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

[Dawson'sMom]

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

 

[DisneyDotty]

You need to contact your school--each district is different. What one district might excuse might be inexcused for another.
But since you asked--here's my two cents--if you're going to pull your kids out for a vacation--Disney or otherwise--I've found it's best to just 'fess up and be honest with the school. Don't make excuses. Don't lie. Just say--yes, Johnny will be gone for such and such days for family reasons. We will ensure he completes all make up work.
And that's it.
(BTW--in our district all vacation time is considered unexcused--whatever that means,--so our kids did not get the work they missed til they returned to school, at which time they completed it within the first two hours of their return.)
Have a great trip!

 

[lady9]

We took our DS out of school for 2 days and it was excused in our district. I told the school where were we going although DS thought we were going to Houston, it was a surprise trip for him and DD. We had to fill out a vacation form at least a week before the trip. His teacher was wonderful, kept the secret, and sent his work ahead of time. Not all schools/teachers will do this. Check your school's policy ahead of time.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We have never had a problem in our school district. Only one year did the teacher even give him any makeup work. Most years they just said to go and have fun. In 5th grade the teacher asked if I wanted to do the paper work to make the trip excused and I asked her what the difference was. She said the only difference is which line you mark on the office form!
We planned to take a Jan. trip this comming year while DS is in the 8th grade but he has had some health issues and missed a lot of school this year so we are not sure if we are going to do that or not.
We found that while the school district may have a pollicy, each school caries it out in a different way. We love off season travel and it is so woth it to us!

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son is the 9th grade. He has attended the same school since the 6th grade.

His school will not excuse days missed for vacations. He can make up missed assignments, but he may lose points for anything turned in late. Missed exams may or may not be made up. (This depends on the teacher)

In the end, it's just not worth the hassle and head aches to pull him out for vacation.

Since I'm able to use vacation time whenever I want/need to, I just plan around the school calender.

I will pull him out a day early, but that's the most I'm willing to do.

 

[AllAboutPluto]

I guess I'm lucky in that our schools excuse vacation. But we live in a manufacturing area, and it's understood that when you work in the shops, you take your vacation when you're told to. In a shop with 3500 people, not everyone can be scheduled during those 10 short weeks of summer.

We're pulling our kids out, also in Sept, for the first, and likely only, time in their school careers. DD will miss a week of Kindergarten and DS will miss a week of his freshman year in HS. They'll both be given their assignments before they leave and they'll both turn them back in the day they get back to school (if they didn't turn them in before we even leave). DS is an honor student and DD seems to be following in his footsteps, so I don't expect the week missed to cause any problems at all.

And I'm not the least bit shy about telling the school why they'll be gone! I'm saving, at the very least, $1500 by going in Sept during free dining, compared to going in July. College money!! (yea, right! LOL) I dare any school administrator to tell me they wouldn't at least consider doing the same!

 

[sameyeyam]

We pull out kids out for a few extra days before Spring Break every year. I always email the teachers about a month ahead of time. The usual response I get: "How lucky, can I go to?!". I usually remind the teacher about 1-1/2 weeks beforehand, so they can get any extra assignments to them.

My kids are currently in 2nd & 8th grade and in the past 3 years the teacher's have almost always just said, "Enjoy, don't worry about homework, have a nice vacation!". I always let them know that I take books along on the plane (8 hour trip for us) for the kids to read. We have never had any problems, but then again I always let them know ahead of time.

Never thought to ask if it was excused or unexcused? Don't really care either, because I'm going whether they like it or not. What are they going to do if it's unexcused, turn me over to Child Protective Services and take my kids away?? Not let my kids pass on to the next grade??

Just let the teacher's know ahead of time and enjoy your wonderful family vacation. Education is important, but in the entire scheme of life, enjoying life and family time is much more important!

 

[Order66]

Our family went to WDW last month and I pulled my twin boys out of school for a week. I did not want to go to FL during summer when prices are higher and so is the heat and humidity. In their kindergarten class of 25, I think 10 kids were gone throughout the year for Disney vaccations including one boy who's family was there the same time we were. The kids thought it was fun to travel all the way to FL to play with a classmate.

My kids attend a private Catholic school and their policy is vaccations need to be notified in writing to both the teacher and administration at least 1 week prior. Destination and dates of departure and return. Children are responsible to get their missed work from the teacher in advance and turn it in upon return. Their teacher assigned them Ted E. Bear for the week. Ted E is the class bear who goes home with a different student every weekend. The kids then take (or draw) pictures and document what they did with Ted E in a journal. So we got an extra passenger on our trip and the boys had fun posing Ted E at different places and with the characters. They then got to share all their WDW pictures with the class when they got back.

Best is to refer to the school's policy on vaccations. We plan on returning next May and taking them out of school again. It was my first time to WDW at that time of the year and I loved it. Perfect weather for us.

 

[sunnishine]

A teacher and parent here.....It depends on the grade...the higher the grade the harder it is. Elementary school usually is not a problem but by the time they are in high school it is a big problem. The knowledge in high school is very specialized so most parents can't teach the missed information to their kids like they can in elementary school.

I teach high school math and had parents take their student out of my calculus class for an entire week to go to disney. She missed 7.5 hours of class. I was not happy. It is not fair to expect the teacher to stay after school to teach your child what they missed while they were on vacation.

 

[Mickey1122]

We frequently go during school, and use "family reunion." They believe the story without question.

 

[dizzneebabe]

I agree with the idea that the older they are, the harder it is. For 6 yrs straight, we took our two boys out of school for a week to head down 1st week in Sept. At the time we started this, they were 5 and 7, or 2nd grade and kindergarten. I always told the truth and the teachers were always understanding. Sometimes they were given homework ahead of time and other times they were told to have fun. I was also told every time, that from a teacher's perspective, it was better to miss the beginning of the year, since it is mostly review than to miss time later on.

I'm not so sure I would make up an excuse--you never know when you could have a teacher give your child an assignment about it (i.e. write about your 'family reunion'). Plus, you are NOT doing anything wrong anyway, so why lie?

We haven't gone in nearly 3 years due to DD being born Sept. 03. Since this is the first year for a vacation for us since then, I was reluctant to pull the boys out because now they will be in 6th and 8th grades. But...the mouse pull is just too strong in our house So, off we go. I will meet the teachers in the first couple days of school and let them know. We are in a new school district since the last trip, so I don't know what the official district policy is, but I'm not sure it will matter.

Next year, when our oldest is in high school, we will have to think about it a bit harder. But for now, we'll enjoy the low crowds again.

 

[the Fidge]

My DH's company only permits vacations during the school year. So I have had to pull DS out of school (never cried aobut that!hehe) . I always give plenty of notice, prior to our trip and arrange any studies or work to be brought. This year was the first time he recieved work, usually a journal of his trip. It has always been excused and never a problem. I always check when they plan the standardized testings so it never interferes!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

In my experience every school is different, every teacher is different, etc. So you really can't ask a question here about what your school/teacher/district will do.

I have learned thru my own experiences that while you may get a variety of responses (ie: some just say go have fun and wish I could come too!, some might give the work and expect it to be completed BEFORE the trip, some might give the work to catch up afterwards- however I would never expect a teacher to spend extra time with my child after a trip such as this and would expect for my child to either just catch up on their own or help them myself! Sunnishine- no one should ever expect that of you!!!) it is always best to be honest- AND to tell them in advance. All the times our children have missed school- whatever grade they are in, whatever time of year we have taken them out, etc.- it has always been counted as excused absence (and I quote) "because we told them in advance". In other words if we'd just took them out and then told them when we returned WHY the kids missed- it probably wouldn't have been excused absence.

In our experience as far as making up work missed, if that's necessary (and it is as the kids get older) the principals pretty much leave it up to the teacher whether or not they let them do the work when they return, do it before they leave, etc. So talking to the teacher about what THEY would prefer and how you can work to make sure your child doesn't fall behind (and then that would be putting extra work on the teacher) seems to help a lot.

As our kids get older we do try to have them miss as few days as possible -around holidays or like this last time they missed the last 2 days of school. I'm sure most of you know that atleast in the younger grades (not sure about highschool age-yet) they do NOTHING in the last 2 days besides parties, field trips, turning in books, award ceremonies, etc. Basically they just missed a few parties and a slideshow of the year. LOL They much preferred to be on the vacation to WDW and the cruise! Very very end of year, a day or two in addition to a holiday break, or early the beginning of the year seems to work best- basically trying to work around times that they aren't smack in the middle of learning something that MAY be difficult to catch up with everyone else/etc.

 

[ribbot]

Even though I have never pulled my son out of school (he just graduated K), I would or could never lie about it because he would get back in school and tell everybody about how cool it was to see Buzz and Woody or that he loved Splash Mountain!!! Even though a few of his Uncles are "Goofy", I could never get past telling a fib.

I have decided next year to just go the last week of school or so. Even though it will be crowded, I still think it's ALWAYS crowded. So you just deal with it. I'm sure I'll probably come home and say "never again", but I just hate the thought of taking him out of school.

 

[momof2dizkids]

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....

 

[va32h]

I have, and will again, although my kids' school is pretty hostile about it.

Their dad is in the military, and cannot always get leave at the conventional vacation times. I always check the school calendar, and try to pick a week that is near one of their other days off. I never pull them during a testing week. On the last trip, my daughter was given a pile of work to do while we were gone, and her absences were not excused.

 

[marconat]

I went twice to WDW and had to pulled my son out of shcool to go... but our school is very good and also the teachers... I would inform them well in advance and they would give him his work to be done at home before the trip...if he missed any tests that was not a problem and he would be allowed to retake them, of course he is still in elementary. (7 days in grade 1), (11 days in grade 3) and I will now be going on the 1st of Jan until Jan 15th, so now my 2 kids will be missing a few days of school.

 

[noahynav]

I am appalled that schools think they have the right to tell a family they cannot take their child out of school for a vacation. IMO, family time is just as important if not more so than education. One week will not be detrimental to most students academic career. You always read these reports about families not sitting down to eat together, parents working too much overtime, kids home alone after school, etc.....and then when a family wants to something as special and memory making as WDW, they are told no? I do not think school districts should have the right to decide what is best for families. That is our job as parents.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I am appalled that schools think they have the right to tell a family they cannot take their child out of school for a vacation. IMO, family time is just as important if not more so than education. One week will not be detrimental to most students academic career. You always read these reports about families not sitting down to eat together, parents working too much overtime, kids home alone after school, etc.....and then when a family wants to something as special and memory making as WDW, they are told no? I do not think school districts should have the right to decide what is best for families. That is our job as parents.

I've never heard of a school saying you CAN'T take your child out of school for vacation. As a parent, you are free to do what you please. However, your choices will have consequences. You have to be willing to accept the consequences of your actions.

I believe family time and school are both important. I'm glad I don't have to choose one over the other.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

I live in one of those school districts that think they can dictate vacation time to families, illness, death in the family and religous holidays are the only excused absences. More than 5 days missed in a school year requires a Dr. note or copy of the death cert(sheesh). Any more than 10 days can result in you having to meet with the D. A. and threatened with arrest(yes they have actually arrested parents for contributing to the delinquency of a minor). Since they have taken the choice to excuse or not away from individual schools the fact that my kids don't miss school and are honors students doesn't matter, unless the missed days fall into the above catagories the kids cannot make up the work and receive 0 for all missed work.