Excuse Letter for Missing School

[Laura's Dad]

Does any one have a form letter that is used to pre-excuse your child from school? It is all right with my daughter's school as long as she has an excuse about educational oppurtunities and she gets her work made up in a certain time limit. I thought there used to be one on the DIS or at www.allearsnet.com, but I can no longer find it. Any hekp would be appreciated.

 

[HOGFAN]

I have used this the last 3 visits.

Dear Teachers,

___________ will be absent the week of ________ for a family event. If there is any assignments that she/he can complete ahead of time or en route please provide him/her with this information. Otherwise he/she understands his/her obligation to complete any missed assignments upon return. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Please sign below so that I can be assured that _____ has notified you of this absence.








Of course, you would want to add about the educational stuff. I have found our teachers appreciate about a 2 week notice. Keep a copy of the signatures for awhile. That way none of the teachers can come back and say they didnt know or have the opportunity.

 

[Hawk]

I have four children ages 3 through 20. Nearly every time we have gone to WDW there has been missed school. I have used this every time:

(Name) will be out of school from ___ to ____ as we will be on vacation. Please provide a list of make-up work, if any, to be completed prior or during this trip. You may call me with any questions you have. Thank you.

Tim/Hawk

 

[kay_key3]

I sent one out for my kids also.

 

[DebbieB]

This is what we used when we took my niece:

Dear Mrs. _________:

Please excuse ______________ from school from Thursday October 7 through Wednesday October 13, 1999. She will be accompanying her Grandmother and Aunt on a planned family trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. They will be including educational activities for her during the trip. Please send home any make-up work. If you wish to discuss, please call me at ________.
Thank You!

Sincerely,

______________
*******************************
In addition to homework, the school required her to keep a journal and do an "educational project". We used the Epcot Passport for her project, getting signatures from cm's around the world and putting the stamps in the passport.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Thanks for the information.

 

[civileng68]

YOu know what you should do?

Get an absentee form, and have Mickey Sign it! Now that would be a funny situation when going back to school! Of course, the school probably wouldn't find it so funny.

 

[Crazy8]

disney is a learning experiment .. for example you go on the safari ride at animal kingdom and learn things like ... the ostrich has the brain the size of a peanut ... and many others. THe culture from Epcot world showcase is great ... you are just consistanly learning at disney ... try that on your daughters school

 

[A Mickeyfan]

disney is a learning experiment .. for example you go on the safari ride at animal kingdom and learn things like ... the ostrich has the brain the size of a peanut ... and many others. THe culture from Epcot world showcase is great ... you are just consistanly learning at disney ... try that on your daughters school

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I agree 100% that Disney is a learning experience, but I have also come to accept that most of the public schools don't go for that as an "excused" absence. You may be able to get away with it for elementary and middle, but high schools will not excuse the absence. When I say, you may get away with it, it is because it is up to the individual school on how they log it in. It isn't up to the teacher...but the administration. I work with attendence and only excused are for sick, doctor/dentist appts or death in family... the school I work in is an elementary and they are pretty easy going & more than likely they will excuse it. High schools here here are different story. When I told them we were going to Disney to meet my Mom, who has cancer & was in between chemo treatments, they had me get a doctors note (from my mom's doc) stating that shehas cancer & was inbetween treatments or they weren't counting that as excused.

 

[Hawk]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree 100% that Disney is a learning experience, but I have also come to accept that most of the public schools don't go for that as an "excused" absence. You may be able to get away with it for elementary and middle, but high schools will not excuse the absence. When I say, you may get away with it, it is because it is up to the individual school on how they log it in. It isn't up to the teacher...but the administration. I work with attendence and only excused are for sick, doctor/dentist appts or death in family... the school I work in is an elementary and they are pretty easy going & more than likely they will excuse it. High schools here here are different story. When I told them we were going to Disney to meet my Mom, who has cancer & was in between chemo treatments, they had me get a doctors note (from my mom's doc) stating that shehas cancer & was inbetween treatments or they weren't counting that as excused.

Quite frankly I could care less if the school likes it or not. If I need to take my children out of school for vacation that’s the way it is. The can approve or dis-approve. Unless they can make a case for truancy, which they cannot, their opinion has little affect on my decision. My children are usually in the upper half of the class and missing a few days work will not hinder their performance.

Tim/Hawk

 

[Evil Queen]

I am going to attempt to talk to the school before our Sept. trip, but will pull my DS out (he will be in 4th grade) regardless.

I think after this year we will ALL be ready for a nice "magical" vacation.

Between hurricanes and FCAT's.

I do know once he hits Middle and High school we will need to work around the school more.

 

[CarolA]

I think in High School the stakes re much higher. Yes you can still plan your vacation, but the work is such that it is harder to make up with a "few hours" of extra work. And the impact of a bad grade would have a larger impact. With colleges as competetive as they are it a bad grade could have a long term impact.

 

[TammiMcMan]

All schools are not created equal when it comes to absences for family vacations. This is a blurb from our Elementary School Policy,

The following protocol will be adhered to:

1. Upon the 4 th tardiness/absenteeism per term, a warning letter will be sent home.

2. Upon the 7th tardiness/absenteeism per term, a meeting between the principal and the parent/guardian will take place.

3. Additional tardiness/absenteeism may lead to a referral to an outside agency.

At the Middle and High School level, suspension is involved as part of the disiplinary action. Ultimately, it's a parents decision, but in some cases, there can be consequences for the student. Definitely discussing it up front with teachers and administrators is a good idea.

 

[Hawk]

All schools are not created equal when it comes to absences for family vacations. This is a blurb from our Elementary School Policy,

The following protocol will be adhered to:

1. Upon the 4 th tardiness/absenteeism per term, a warning letter will be sent home.

2. Upon the 7th tardiness/absenteeism per term, a meeting between the principal and the parent/guardian will take place.

3. Additional tardiness/absenteeism may lead to a referral to an outside agency.

At the Middle and High School level, suspension is involved as part of the disiplinary action. Ultimately, it's a parents decision, but in some cases, there can be consequences for the student. Definitely discussing it up front with teachers and administrators is a good idea.

That is a reasonable policy. We usually tack on two or three days to a school vacation. I wouldn't take my kids out for more than 4 days.

Tim/Hawk

 

[WVMomof3]

I think the form letter you are thinking of is on TheMouseForLess.com site. It is under Downloads > Just for Kids

 

[homedad]

My wife is a third grade teacher and has really no problem with vacations at this age. Her biggest issue is the parents that wait until the last day and want two weeks of homework in 5 minutes. If you really want to be different find out what may be coming up in the lesson plan and then do the assisgnment based of the parks. Note: teachers sometimes do not like to vary from lesson plan. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Thanks for all the great info. I am a high school teacher myself with a daughter who is in her last year of middle school. I can only take 3 personal days per year, so a 5 day trip is all we can plan for. I know next year (and years after that) that we wouldn't be able to do this. My daughter's middle school said it's OK, they just needed a letter. I am fortunate inough to have a daughter who is an excellent student and is very conscientious about her school work.

 

[bubba's mom]

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SE.shtml

 

[dakyak]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree 100% that Disney is a learning experience, but I have also come to accept that most of the public schools don't go for that as an "excused" absence. You may be able to get away with it for elementary and middle, but high schools will not excuse the absence. When I say, you may get away with it, it is because it is up to the individual school on how they log it in. It isn't up to the teacher...but the administration. I work with attendence and only excused are for sick, doctor/dentist appts or death in family... the school I work in is an elementary and they are pretty easy going & more than likely they will excuse it. High schools here here are different story. When I told them we were going to Disney to meet my Mom, who has cancer & was in between chemo treatments, they had me get a doctors note (from my mom's doc) stating that shehas cancer & was inbetween treatments or they weren't counting that as excused.

when i was in high, we had a planned trip to Disney (we even had to extend the tri[p due to our flight back getting bumped!). My parents also took us out of school without any issue. As long as the school and teachers are given enough notice it shouldn't be a problem.