it's best to make sure and save yourself head-aches later.
 
One year I took my kids out of school to go to the Grand Canyon. We took them out during *Jersey week* (first week of Nov) since they only go to school two days that week. All the teachers ask the kids who will be away that week, so it was not a big deal.
So, my then 5th grader got mono right after school started. She missed a good 2 weeks of school on top of the two days I was pulling them out.
Then in Jan my Great Aunt died. I had to pull the kids out two more days. Then two weeks later my other Great Aunt died. 1 day pulled out for that. Then 2 months later my Uncle died, not long after that my dh's uncle died.
My child who had the mono got warning letters from the school. I called and the school was OK with it since they knew why she was out so much, by law they had to send it.
Never again will I schedule a vacation where I have to pull them out of school!! LOL that was too much stress on me, not to mention I think the school now believes we have no more relatives left!!
 
I agree that you need to find out the policy of your own district as soon as possible.

Compared to many listed here, our district is very liberal on absences for vacations. The principal can approve up to 10 days of excused absence for vacations. More than 10 days in a year requires the approval of the superintendant (so still a possibility).

At the end of last year, I asked the secretary when we should let the office know (for approval). She said let them know 2 weeks ahead and that it's never a problem getting the approval at the elementary level.

I plan to talk to the teacher earlier to get a heads up on what she wants me to do as far as letting her know and getting assignments and then going by what she prefers we do.
 

OP,
I would not worry at all about this. Your state has compulsory attendance beginning at age 7, your dd is only 5 or 6?
there will be no repercussions for this.
she is not even mandated by law to be in school yet.
just tell the teacher you are going, keep it short and simple.
and most of all ENJOY!!"



This is exactly what I was thinking. In our state (MA) kindergarten is not required so there are no rules regarding how many absences you can have. My DD missed 3 weeks in kindergarten for Disney, St John & Mexico and the teacher had no problem with it. Their only rule is that they do not give make up work. We just brought some work books on the plane & worked on her reading & math skills. Last year she was in 2nd grade. I asked the secretary how many days she could miss. She told me that "around 15" the principal will start asking questions but that they probably wouldn't tell you couldn't go somewhere. We pulled my DD & DS (he's in kindergarten) out for 12 days for vacations this past year & they had no problem at all with it. Her teacher's only request was that "she have a great time and do lots of reading". So just relax & enjoy!

That is exactly the question I was going to ask! Kind. is not required in IN and IL so would it really matter if it was excused or unexcused? DS is going to miss 2 days of school for our trip in december and I was not really worried about it since Kindergarten is not required. :confused3 I will let the teacher know as soon as possible because I am like that but I wasnt stressing....
 
In NC children do not have to be in school till 7 but once you enroll them in kindergarten, you agree to comply with all attendance laws. I have however never had any issues taking my child out of school in NC anyway.
 
I never told the teachers where we were going and didn't feel they had a need to know the particulars of our trip. I merely sent a note a week before saying we would be going out of town, that DS had to go with us, list the dates and request for any school work that could be done the week we were gone. We never had a problem and they never questioned us.
 
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we never had a problem with getting our kids out of school for disney. We sent a note in on the first day of school and then 2 wks before the trip, then 3 days before the trip. One year I actually had the teacher forget to get the school papers (make up work) together before the trip. This year will be our last for taking the kids during the school year. My ds starts hs this year and we originally were NOT going to go but the friends who we planned the trip for cant go due to health issues so we are going. I really dont want ds to miss high school, but not much to do about this year.
 
As a kindergarten teacher, I like to know. I know a lot of people say, "oh it is just kindergarten" but when a student is out for a whole week, the other kids start to worry. So letting the teacher know, is in my opinion a good idea.

In my personal and professional opinion trips are educational. Ask the teacher for the work ahead of time if possible (although many states do not require the teacher to have to provide the material ahead of time). If you do not get the work or if you'd like to add an educational twist to your vacation... try having your child keep a journal. You could let him/her take a picture of something from each letter of the alphabet and try to spell it into a scrapbook journal. So for example A might be a picture of him/her with Ariel... then at the bottom of the page it could say I see Ariel. (don't do the work for them... they can do it and be happy with misspellings!) Then bind it into a book and have him/her bring it in for show and tell. Some will be hard and others will be super easy. If your child is more advanced they could write more sentences! I see Ariel. She is nice. She has red hair. etc

For a math assignment.. you could try to count how many hidden Mickeys you find and each day he/she could draw how many they found and write the number!

Make it easy and make it fun! It is always good to let the school know and if you keep it educational why would the teacher ever fuss! Also, I wouldn't say it on the first day... her brain will be busy... wait a few days or a week in and then let her know and then a few weeks before send the note. Then all your bases are covered!

I hope that helped!
 
As a kindergarten teacher, I like to know. I know a lot of people say, "oh it is just kindergarten" but when a student is out for a whole week, the other kids start to worry. So letting the teacher know, is in my opinion a good idea.

In my personal and professional opinion trips are educational. Ask the teacher for the work ahead of time if possible (although many states do not require the teacher to have to provide the material ahead of time). If you do not get the work or if you'd like to add an educational twist to your vacation... try having your child keep a journal. You could let him/her take a picture of something from each letter of the alphabet and try to spell it into a scrapbook journal. So for example A might be a picture of him/her with Ariel... then at the bottom of the page it could say I see Ariel. (don't do the work for them... they can do it and be happy with misspellings!) Then bind it into a book and have him/her bring it in for show and tell. Some will be hard and others will be super easy. If your child is more advanced they could write more sentences! I see Ariel. She is nice. She has red hair. etc

For a math assignment.. you could try to count how many hidden Mickeys you find and each day he/she could draw how many they found and write the number!

Make it easy and make it fun! It is always good to let the school know and if you keep it educational why would the teacher ever fuss! Also, I wouldn't say it on the first day... her brain will be busy... wait a few days or a week in and then let her know and then a few weeks before send the note. Then all your bases are covered!

I hope that helped!

You have some really good ideas here. :thumbsup2
 
As far as Disney...I always inform the teacher at a time I have one on one time with her like conferences. OP if you have one on one time right away I would also mention it and then follow up with a note two weeks prior. I'm sure your child will also be excitedly talking about the trip too so the teacher will remember.

As a former elem. school teacher, I always told my families to have a great time and the work can be made up when they get back. Also always gave time to the child upon coming back to share stories or mementos of their trip with the class. The other children were always just as delighted as the child sharing.

Now I'm really in shock and glad we don't have Louisiana's attendance policy here in DE, I can't believe you have to have a Dr.'s not for an absence to be excused!!! My DD had several head colds viruses last year that I didn't take her to the Dr.'s office for but she missed a day or two of school each time. I knew the Dr. would tell me its a virus she needs rest so I didn't take her but boy the expense if I had to take her each time she had a virus stomach, head etc. would really add up!!!
 
I didn't read the other posts, but I wanted to share my experience.

We also took our daughter out of kindergarten for four and a half days, the week before Christmas vacation. We told the teacher two months in advance and the principal one month in advance. Like you, there was no swaying us. We were going with my parents and it was a rarity that my dad was good enough to go.

Our school has a strict attendance policy. If you miss three consecutive unexcused days (medical, funeral, etc) you are required to have an attendance interventon meeting. No biggie. I walked into it kind of feeling like "this doesn't really apply to me. We're really good parents who take attendance seriously and just have a one time opportunity." Oh nooooooooooo...

During that meeting we were put on 12 months of attendance probation. The meeting was in January, so we were under the microscope until the following January, not the remainder of the school year. If our daughter had any unexcused absence or tardy (either late or leave early) we would be referred to the district level of further discipline. If it happened again beyond then we would have to appear in family court. Now mind you, the policy in our district is that you can have up to five unexcused absences in a school year with no issue. What hung us up was that our trip covered more than three consecutive days.

As it turns out, my dad died three months later and I don't regret for even a second telling the school to suck it. We have beautiful memories that I'll treasure forever. However, I am not likely to do it again. I'm not, in any way, telling you it's a bad idea to go. I'm more telling you make sure you know your school's attendance policies and how they are enforced. Our probation was stressful for me. There were definitely a few times when I would have kept my daughter home for not feeling well, but she wasn't really sick enough to go to the doctor to get the note. In my opinion, no one wins then. :-( It wasn't good.
 
During that meeting we were put on 12 months of attendance probation. The meeting was in January, so we were under the microscope until the following January, not the remainder of the school year. If our daughter had any unexcused absence or tardy (either late or leave early) we would be referred to the district level of further discipline. If it happened again beyond then we would have to appear in family court. Now mind you, the policy in our district is that you can have up to five unexcused absences in a school year with no issue. What hung us up was that our trip covered more than three consecutive days.

I am so glad you decided to go ahead with your trip and made such wonderful memories with your Dad. I have to ask, what state do you live in? I have been threatened twice with the school sending the truancy officer to my house. The first time DS was very sick in bed with a high fever. Next time was when DMIL passed away and we had to go to New York. Of course the officer never showed up.
 
I didn't read the other posts, but I wanted to share my experience.

We also took our daughter out of kindergarten for four and a half days, the week before Christmas vacation. We told the teacher two months in advance and the principal one month in advance. Like you, there was no swaying us. We were going with my parents and it was a rarity that my dad was good enough to go.

Our school has a strict attendance policy. If you miss three consecutive unexcused days (medical, funeral, etc) you are required to have an attendance interventon meeting. No biggie. I walked into it kind of feeling like "this doesn't really apply to me. We're really good parents who take attendance seriously and just have a one time opportunity." Oh nooooooooooo...

During that meeting we were put on 12 months of attendance probation. The meeting was in January, so we were under the microscope until the following January, not the remainder of the school year. If our daughter had any unexcused absence or tardy (either late or leave early) we would be referred to the district level of further discipline. If it happened again beyond then we would have to appear in family court. Now mind you, the policy in our district is that you can have up to five unexcused absences in a school year with no issue. What hung us up was that our trip covered more than three consecutive days.

As it turns out, my dad died three months later and I don't regret for even a second telling the school to suck it. We have beautiful memories that I'll treasure forever. However, I am not likely to do it again. I'm not, in any way, telling you it's a bad idea to go. I'm more telling you make sure you know your school's attendance policies and how they are enforced. Our probation was stressful for me. There were definitely a few times when I would have kept my daughter home for not feeling well, but she wasn't really sick enough to go to the doctor to get the note. In my opinion, no one wins then. :-( It wasn't good.

Wow, I'm so glad you were able to enjoy that time with your dad and you know he loved being able to be with you all at Disney...esp with his grandchild!!

I'm soooo sorry the school gave you guys such a horrible time. I really don't understand it.

What state do you live in? This sounds like the most strict school rules yet (the no 3 consecutive days in a row).
 
I am a kindergarten teacher and I wish I could leave school to go to Disney.( I always wonder how parents would take it if the teacher said she was leaving for a vacation! LOL!) I do appreciate being told as soon as possible that your child is going however.
Please remember that make-up work is not the same as the teacher teaching the material. And true, missing school for one week won't kill them. My older kids don't want to be pulled out now due to the massive amount of make-up work that they would have to finish.
Please stop fretting about all of this. If you want to go on a vacation, go. Deal with the make-up work , buy the teacher a little gift for when you come back and have fun.
Do teachers love when kids miss school for any reason other than illness, no. But, we are people too and will understand. Kindergarten is an important year of total learning, but one week won't be a big impact. Just remember every grade higher your child gets means that he/she probably won't want to leave school to go to Disney. Enjoy !
 
I am a kindergarten teacher and I wish I could leave school to go to Disney.( I always wonder how parents would take it if the teacher said she was leaving for a vacation! LOL!) !

Well, as a parent, I say -- go, have fun! That's what substitute teachers are for. I don't see the problem :confused3 You're entitled to use your days off (paid or unpaid) however you wish!

Now, you mentioned bringing back a gift for the teacher ... this is new to me...were you just joking or is this common practice? Do others also bring back something for the entire class, too? Just curious.
 
Get a read on the teacher and maybe a few weeks later in the year let her/him know. Take a proactive approach about taking some work with you. If it get done is another thing. Most times the week before xmas is not big learning week, as the kids have their minds on other things, per my mom the 35 year teacher
 
I think you really need to ask these kinds of questions to your school district, since every district has different regulations in regards to student attendance.
 
Well, as a parent, I say -- go, have fun! That's what substitute teachers are for. I don't see the problem :confused3 You're entitled to use your days off (paid or unpaid) however you wish!

Now, you mentioned bringing back a gift for the teacher ... this is new to me...were you just joking or is this common practice? Do others also bring back something for the entire class, too? Just curious.

I agree...I'm a 1st grade teacher and I have pulled myself out for many WDW trips. I leave my class with a great substitute...often our school's former Reading Specialist.

My kids have always brought their teachers back gifts....usually those WDW canvas tote bags. Sometimes though, when we have known about a teacher's special interest, we have gotten them something else...like the year we DD had a music teacher who loved golf (and is also a DVC member btw)...we got him a set of Mickey golf balls & golf tees.
 





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