Has anyone Pulled a Child out of School to Go to WDW?

[daisyduck123]

I tried to get her to meet me down there on a Friday but she refuses to take her daughter out of Kindergarten!!

Oh good grief!! I'm a teacher & have a 7th grader & 2nd grader of my own. I pulled them out for an 8 day trip in January & a 9 day trip in May.

We had 2 wonderful vacations that they will remember a lot longer than the days of school they would have had.

**I also pulled myself out of class as well.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I have no problem respecting or following school policies and I do deal with the consequences as does my child.
I think it does matter how much school a child misses, or if they are an honor roll student. I do think the schools should excuse or not excuse non illness related absences based on these and other factors. Lets face it. If all students were on the honor roll and missed 2 days of school a year we wouldn't have these "unexcused vacation" policies. They are in the education business. Why is it too much to ask for them to make a educated decision?

If they did this, then the new problem would be how many days can be excused for vacation.

I'm sure most families would limit the number of days out to about five. However, there will be those who will plan ALL vacations during the school the year.

If a child is out 10,15, or 20 days for vacation, should they be marked as excused?

No matter what number the school system comes up with, it won't be enough to please everyone.

I wouldn't mind seeing the schools excuse kids who parents’ CAN"T vacation during school break times(military, police,...). If you make the CHOICE to vacation during the school year (to avoid crowds, heat...), then you should have to deal with the consequences.

 

[penguin087]

No matter what number the school system comes up with, it won't be enough to please everyone.

Thats the truest statement I've heard.


My bottom line is get rid of the rubber stamp. Approve these things bases on the factors that have been mentioned. Grades, Past history, family circumstance.... Same as they do for other things like free school lunch programs, sports participation, tuition assistance. I don't think its that hard to look at a student and determine if they can afford to miss 5 days of school. They don't apply any common sense.

Everyone has made some very good points. Its nice to have a friendly debate without everybody getting offended and nasty when someone else disagrees with them.

 

[Sunny37]

Oh good grief!! I'm a teacher & have a 7th grader & 2nd grader of my own. I pulled them out for an 8 day trip in January & a 9 day trip in May.

We had 2 wonderful vacations that they will remember a lot longer than the days of school they would have had.

**I also pulled myself out of class as well.

A lot of districts would frown upon a teacher taking their children (and themselves) out of school for a vacation--that's not a put-down, just a fact. Therefore, I don't blame her for not wanting to take her daughter out of kindergarten for a vacation.

 

[declansdad]

I'm torn o nthis subject. Back when our kids were both elementary age, we pulled them out every year for WDW. We explained to the teachers exactly what we were doing, and not only were they excused they gave out homework in advance so it could be completed the week before we left.

With that said, some of the responses I see here are a bit disturbing to me. If I can paraphrase... "It's none of the school's business, WE know what's best for our kids."

Well, it IS the school's business. If you don't like the policy, find another school or home school. But your school district sets many, many policies. BEcause THIS particular policy doesn't fit your plans, suddenly the school district is out of line?

It doesn't matter if your child never misses school otherwise. Doesn't matter if little Joey is getting straight A's. How can you expect a school district with thousands of kids to differentiate between which kids can be excused for vacation and which can't? It leads to anarchy. What if going to class at 8:00 doesn't fit my schedule? Stupid school! I'm taking Suzie to class at 9:00, and if they don't like it....tough!!! I can go on and on with the problems that can arise.

Bottom line, you don't have to like the policy but you should respect it. If you still feel the need to take unexcused absenses, that's your decision. But if there ARE consequences, you have nobody to blame but yourself. And if you really want change, get involved with PTA, school board, etc. Much more effective than picking and choosing which policies are for you, and which are for everyone else.

In principle, I am against taking children out of school for any type of family vacation.

That being said, every situation is different and a person must do what is best for their own family. If the times you can get away are dictated by your employer, then you need to schedule when you can. If you are taking kids out of school because it is your right as a parent and the school will not tell you what to do, I don't think this is right. Schools offer many opportunities for breaks throughout the calendar year and these should be used whenever possible.

I do believe that if you do take your children out it would be easier in the earlier grades. I also believe that you should accept the consequences for your actions and not blame a policy that you don't agree with. Everyone needs to live by the same rules.

 

[MiknMinMouse]

Why do you call parents who prefer traditional school calenders closed minded?

My son and I lived in Wake County for 9 years. Whenever I had the chance to pick between year round or traditional school, I went with a traditional.
That doesn't mean I was closed minded. It just meant one option was better for my family than the other

Because most of the reasons I've heard from parents who refuse to consider year round schools make no sense. I speak from experience as someone who was a STUDENT at one of the country's first year round schools. I loved it. It was a much better learning environment than traditional school could ever be. When I went to traditional school so much time was wasted at the beginning of the school year in review of the previous year. We didn't have that in year round because nothing was lost. When I was tired of being in school, I had a break, when I was tired of the break it was time to go back to school. Many parents feel that thier kids won't get a summer with year round, which is not true. They also complain that they have to worry about child care during track out, which in Wake County at least isn't a problem. These parents also fail to realize the savings of tax dollars that we would see because the schools would be used more efficiently, we wouldn't need to build more schools, we would use the schools we have.

 

[penguin087]

Because most of the reasons I've heard from parents who refuse to consider year round schools make no sense. I speak from experience as someone who was a STUDENT at one of the country's first year round schools. I loved it. It was a much better learning environment than traditional school could ever be. When I went to traditional school so much time was wasted at the beginning of the school year in review of the previous year. We didn't have that in year round because nothing was lost. When I was tired of being in school, I had a break, when I was tired of the break it was time to go back to school. Many parents feel that thier kids won't get a summer with year round, which is not true. They also complain that they have to worry about child care during track out, which in Wake County at least isn't a problem. These parents also fail to realize the savings of tax dollars that we would see because the schools would be used more efficiently, we wouldn't need to build more schools, we would use the schools we have.

I would love to see a year round school calendar become the norm. One 3 month break in the summer is so counter productive. The reasons justifying the summer off are long out dated for most families (farm responsibilities, lack of air conditioning in school...). I can't think of one reason the students wouldn't benefit. Unfortunately it has never even come up for debate in my area.
How did they rotate your school calendar?

 

[bellenbuzz]

Will they remember they missed 5 days of school, or the awesome magical family vacation to Disney World??!!!
AND there is no "Permanent Record" that will come back to haunt them when applying for a job after college !!
Enjoy Life !!! Live for the Moment !!
And Be Happy That You Can afford a Vacation to WDW, some never make it there in their lifetime !!

 

[bopper]

If they did this, then the new problem would be how many days can be excused for vacation.

I'm sure most families would limit the number of days out to about five. However, there will be those who will plan ALL vacations during the school the year.

If a child is out 10,15, or 20 days for vacation, should they be marked as excused?

No matter what number the school system comes up with, it won't be enough to please everyone.

I wouldn't mind seeing the schools excuse kids who parents’ CAN"T vacation during school break times(military, police,...). If you make the CHOICE to vacation during the school year (to avoid crowds, heat...), then you should have to deal with the consequences.

I agree...the school tells you not to take vacation because then everybody would. Also, they get payments from the state only if your child is in school. So it is in their best interest to officially discourage it...but I find that in actuality your child's teacher will not have too much of a problem with it.

 

[DizneyNutz]

We have done this three times. While the missed days may not be excused (at least in our school district) most teachers are great about giving extra assignments, etc. to keep the grades up. We actually have photos of our DD and DF doing homework in the window seat at VWL!

 

[leighe]

I wouldn't mind seeing the schools excuse kids who parents’ CAN"T vacation during school break times(military, police,...). If you make the CHOICE to vacation during the school year (to avoid crowds, heat...), then you should have to deal with the consequences.

I'm a teacher and I agree with this. I would never pull DD out of school because it was cheaper to go at a certain time of year or because I wanted to avoid crowds/heat. I would be much more likely to do so if that was the only time of year we could vacation for some reason or another. Of course, with me this is a moot point because I wouldn't be allowed to take off during the school year for that long and I also wouldn't feel right about doing so.

 

[bellenbuzz]

It is only approx 2 days per year, they send home announcements to make sure our kids are in school that day & no doctors appointments etc.....
And, I absolutely booked our WDW vacation based on "off-season" costs !!
Our family saves lots of money & the there are no crowds to fight such as Easter Break, Thanksgiving Week or Christmas Break.....
I just don't feel that my 2 kids will fall behind in their school work to miss out on such an opportunity as a WDW family vacation!
I honestly believe it will not reflect on what college they might get into one day......."sorry, we cannot except you into this college because back in 2006 you missed 5 days of elementary school!"
To each his own though, everyone is entitled to their opinion....
What works for me, certainly might not work for others.....
good luck & just have fun !

 

[mytwotinks]

I only have younger kiddos (3rd grade and prek next year) and so far I have no problems taking them out. We will be taking them out for 6 school days in Sept. It is just really the only way my dh can get that many days off in a row. He is a fireman on a shift with 10 guys. Only one can have a guarunteed vacation at a time, so it would hardly be fair for him to take 2 of the 8 weeks of summer when they all want to take long weekends to the lake and camp and summer stuff like that.

Anyway..... I have talked to lots of ms and hs moms that have told me that they don't have the option in the summer either because if they don't show up for football or volleyball practice they get benched. They are already practicing for next season right now!

I will probably always pull my girls out. When they are old enough I will expect them to take the responsibility of making sure they have all of their assignments from the teachers. I will however give the teachers plenty of notice and be willing to do things however they want. I would never dream of being anything but flexible. Whatever is convenient for them is what I would want to do.

 

[lpuga80]

We go at Thanksgiving each year so the kids only miss that Monday and Tuesday, it's unexcused as far as the school system is concerned but the teachers have no problem with it they actually encourage our kids to do reports for the class about the trip most times.

 

[kaysmommie]

Okay, here is my experience..my DD (8) is an All Star Cheerleader for a local team, and her school is well aware of the fact that she will miss school for competitions and such. Well, our school district has a 10 day policy - which we thought that you were allowed to miss up to 10 days w/o getting into any trouble. At the beginning of the school year, we informed her teacher that she would miss 'x' # of days for cheerleading, and she said that it would be no problem. Well, my DD had a competition at the end of Feb. at the Orlando Convention Center, and I thought that since we were so close, we might as well make a Disney trip out of it. So, after we booked reservations and ordered tickets, we again informed her teacher that she would be absent 'x' # of days, for the competition and for a family vacation. No problem, we'll just send her work along, was the response of the teacher. Well, a day before we leave, I get a phone call from the school attendance clerk, telling me I need to set up an "intervention" appointment for when we return. Well, we went to Florida, my DD competed, we spent a week at the parks, and when we returned, my DH and I went into the school for our appointment. (My DD did ALL of her assignments, by the way). Come to find out, our little 5 day disney vacation was considered illegal by the school. We took our DD out of school on a Thurs. at 11:00 (that way she was not counted as absent that day). So, total she was absent for Friday and the entire next week. Well, we didn't know that any block of days over 3 w/o a doctor's note, death in the family, etc. was considered illegal...Well, long story short, my DD is now listed as a truant, and she can not miss any more days until March 2007 without a doctor's note!! Now, mind you, my DD had only missed 2 days up to this point, and she is in the gifted/enrichment program, so she is not "falling through the cracks". I guess some schools are more lenient than others....

My DD's school is the same way except you can only miss 5 days unexcused. I also don't want to run to the Ped office for every little thing. If my kids go to the dr's. they usually get some other kind of virus or cold. That said DD 6 will miss 4days in September. She will have only 1 day for the whole year. The problem with these schools is people send their kids to school sick because of this stupid policy.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I have never taken my child out to go to Disney, but I have taken him out for other vacations.

This year we went skiing in March. I told his teacher and the principal that we'd be out, and where we were going. They said they understood but that it had to be "unexcused" because of district policy, but that unless they had 10 or more unexecused days in a semester it wouldn't matter. He's in first grade and they don't get "real" grades, just a narrative and a mark showing where they are relative to grade level expectation.

We just got the report card and there was a note attached about how many days he missed. I guess they got confused because the ski trip days were listed as "excused" and one time when he was sick was listed as "unexcused". Of course that unexcused day was the time he coughed all night (asthma) so I let him sleep in/called him in sick but then he woke up with no wheezing or coughing and great peak flows. I then had to convince him that he was sick (he didn't remember the coughing -- I guess he slept through it), because he accused me of "lying" to the school . We ended up going to the park in the afternoon because we both had cabin fever so maybe he went to school and told them he wasn't really sick and we just went to the park?

 

[goofy4tink]

I have taken my dd, now 12, out of school several times for family vacations...as recently as last month for a trip to WDW and then to Tampa to see her big brother. However, I am going to start cutting back on those school year trips. We have one planned for this Oct..it's a special 13th birthday trip..just dd, myself and another mom and her dd who has her birthday 2 days after my dd. We met in childbirth class and have become very close friends. Well, I got a newsletter home from my dd's new school a few weeks ago. Seems there is going to be almost a week of testing in Oct...yep, right when she's away. I panicked. I talked to those in the office of her present school, even the principal and vice principal. No one knew what these tests were. So...during a special presentation the 6th grade had last week, I ran into our new superintendant of schools. My dh and I have been to a few get togethers with her since he is an elected official in our town. I asked her if she knew what the testing was. She did and told me it was more for statistics than anything else. That areas in each state are randomnly chosen and not even each student gets tested. And they never find out how the testing went!!! When I explained my reasons for asking, her response was, and I quote, "Take her out, have a terrific trip!!!" Now, if I could just get it in writing, with her signature...just in case!!

 

[MiknMinMouse]

I would love to see a year round school calendar become the norm. One 3 month break in the summer is so counter productive. The reasons justifying the summer off are long out dated for most families (farm responsibilities, lack of air conditioning in school...). I can't think of one reason the students wouldn't benefit. Unfortunately it has never even come up for debate in my area.
How did they rotate your school calendar?

We are usually in 9 off 3. We get the standard holiday breaks and my daughter gets a total of 4 weeks off during the summer. She has one week off between grades, which can be hectic, but since my son was also year round, we're used to it. Our school is on a four track calendar so there is always one track that is out. I really feel like year round is a win win. I've heard the main reason they won't do a year round high-school is because of sports. My feeling is that if a kid wants to play sports then fine they should make the effor to come to school if they're tracked out. They do it in Middle School and it works fine. I hate that my son is penalized with a traditional schedule (which he hates BTW, this is his first year with it and he really misses year round) because of just a few students.

 

[loopner67]

Those of you that are pulling your child out of school to go to WDW what did you tell the school and was it considered excused or unexcused?

We will be going in September just wanted to know how the school might react.

Thanks

I had to fill out a form for a "non academic" trip and explain what my child would get out of the trip from an educational standpoint. Boy did I get creative with all the things he could learn in WDW (heavily weighing on Epcot). I had to then have the trip approved, but it was no problem. They supposedly check out how many days your child has missed so far that year and also base it on if they are doing okay in school or not .

We've gone the past two school years during a "non holiday" week. Two years ago, the teacher put together a great packet and we got a lot of the work done so my son didn't get behind. This past year, the teacher just sent home a few pieces of homework, so we did more on our own. Someone here at Dis Boards posted a link to printing off journal pages, which was a great activity for my son and since he was working on Geometry we searched for 3D shapes throughout all the parks and wrote about them.

I have no problem taking my children out of school because I'll always get the work and do my best to ensure they don't get behind in any of their classes. It's soooo much better to go to WDW during an "off" time!

 

[bellenbuzz]

Your kids will remember & have so many memories & experiences at WDW, it will out weigh 5 days of school !!!
Get to be 41 years old like me, and I remember family times, not what days & how many days I went to school!!!!
It is a few days of school, look at the "big picture".....no child will suffer !!
I respect others opinions, but I just don't get why 5 days of school in a long 12 years of schooling is so do or die......