If your child has a doctor's appointment during school hours

[Deb in IA]

how are they dismissed from class?

First of all, I try very hard to schedule their appointment during non-school hours. But there are times when that just is not possible.

Recently, I had to take DS 14, in 9th grade, to his dental screen/cleaning. Dentist was booking one month out, and only had openings on Friday mornings, so I got an appointment at 9 am.

DS school starts at 8:20.

Policy is that school is to be notified one day in advance of appointments, so I call the office and let them know.

The next morning at 8:40, I call the office and ask for them to page DS to office so that I can pick him up.

Snotty secretary says, "We don't do that anymore, it disrupts class too much."

Me: He's in study hall.

Snotty secretary: Well, it is still too disruptive. Doesn't he know he has an appointment? He needs to keep track of his own schedule.

Me: Well, I think he knows, but I told him last night, and since he's been at school since 6 am for cross country practice, he may have forgotten.

Snotty secretary: Well, we can't be paging every child who has an appointment.

Me: Well, what am I supposed to do? Walk into school, down the hall, and into his classroom to take him out?

Snotty secretary: No, you can't just walk into a class. You can come to the office.

Me: Well, what if he's not there?

Snotty secretary: Then we can page him.

Me: So, if he has appointments in the future, what is supposed to do?

Snotty secretary: He should leave the class and come to the office when it is time for him to be picked up.

At this point, I think we ended the call. Snotty secretary DID get up off her duff and go to DS's room and get him, but took it out on him, berating him and telling him "You really need to know when you need to leave for appointments."

But does this make any sense?

Any kid can just get up and walk out of class? What if they don't really have an appointment, and are just skipping school? And isn't a kid getting up in the middle of class disruptive too??

Does this "policy" make any sense to anyone?

And how does your child's school handle these issues?

 

[mjkacmom]

When dd13 has an appointment, I look at her schedule, and pick a time in between classes, and tell her to go to the office at that time. I do have to write a note (that day). She walks out of the building, and I'm waiting.

Once, I forgot to tell her she had an appointment after school, and asked them to give her a message, and at first they refused. I begged, because it's gridlock around the school after school, and I needed her to walk in the opposite direction to a pickup spot. Finally, they agreed!

 

[mickeyboat]

We send in a note the morning of the appointment, and most of the time my daughter is waiting in the office when I get there. If I get there a little early, someone in the office calls the classroom phone and has my child come down.

I would expect my high schooler to keep track of his schedule, but I would also expect the office to notify him in case he forgot. I don't see what the difference is between you calling the office for them to page him or you going into the office to have them page him.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Kids are allowed to dismiss themselves from class now? Brilliant.

 

[SC Minnie]

DD is a sohpmore. I have to go to the school office and sign her out. They call the class room and she comes to the office. They never pull the kids out of class until you get there so I just get to the school keeping that in mind with my time.

 

[Piecey]

When I was in school (graduated in '05) the principals sat in the cafeteria every morning for a half hour. If you were leaving that day, for any reason, you brought your note to him. He signed a pink slip (that had a few carbon layers beneath it, too) saying what type of abscence it was, what time you were leaving, etc.

You then took that slip to the teacher at the beginning of the class that you would be leaving from. The teacher signed it, saying they were aware you were leaving and you kept the slip.
If you had a Dr.'s appt, the Dr. signed/stamped the slip verifying that you were there. If it was something else (Family commitment, etc.) your parents signed it confirming.

The next morning you went back to the principal's table and got a blue slip in exchange for your pink slip. The blue slip was a "makeup" slip. The teachers of all the classes you missed had to sign the slip verifying that you picked up your work and spoke with them about what you missed.
At the end of the day, you dropped your blue slip in a box in the office.


Kinda annoying but it worked out pretty well. The slips worked as hall passes, too.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

There is nothing worse than constant interruptions on the PA. I don't think it's too much to ask high school kids to try to keep track of their own appointments. Of course kids do occasionally forget, and then a call from the office would be in order.

I would have no problem letting a child leave if they told me they had an appointment, since I can easily follow that up on the attendance database. Usually the students brought me a note from their parents, though, which was then handed in at the office when they left.

 

[KAMLEM]

When I was in school (graduated in '05) the principals sat in the cafeteria every morning for a half hour. If you were leaving that day, for any reason, you brought your note to him. He signed a pink slip (that had a few carbon layers beneath it, too) saying what type of abscence it was, what time you were leaving, etc.

You then took that slip to the teacher at the beginning of the class that you would be leaving from. The teacher signed it, saying they were aware you were leaving and you kept the slip.
If you had a Dr.'s appt, the Dr. signed/stamped the slip verifying that you were there. If it was something else (Family commitment, etc.) your parents signed it confirming.

The next morning you went back to the principal's table and got a blue slip in exchange for your pink slip. The blue slip was a "makeup" slip. The teachers of all the classes you missed had to sign the slip verifying that you picked up your work and spoke with them about what you missed.
At the end of the day, you dropped your blue slip in a box in the office.


Kinda annoying but it worked out pretty well. The slips worked as hall passes, too.

That seems like overkill to me. I know that this is the last thing that my DD's principal would have time to do.

 

[dhcoffey]

At my kids' schools, middle and high, I have to go in and sign them out and then they page them. There's no way they would just let them leave class.

Heather

 

[Piecey]

That seems like overkill to me. I know that this is the last thing that my DD's principal would have time to do.

I went to a small school... I graduated in a class of 88.

I know it was county policy but I'm not sure if the principals/vice principals did it at the large county high schools or if someone else did. Probably someone else.

I think they did it in the cafeteria, too, because someone had to be there to monitor breakfast students. So the principal/vice principal was pulling double duty.

 

[jen0610]

When I was in school (graduated in '05) the principals sat in the cafeteria every morning for a half hour. If you were leaving that day, for any reason, you brought your note to him. He signed a pink slip (that had a few carbon layers beneath it, too) saying what type of abscence it was, what time you were leaving, etc.

You then took that slip to the teacher at the beginning of the class that you would be leaving from. The teacher signed it, saying they were aware you were leaving and you kept the slip.
If you had a Dr.'s appt, the Dr. signed/stamped the slip verifying that you were there. If it was something else (Family commitment, etc.) your parents signed it confirming.

The next morning you went back to the principal's table and got a blue slip in exchange for your pink slip. The blue slip was a "makeup" slip. The teachers of all the classes you missed had to sign the slip verifying that you picked up your work and spoke with them about what you missed.
At the end of the day, you dropped your blue slip in a box in the office.


Kinda annoying but it worked out pretty well. The slips worked as hall passes, too.

I wish our school did this....it would be so much easier than what we do now. It's so confussing. I try to do yearly checkups, both dentist and dr, during vacation periods. If the kids need to go for an illness, like when DD had a rash, we go to the RediMed clinic after school/work hours.

 

[Sparx]

i just graduated high school, but there are several ways to get a child out of class, when i was there.

either the parent could walk into the sign in/sign out desk, and sign the child out, and then the class room would be called on the phone and the kid would leave. (this did not disrupt class at all. i can't imagine class being SO intense that a single phone call and one kid getting up and leaving would be that big of a deal. )

or the child could tell the teacher they need to check out, go to the office and either sign themselves out (only if they're 18) or call their mom/dad on the phone and mom and dad could sign them out, and they could leave (this was if they drove, rode with another child who drives. also non-disruptive.)

or mom/dad could write a note and the kid could take it to sign in sign out that morning and sign themselves out for a particular time. i think the sec. would call and double check the note most times though.

 

[RitaE]

I have to go into the office, sign a sheet, get a visitor's pass, and go get him and God have mercy on your soul should you give them blank look when the say something like "he's in room 194B." No.....you had BETTER just know where room 194B is Mom and not expect them to have expend the energy required to say something helpful like "it's that classroom next to the library." Heaven forbid! They are busy people you know!!!

When I was in High School you took your note into the Secretary in the morning and she would issue you a dismissal pass for the right time. You'd show it to the teacher before class started and then just get up and slip out at the appropriate time.

Snotty staff are the best. NOT.

 

[kim929]

For my children in the High School, I send a note in the am with them, the attendance office calls to confirm they are being dismissed. At the time I put for them to leave, the kids just leave class and go on their merry way. Now if it is an unplanned dismissal, I have to go in and sign him out, they will page them at that time but if I send in a note, my kids have to remember on their own. Which is not a problem, I'm sure they are watching the clock.

 

[disfan07]

I just graduated from high school 2 years ago and this is how my school handled them:

We don't page kids at our school thats too disruptive. Everything is done on paper.

If it was an appointment scheduled ahead of time, you had to take a note to your subschool (we had 4 subschools separated by last name) and the secretary there gave you a check-out slip with the time you were to leave. To leave class, you had to show the teacher the slip. If you did not have a slip you could not leave.
If it was a spur of the moment thing or an emergency, a parent could call or come to the sub school and than they would send an student aide to the classroom with a pass for the child.

Now, i was a subschool aide one year and yes, the secretaries expect the kids to be able to handle their own schedules (appointments, etc) and they do get annoyed when a parent calls to remind their child that they have an appointment. At 14 they should be able to keep track of that.


For 2 years of high school, I was in and out of school during the day all the time. I left midday usually two or three times a week and than came back and the system worked fine for me.

This is one of my pet peeves though. In high school, parents should not have to remind their child about havign to leave class for appointments.
My mom worked at my high school in MY subschool and unless it was an appointment for treatment or crucial labwork, she wouldn't remind me. If i had like a dentist appointment or just a regular appointment and i forgot and was late, i had to suffer the consequences.

 

[MinnieMe87]

When I was in high school, you had to have a note from your parent explaining why you needed to leave and what time you needed to leave. You had to take the note into the office at least a day in advance, and the secretary would write up a slip to give the teacher at the beginning of class, so they would be aware you were leaving. At the time you needed to leave, you got the slip back from the teacher, and went to the office to sign out. They took the top copy from the slip, and left you with the yellow and pink carbon copies. If you came back to school, you gave them the slip, and they ripped off the yellow, you signed yourself back in, and gave the pink copy to the teacher when you got back to class. I believe the teacher turned in the pink copy to the office as well at the end of the day.

 

[Becky2005]

We send a note in the morning of the appointment, the kids take it to the Dean's office, get a pass to leave the class.

I don't even go into the school at HS level. She just comes out within a few minutes of the time I told them to dismiss her.

They don't do paging here during class time either, they have runners & they won't even guarantee you they will get the note on time (we had an unexpected appointment once that happened to be during testing!!! YIKES!!!!).

I had to call for that one because DD didn't even know she had the appointment (it wasn't for something routine, it was a you need to see these people ASAP from urgent care the night before...so I got the appointment for right after the testing was done).

In High School, we don't have to sign them out like we do all through 8th grade. They do need a note from the doctor/dentist saying they were there so it is excused medically.

 

[LuvOrlando]

My DS11 in Middle School had an emergency Pulmonary Dr appointment that couldn't be moved. I sent notes to the teachers the day before and sent an e-mail. I went to the office and was told if he knew to come he would be there so I waited, and waited. 15 minutes AFTER DS was supposed to be there I ask the secretary to call down, teacher says she needs 5 more minutes to finish something! Teacher KNEW she was holding me up, so disrespectful! . Next time I will ask for DS 30 minutes early to make up for the teacher's bad attitude.

 

[Kath2003]

There is no paging system.

Students are issued with a homework diary at the beginning of the year. There is space for parental comments each week. If students need to leave for an appointment, their homeroom teacher has to authorise it by signing a note in the diary written by a parent or carer. The student then has to go to the office at the time written in the note, where the parent comes in and signs them out.

Paging them would indeed by too disruptive. This is for grades 6-13. By that age, they need to be remembering to get mom to write the note, remembering to get homeroom teacher to sign it, and remembering to get themselves to the office on time.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

These pass systems make total sense. I had mental images of kids getting up and leaving whenever the spirit moved them.