For those taking their kids out of school for Disney, how did you get around....

[disney4us2002]

the attendance, 'lawful' absence guidelines? We were considering changing our trip from the 2nd wk of June to the 3rd wk of May, but in discussing this with our boys' schools (one is in 3rd and the older is in 7th) we were basically told, "no way". Vacation days are considered 'unlawful' absences and no homework, classwork, or tests may be made up from unexcused absences. We were also told that 5 unexcused absences (M-F would be 5) in one marking period would result in failure of all subjects. Huh??? Okay, I'm not crazy; I've read all the posts here about so many of you pulling your kids and I tried the same argument with the school as far as Disney being such an educational experience, blah, blah, blah, and again was shot down by Pupil Services at our local Bd of Educ. What the director of Pupil Serv. said to me was "nice try".

Needless to say, we are leaving our trip the 2nd wk of June and will fight the crowds and heat because now the school system definitely knows if the kids miss a week in May that it is not because they are sick. I guess my question is this: has anyone else experienced this? Do you send a note in that the kids have been ill or some other falsehood? How are the rest of you able to take these October (or whenever there is no school breaks) trips?

Carla

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Carla, where are you in Maryland? I basically send a note in the week before we are going and ask for assignments. They send them, and it's never been an issue. For the past 2 years, the only days my son has missed at school has been my Disney trips, and they can kiss my A$$ if they think they can tell me when my family can travel.

In this day and age, people can homeschool and teach their kids whatever they want, whenever they want. If I want my kid to miss 5 days of school to spend quality time with his family, then so be it. He is in 2nd grade, and has had perfect marks on every report card he has received (yes, I'm a proud mama). If he was struggling, I wouldn't pull him out of school.

I'm in Montgomery County, by the way.

 

[nurse metal]

I hate that your school is giving you this bull.. I guess each state and even each district may be different be I looked in our handbook and we are allowed 8 days per semester as they must have so many hrs of teacher/student conntact ect.. we leave in 24 days and I told my daughters teacher last week when school started and she said no problem. I ask that she provide 1/2 of my daughters work so we can do it before hand and she was fine with it.
Either way I resent that schools would be allowed to veto a family vacation. I could see it only if the kids were failing or having diffculties ect..
If my kids are getting good grades and doing well than I will be taking them out whenever I deem it necessaryas It should be left up to the parent
good luck. Lisa

 

[sha_lyn]

we have a very similar policy where we live. I'm have know people to lie about the absenses and in either case (when vacations are allowed or not) parents who took the kids out too long and then the kid is sent to school sick to keep from failing. Personally I could see takign a child out maybe the MT before the 3 days off for thanksgiving or making a 4 day holiday weekend a little longer. I jsut think it would be too hard to make up a week or 2 weeks worth of school work. Family time at WDW can be done when they are out of school.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

I agree with trying to stretch holidays. We're doing that for our Sept trip. We are leaving after school on Wednesday. That Thursday is Yom Kippur (our county has Jewish hoildays off) and DS will miss Friday and Monday.

I disagree that a child (especially a young one) can't make up a week of work. DS does work on the plane both ways, and does an hour of work each night. He is 100% caught up when he returns to school.

It would be different for a high schooler.

 

[LKS]

Many school districts are not as strict as yours. Down here, they can miss 10 days per semester unexcused, which I guess means that they can have an unlimited number excused with a doctor's note. Days where a child is sent home ill are considered excused. I don't think teachers are REQUIRED to give make-up work for unexcused absences, but most do. My kids do not always go to the doctor when they are sick, so technically, those absences are unexcused and I have always been given make-up work. I can't imagine that people can lie about a Disney vacation - don't think the kids could pull that one off!

I guess I am on my own here, but I have to say that I would not pull my kids out of school for a vacation. I don't have any desire to do that even though my kids are A students, wouldn't be hurt academically and my school system permits it. They can't veto my family vacation, but I choose to work around the school schedule so that my kids will get all school has to offer AND a wonderful family vaction.

I have a few reasons for my views although those who pull their kids will think these are silly reasons to vacation during holidays. My kids think it is neat to strive for perfect attendance each 9 weeks - I'm even happy when they make it. I know that the schools are rated by the state on teacher and student absences and we like our school to look good. Especially at the beginning of the year, funding is based upon the number of students who actually attend. When I was a teenager looking for my first real job, I was hired above 50 applicants because I had perfect attendance. What can I say, my husband and I don't even use our sick days at work unless we are really, really sick, and that is rare.

As I read the boards, I get the impression that it is weighted towards those who DO pull their kids out, giving the impression that most people do it. If you surveyed the school population, I think you would find that most people do not pull their kids out for week-long vacations. That's why summer, spring break and Christmas are busier vacation periods. So, you're in good company and I'm sure you will have a wonderful vacation in June.

 

[Pluto4President]

I too have young kids. One 3rd grader, another starting kindergarten. For now, I will pull them out when I want. Maybe as they get older, I'll think about it a little more. But I agree, who are they to tell me how to spend time with my children. Taking them out 1 day before Thanksgiving recess and the whole week after this year

 

[sha_lyn]

I'm wondering if my district in in the minority here since I keep hearing so much about "who are they to tell us how spend time with our kids". We have to read the student parent hand book and sign a contract in the back of it stating we will abide by all the school rules. Taking a child out for vacation would be breaking a contract with the school system. I really don't want to turn this into a debate or make a big argument over it but I really feel I need to say this.....
I know one one thread someone said that 75% of the people in their school took their kids out for vacations. Think about it for a min. how much time this takes away from the classroom. Say there are 25 kids in the class, for app. 18 kids sometime during the yr the teacher has to give out lessons ahead of time and when that child returns they usuallu have to take classroom time to explain things that were either covered in class or things that took place while the student was gone. Sure for 1 or 2 students a yr that won't add up to a lot of when when you are talking about most of the class that is a lot of time wasted. I think it is just a symptom of a bigger problem where children are not expected to make a comitment to school, teams etc. I don't know how many times I have seem sports teams have to forfeit games because after putting their child on a team the parents pull them from a game or games to do something else. My DS's baseball team did not get to play in the finals this yr because too many parents went out of town right after school got out. I'm sorry but I am really sick of hearing "but our family is more important". School scheduals are usually avalable at least a yr in advance, coaches can tell you when a sports season ends before you sign up. Please if you are going ot make a comitment to a school or a team cosider how your actions will affect the other kids in the class or on the team. OK I'll get off my high horse now. I really don not want what I said to offend anyone. This in only my opinion, and I had hoped to shead some light on why I (and perhaps others) feel the way I do.

 

[jel0511]

I don't want to start a debate, but I just had to post my feelings.... I don't think it's approprite to take kids out of school to go on vacation. Now I don't want to be flamed for telling people how to spend their family time, but I think going to school teaches responsibility. My daughter is starting preschool next week and we are now planning all future vacation around her school schedule. I have 4 teachers in my family and I know what a pain it is to prepare lessons for children, as well as help them catch up when they return, who are going on vacation during the school year, I get the complaints often. This is another reason I chose not to pull my child out since I know what it does to the teacher.

 

[Kallison]

Our school district allows 10 days for travel.

 

[disney4us2002]

We, like someone else mentioned, must sign a contract that is in the student-parent-bd of educ handbook, so I have read it many times. I find it interesting that the first response was from another family in Maryland where apparently that school district doesn't enforce the 'state regulations', at least in our handbook, it lists attendance as a state-mandated and enforced policy. I sort of expected this type of response from my school district as it is also an established and practiced policy NOT to give out work assignments ahead of time. My neighbor's son, who was in school with my oldest son, broke his leg and arm in a skiing accident and couldn't really use crutches or push himself in a wheelchair, so for 4 wks he had to remain home and the school refused to send home any of his work claiming that all work must be completed following the child's return to school. So he basically had to veg for 4 wks and his mom (who was PTA president, active volunteer at the school, well-known and liked) went around and around with the school board. He ended up having some of his work just disregarded and still needed a tutor for a month after he returned to school. This policy just makes no sense to me, but we know we have some sticklers down here so we work around it.

We're okay with sticking to June anyway as we already have so much booked and I don't want the kids to feel that breaking the contract is something trivial; I do worry though about what kind of response we would get if the kids really did have a serious illness and missed a lot of school. I just don't feel like they would be particularly helpful or accomodating.

Thanks for so many replies and thoughts!

Carla

 

[Barb D]

I have mixed feelings about this. My initial reaction was, "They're your kids; you should be able to pull them out whenever you want to." Basically, you're hiring the school through your tax dollars or tuition to HELP you educate your child. They don't own your child.

But then, I guess if you choose to put your kids in a certain school, you have to abide by their rules even if they do have a stricter interpretation of state law than another school in the same state.

We home school in Maryland. State law tells us that we have to cover certain subjects, but it doesn't tell us how many days we have to do school or exactly what topics we have to cover when.

BTW, Carla, we're in Columbia. My kids will be going to a 2-day-a-week "school" for homeschoolers this year. They'll get some subjects at school and some at home. They'll do school assignments on home days, too. The handbook says that they'll gladly cooperate with family vacations. (We're going to WDW at the end of September.) E-mail me if you're interested in more information. (There's another school like it in Gambrills, and one starting next year in Annapolis.)

 

[sha_lyn]

disney4us2002...I'm suprised your school does't offer some thype of home assitance for log tern reccovery form illness or injury. Here we have had it since I was in school and beleive it or not I found out a couple of years ago that even pregnancy recovery or if the baby has health problems the mohter can get a home bound teacher to come to her home.

 

[Mom B]

I would...and we HAVE...taken the kids out of school for Disney.
For one thing, we only go every 4 or 5 YEARS and I really DO
feel that the knowledge gained (about history, geography,
government, zoology, to name a few) can make up for a lot of
the "lost time" that they would have spent in school (they
probably pay MORE attention at Disney, anyway). And my
kids miss school so rarely that it's really not a big issue. To me,
it's worth it to avoid "peak" times and have a little less stressful
family time. We haven't run into any problems with the school
district yet...its' always possible to make up work, although it's
best if the arrangements are made ahead of time.

 

[year2late]

I was honest with my son's teacher well in advance. I did not make reservations until I got the all clear. We filled out a form, agreed to do whatever assignments given and to do a special assignment. He did a photojournal as well as many lessons. I must say, if the school or his teacher even slightly wavered, we would have not made the plans. If he had alot of absences we would not have done it either. As it was, we all had a great time (WDW offseason is the only way to go) and he learned alot.

 

[lvs_eeyore]

Our school system is very tough on absences and we have to sign a contract. Here if you miss five days unexcused....which the way Im reading the rules includes vacations....the State Attorney's office is notified! The rules state that under exceptional family circumstances travel absences will be excused. I just somehow dont quite believe this would include a vacation. We choose not to pull our son during school both for this reason and because I feel for us its just not a right thing to do. My son is gifted and way ahead of his class so making up work etc...would be easy for him. We have pulled him one day before a school vacation with the teacher's knowledge and consent and may do that again this year if it is cleared through his new teacher.

 

[Planogirl]

Our district is the same way with more than 5 unexcused absences breaking the contract. They can even bring legal charges if they choose! I would never go against the system because I do sign the contract and a vacation when I choose isn't worth all of the headaches IMO.

We do get a winter break in October though which helps a lot.

 

[Barb D]

I'm curious about the contract that many of you have signed. What would happen if you refused to sign it? Would they refuse to admit your child to that public school? What if you signed it after crossing off words and making and initialling changes?

Does the school (or school board) have a legal right to make these demands, or are they "getting away with it" because everyone is going along?

I realize that there are mandatory attendance laws, but I'm wondering if this extreme enforcement is going beyond the law's requirements.

 

[lvs_eeyore]

In the case of our school system it is a partnership between the State Attorneys office and the school system. If you break it they can go as far as bringing criminal charges and calling Child Protective Services on you. For all intents and purposes it is a law. If you choose not to sign they could report you for child neglect because as far as they are concerned, not that its true, that you have no regard for your childs schooling and are therefore guilty of neglecting your child. They will try other routes such as assigning a social worker to you first but ultimately if the papers are not signed they can report you if they choose to. This comes from reading the paperwork we got when my eldest started school on Monday. The absence portion of the contract is just PART of it though. The rest is conduct, rights, responsibilities, dress code etc... so there is more to this contract than just agreeing to the absence policy. I also dont think it matters whether or not you agree to what is said....its the policy and you either abide by it or get into serious trouble with the State Attorney and Child Protective Services. Im not sure why our county has gotten so tough but they have. They have even gone so far as to demand that the parent CALL the school for an absence when the child is in highschool. They will under no circumstances accept a note from the parent. My guy is in elementary school but I have always made it a habit to call the school and write a note when he has had to be out ill.

 

[6_Time_Momma]

Wow. I have never heard of a "contract" that you have to sign! That, to me, is scary!