Help with educational reason for excused absense...

[RainyDayPixie]

Our last school district (maybe just school) doesn't allow any excused absences for trips. My kids missed two days (1 in November and 1 in February) for long weekend trips and I was called in for a meeting and had to sign a contract that they wouldn't miss any more. 10 days and it is court!

Have fun! They're only young once!

 

[lalasmama]

Your child will learn:
Travel safety
Traffic safety
Map reading
Navigation skills
Money management
Time management
Addition/subtraction
Telling time
Figuring difference between times
Cultural experiences

I could go on, but I'm posting from my phone. DH is a teacher and believes it's in the children's best interests to get to do such vacations. Only rule is a travel journal (words or pictures) must be brought back.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I'm blown away by the fact that your school is making you come up with excuses as to why you should be allowed to make the decision to take your child out of school for a few days.

My daughter is now in Junior High School and all we have ever had to do is let her school know in advance when she is going to be absent - it's been up to the individual teachers as to whether they give her work in advance to complete, or whether the onus is on her to catch up when she gets back. Now that she is out of elementary school, we will try to limit missed days going forward, but I would guess that she has probably missed 5-10 days each year to this point, just for family vacations.

But in the interests of trying to be helpful, since my experience obviously does not reflect your situation, you could try selling concepts like Disney's cultural impact on society, history lessons via the Hall of Presidents and Rivers of America, racial issues via the story behind Splash Mountain, etc.

 

[drea21]

I'm blown away by the fact that your school is making you come up with excuses as to why you should be allowed to make the decision to take your child out of school for a few days.

My daughter is now in Junior High School and all we have ever had to do is let her school know in advance when she is going to be absent - it's been up to the individual teachers as to whether they give her work in advance to complete, or whether the onus is on her to catch up when she gets back. Now that she is out of elementary school, we will try to limit missed days going forward, but I would guess that she has probably missed 5-10 days each year to this point, just for family vacations.

But in the interests of trying to be helpful, since my experience obviously does not reflect your situation, you could try selling concepts like Disney's cultural impact on society, history lessons via the Hall of Presidents and Rivers of America, racial issues via the story behind Splash Mountain, etc.

Thanks-

I'm sure school districts vary widely on their attendance policy and their stance on vacation during the school year. I'm happy to fill out a simple form (I wrote "STEAM activities at Legoland and historical lessons at Disneyland") so it can be very general. It is up to the individual teacher what they send home or assign while the student is gone. I've heard many instances of districts that do not allow any absences for trips, like the previous poster mentioned she had to go in for a meeting for just 2 days, so I will happily fill out a form.

 

[alvernon90]

It seems to me that the district will either buy it or they won't buy it. Everybody in America knows what Disneyland is. School officials have seen all the tricks. I doubt there are any magic words you can use that would make them say, "Hmm, I used to think that Disneyland was merely a playground but now thanks to this well-written form I see that it is actually an educational experience."

 

[drea21]

It seems to me that the district will either buy it or they won't buy it. Everybody in America knows what Disneyland is. School officials have seen all the tricks. I doubt there are any magic words you can use that would make them say, "Hmm, I used to think that Disneyland was merely a playground but now thanks to this well-written form I see that it is actually an educational experience."

Lol- I hear you. It's more of a technicality, they basically approve anything. Like I said, they approved a weeklong beach vacation based on me saying grandma was coming with us and she's a retired teacher.

I just wanted to make it look like I at least tried to put some thought into it, and really appreciate everyone's responses

 

[hsmamato2]

Our last school district (maybe just school) doesn't allow any excused absences for trips. My kids missed two days (1 in November and 1 in February) for long weekend trips and I was called in for a meeting and had to sign a contract that they wouldn't miss any more. 10 days and it is court!

I didn't even know this was legal..... (sorry OT)

 

[drea21]

I didn't even know this was legal..... (sorry OT)

This thread had me curious so I quickly looked up truancy laws, it looks like they vary, but that when you send your kids to school you are agreeing to their truancy policy, and some are very strict. I saw that one year in LA 12,000 people had to pay truancy fines! And fines, court appearances, children and youth services involved, etc. are all some of the penalties for breaking the rules. yikes!

 

[prestoncaldwell]

This thread had me curious so I quickly looked up truancy laws, it looks like they vary, but that when you send your kids to school you are agreeing to their truancy policy, and some are very strict. I saw that one year in LA 12,000 people had to pay truancy fines! And fines, court appearances, children and youth services involved, etc. are all some of the penalties for breaking the rules. yikes!

I would reckon most parents here on DIS are very active in their childrens' education. Unfortunately, that is not the case universally. There are people whose grandparents didn't care about their parents education, their parents didn't care about their education, and now they are parenting the way they learned.

Truancy laws aren't aimed at you and your children. They are aimed at breaking a cultural cycle of poor education and giving those children from suboptimal backgrounds at least some of the opportunity your children have/had. Rules have to be applied universally or they are discriminatory, so your kids get swept into the same constraints, even though you probably make an educational opportunity out of every vacation like we do.

 

[drea21]

I would reckon most parents here on DIS are very active in their childrens'la truancy fines education. Unfortunately, that is not the case universally. There are people whose grandparents didn't care about their parents education, their parents didn't care about their education, and now they are parenting the way they learned.

Truancy laws aren't aimed at you and your children. They are aimed at breaking a cultural cycle of poor education and giving those children from suboptimal backgrounds at least some of the opportunity your children have/had. Rules have to be applied universally or they are discriminatory, so your kids get swept into the same constraints, even though you probably make an educational opportunity out of every vacation like we do.

Totally understandable. Like I said, I was merely curious of the penalty of truancy. Completely agree that the laws need to be in place, and consider myself lucky to live in a district that allows for time off for trips

 

[kydisneyfans]

Last year we took our son out 2 days as he ran one of the Disney races(athletic reasons.)
We returned home to the unexcused absence letter from the district stating court, yada, yada etc.
It made no difference that while we were in CA, the boys basketball team was in Myrtle Beach and a week later 24 cheerleaders were in Orlando for a meet, all during school time.

Now if it looks "unexcused", we just head to the quickie medical clinic at Kroger/CVS whether he is sick or not to get a note. It costs a $25 co-pay but it works just fine. We did the WDW trip back in October where our son missed 2 1/2 days. Before we even got home from the airport we stopped at Kroger for the doctor "visit", got the note, and sent it to school. No problem at all.

We'll be doing the same next week. It shouldn't have to be this way, but it is.....

 

[Figaroo]

Your child will learn:
Travel safety
Traffic safety
Map reading
Navigation skills
Money management
Time management
Addition/subtraction
Telling time
Figuring difference between times
Cultural experiences

I could go on, but I'm posting from my phone. DH is a teacher and believes it's in the children's best interests to get to do such vacations. Only rule is a travel journal (words or pictures) must be brought back.

Yes to all of this! Also, not sure if this applies to Legoland as I've never been, but any theme parks with rides can be used to explore principals of physics (motion, forces, inertia, etc...). It might be a stretch, but if I had to link education to amusement park rides, I think of physics.

 

[lalasmama]

Yes to all of this! Also, not sure if this applies to Legoland as I've never been, but any theme parks with rides can be used to explore principals of physics (motion, forces, inertia, etc...). It might be a stretch, but if I had to link education to amusement park rides, I think of physics.

Yes, so much about physics... We actually watch the Disney Imagineer videos on physics (there are like 6 or 8 of them) before our trips

 

[KatrinfromGermany]

Marketing, customer satisfaction and waiting times analysis comparing the original FP system and FP+ ;-)