How much power should schools have?

[Tinkmom75]

We have a policy for sports. If you are not passing with a C average or above then you don't play or are benched until you improve your grades. A system like this could be used to determine if vacation will be excused along with not missing so many days per year/trimester whatever. Anyway our system works great and I am happy we are where we are. I can understand why a parent of a student who is an A student and doesn't miss time would be upset. Perhaps those parents should get involved in the parent advisory board or school board if they don't like the policies.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I do think it would be hard for schools to make decisions on a case by case basis, but I think princessmom teaches in a very different district than the one tinkmom75 and myself send our children. We are very small town. We went to school here ourselves growing up. We know the teachers. Some of them were even our teachers 20 + years ago. I think there is more of an element of trust when you know people by name and face.

My boys missed their first day of school in January this year when we went skiing for a 3 day weekend. The morning we left I called the school to say my boys wouldn't be in that day. No one even questioned why. I didn't say they were sick, or we were going out of town. No reason at all. Had my children missed school on a regular basis, I probably would have been questioned. KWIM. I think the case by case basis would be a child who is absent so much that it is noticable. Then the parents would be questioned.

We are lucky to live where we do. Not everyone has the choice to send their children to such a district. People say if you send your kids there then you agree to the rules, but sometimes you send your kids there because that is the district you live in. You might not have the ability to drive them to another school, or homeschool. Those parents are backed into a corner, because they really don't have a choice.

 

[taitai]

We are lucky to live where we do. Not everyone has the choice to send their children to such a district. People say if you send your kids there then you agree to the rules, but sometimes you send your kids there because that is the district you live in. You might not have the ability to drive them to another school, or homeschool. Those parents are backed into a corner, because they really don't have a choice.

Yes, some people do not have a choice to send their kids to a different school due to funds, lack of options, inability to execute, whatever. However, once you do send your kids to a school, you must abide by the rules of those schools. You can't say, well, "I really WANTED to send my kids to the school that allows x,y and z but I couldn't afford it so I am going to send my kids here and just play by the other school's rules." That doesn't work. That would be like saying "I really want to legally buy drugs like they do in the Netherlands but I can't afford to move there so I will just live here in the US but follow the rules as if I was in Amsterdam."

Taitai

 

[mom22bless]

I had my kids out of school the 1st week in Jan. Monday was a school holiday. So they missed 4 days.

We live in Texas and I KNOW that the kids can miss up to 19 days of school.

I told the principal, teachers, etc that we would be gone. That was the day Buy 4 Get 3 Free started and my own college started the next week so we had to go then.
Oh boy did I get thrown the hammer after we got back. I got a truancy letter from the school district and they haven't been sick ALL YEAR! (Still haven't been) I told the AP that I should have just said they were sick but I wanted to tell the truth.

After all that......I'd do it again. My kids are in K and 3rd grade and missing a week didn't hurt them one bit.

 

[Tinkmom75]

Originally posted by: taitai
Yes, some people do not have a choice to send their kids to a different school due to funds, lack of options, inability to execute, whatever. However, once you do send your kids to a school, you must abide by the rules of those schools. You can't say, well, "I really WANTED to send my kids to the school that allows x,y and z but I couldn't afford it so I am going to send my kids here and just play by the other school's rules." That doesn't work. That would be like saying "I really want to legally buy drugs like they do in the Netherlands but I can't afford to move there so I will just live here in the US but follow the rules as if I was in Amsterdam."

I don't think MickeyPooh99 was advocating breaking the rules. Just of statement of why parents are so frustrated with school systems. Buying drugs is entirely different than school vacation

 

[taitai]

I know parents are frustrated with school systems. I am frustrated with the school system. I LOVE our elementary school and think it is doing some cutting edge stuff as is our high school. I worry about the middle years and am already researching options for when we get there. But, even with that, I think our schools need complete and total overhauls. The days need to be longer, the years need to be longer and the curriculum needs to change. They simply are not producing the workers we will need to compete in the global economy. It is pathetic that a country as rich as ours in so many ways ranks so dismally low in every lower school (not college) academic indicator. However, what makes me mad (and this is just a general rant and NOT directed at anyone on this board) is when people complain but do nothing to change it. As I have stated before, we are lucky, lucky, LUCKY to live where we do (and it isn't by accident) and have such a robust and dynamic school community in which people really ARE involved.

I wonder how many people who kinda thumb their noses at the rules are actually involved in their school districts. Do they sit on district wide committees? On their PTO? Volunteer in the classrooms in an ongoing basis?

Also, yes I know that drugs are different than missing school to go to the zoo. But, you can easily change it to something else...speeding. Say I want to speed but can't here but on the Autobahn (as opposed to I-95) I can go pretty much as fast as I want. Should I just say that it is too expensive to move to Munich so I will just speed here but follow their rules?

 

[Tinkmom75]

taitai:
ITA with you about our school systems needing a complete overhaul to compete in a global market. But perhaps that is a different discussion altogether.

I recently sat on a board for our school. I was under the impression that they wanted input on gifted and talented programs. They didn't want that, they just wanted us to raise money and not have input on where it went There were a lot of teacher on the board and two parents. The commitee leader could never get everyone to commit to a time. Everyone was too busy. I always said I would make time to be available. Each time I was asked if a particular time would work for me to have a meeting I said yes. Even if it meant leaving my work early. Well a year later, we had one meeting and a few ideas and I haven't heard anything more. It was really sad since the Assistant Superintendent was the leader of this.

As far as it being the same as speeding again it is not. Even if you speed your record is looked at. Are you going 5 miles over, 10 miles over or 30 miles over (reckless endangerment). They may give you a warning if it is 10 miles over and you don't have any priors or ignore it all together if you are within 1 to 5 miles over.

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

I understand that some students can miss a week of school and jump right back in and pick up the missed material very quickly, but not all students can. Should the entire class be held back because one student went on vacation and is struggling to catch up? Attendance rules are being adopted because more and more children are missing unreasonable amounts of school. I'm not talking about the child that misses 7 or less days a year, I'm talking about the ones that miss a week here for vacation, a week there for another vacation and then days here and there because they are ill. I have heard many parents say they home school because they have the flexiblity to vacation when they choose. I choose to send my children to public school, I know at the beginning of each school year what the attendance policy is and have to agree to abide by it(we have to sign a paper that we understand the policies). I would never expect a teacher or administrator to make exceptions to these rules. We are in school for 180 days out of the year. There are plenty left to plan vacations when the whole family can go without missing school.

 

[Nicoleclaw]

At risk of another tangent... 26-30 kids at the elementary level?!? The biggest class either of my kids have been in thus has has been 20!

My daughter kindergarten class is 26 with no aide!

 

[Ohana90]

I live in TX and they too have the same truancy policies here. I did take my 2 children (HS Elem) out of school for a week in October. I wrote a letter to the district for my DD as well as my DS who is in HS and the Elem approived it but HS did not. I even got ALL of the work before we left, had them complete it and turn it in the last day before our vacation and they still were not happy. Some schools you just cant convince.
Well we went and had a great trip. Sadly the next mth by dad got severly ill and we had to make an emergency trip up to MO. They gave him a 20% chance of survival so another week of school was missed. I called the school on the drive and they advised they would pursue the truancy act. I told them they can do whatever they want but my father is more important then some "Policy" and to "Bring it on". When I got back I made it a point to drop my kids off and Elem was fine with my decision. HS didnt know who they were dealing with. I walked my child in and proceeded to withdraw my son, they freaked out! I told them I did not want my son enrolled in a institution that portrayed money is more important than ones health. They continued to say it was policy and they were just following the rules. I advised them I understand its policy but the District isnt the one running "this" school. You are. I also said "You" were the one advising me that you were going to pursue the act not the district. The part that hit them the hardest was I got a signed consent from the district stating it was not to be excused but acceptable under the circumstances which they emailed to the principal the day i called. My son had perfect attendance for the past 4 years and he misses 2 weeks and all of a sudden im a "educational abuser"???
Long story short, didnt have to disenroll after all and the principal even apologized for the miscommunication.

 

[tartemis]

I think everyone (including the school districts) are making this more complicated than it need to be. There should be some generous policy regarding parental-approved and pre-notified school absences -- something like 4 weeks a year. Yes, I realize that is a lot. But requiring the absence to be notified ahead of time will probably deee out those parents that are just covering for their kids skipping school without their knowledge.

Then, it should simply be based on grades. If the child can pass all of his tests, he shouldn't be penalized. If the child fails his tests, then he is penalized by virtue of the bad grade or failing a year in school.

We really are living more and more in a nanny-state and it is getting out-of-control. Policies are set to cater to the lowest denomonator, which brings everyone down.

Everyone can't afford to send their kids to private school or to home-school -- for many public is the only option. Good parents, raising good kids, shouldn't be penalized for taking their kids out of school for whatever reason they feel fit -- as long as they can still grasp and learn the material.

Every teacher knows which kids in their class come from bad family situations where drugs or other problems are possibly involved. Those kids should be getting help regardless of the truancy issue -- and often they do. To lump everyone together in one category simply makes no sense.

 

[Colleen27]

My daughter kindergarten class is 26 with no aide!

My kids' kindergarten classes were 14-16 kids with an aide! Our school is so small that we only have 1.5 or 2 classes per grade, with about 30 kids per grade level. There's always two kindergartens and two 5th grades, so the kids get extra attention during their first year of school and in that "bridge" year of getting ready for middle school. For the rest of the school, there is one dedicated class per grade and then a 1/2 split and a 3/4 split.

 

[jamstew]

There should be some generous policy regarding parental-approved and pre-notified school absences -- something like 4 weeks a year.

It would be against the law in some (most?) states for a local district to adopt that kind of policy, so you first have to change the law.

Policies are set to cater to the lowest denominator, which brings everyone down.

You're absolutely right about that, and it's sad.

 

[princessmom29]

My kids' kindergarten classes were 14-16 kids with an aide! Our school is so small that we only have 1.5 or 2 classes per grade, with about 30 kids per grade level. There's always two kindergartens and two 5th grades, so the kids get extra attention during their first year of school and in that "bridge" year of getting ready for middle school. For the rest of the school, there is one dedicated class per grade and then a 1/2 split and a 3/4 split.

Kinder classes here are 26-30 with no aide. My DD s going to a private school with 17 in a class.

 

[taitai]

My child's kindergarten class is 15 with an aide. Maybe all that money we are getting by limiting the unexcused absences is paying off........