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

[mrsmom]

My high schoolers, i just sent a note in that day explaining why they need to leave early and they are outside waiting at that time. My middle schooler i go in and sign them out.
Kim

 

[flying_babyb]

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.

We have this system too. I NEVER got a blue slip filled out though lol

 

[The Mystery Machine]

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??

Yes it makes sense. Once they are driving they can take themselves to the orthodontist.

Of course the HS my dd went to had a great system.

You would send in a note and the kid brings it to their counselor the day of and they give them a pass to get out of class.

The kid can take themselves if they drive or a parent signs them out at the office.

The kicker is they need to bring back an excuse note from the doctor.

The child is held responsible for checking in and out of class and getting the notes to their counselor.

It taught my dd responsibilty.

 

[AshleyW]

When I was in high school, your parent had to call school and let them know in advance - either a few days before or just before school started that day. The secretary would write a pass. When the secretary did morning announcements that day, she would call the names of all the people who had to report to the office. It was either to pick up a pass to leave class, or to pick up your demerits from the previous day, things like that. We went to the office after announcements, got our pass, then showed it to the teacher when we had to leave. It worked out pretty well.

 

[Deb in IA]

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

I did too. As far as I can tell, our school does not have any such pass.

When the parents call in to tell them of the appointment, it is written down in a "book". Student then comes to sign out. But how do the teacher, who is letting the student out of class, know (or not know) if the student is really has an appointment?

Yes it makes sense. Once they are driving they can take themselves to the orthodontist.

Of course the HS my dd went to had a great system.

You would send in a note and the kid brings it to their counselor the day of and they give them a pass to get out of class.

The kid can take themselves if they drive or a parent signs them out at the office.

The kicker is they need to bring back an excuse note from the doctor.

The child is held responsible for checking in and out of class and getting the notes to their counselor.

It taught my dd responsibilty.

Well, DS is 14 and not driving.

And there is no requirement to bring anything back from doctor, dentist, orthodontist, etc. here.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

When the parents call in to tell them of the appointment, it is written down in a "book". Student then comes to sign out. But how do the teacher, who is letting the student out of class, know (or not know) if the student is really has an appointment?

I take students at their word the first time. Your child's school, like mine, probably has an on-line attendance programme. On that programme, the secretaries in the office record when a student has an excused absence. I can then check it at the end of the day to make sure the absence was excused (theoretically I could check it during class, but I usually don't have the time, and I believe in trusting my students until they show me that I can't). If the student is not listed as excused, I would then call home to check with the parent what was going on.

In my experience, if a student wants to skip at the high school level, they are going to disappear between classes - they are not going to risk getting caught out on an imaginary appointment.

 

[golfgal]

When the kids were in middle school we had to send in a note that morning with the dismissal time. The kids were given a pass to leave class. On the RARE occasion we got the kids out for orthodontic appointments we could put in the note they were able to walk over to the ortho office and back (3 blocks from school). If we were picking them up we had to go into the school and sign them out.

Now that they are in high school we still send the note and the kids get a pass but they sign themselves in and out of the office-we just meet them out front.

 

[MM27]

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.

This is the part where you lost me. If school starts at 8:20 and you were going to need your son by 8:40, why even have him go to school? Why not just bring him after the appointment? It seems silly to go to school for 20 minutes.

In my school they do page for kids when their parents come to pick them up early, or if the security guard is around they will have him come get the student from class.

 

[englishteacha]

At our school, the kids bring a note to the office from their parents saying they'll be dismissed. The office gives them a dismissal slip and they show it to the teacher when it's time to leave their class. If a parent dismisses the child during the day (no note), the office will call the classroom and we'll send them to the office.

 

[Deb in IA]

This is the part where you lost me. If school starts at 8:20 and you were going to need your son by 8:40, why even have him go to school? Why not just bring him after the appointment? It seems silly to go to school for 20 minutes.

In my school they do page for kids when their parents come to pick them up early, or if the security guard is around they will have him come get the student from class.

He was there at 6 am for cross country practice. He showers, eats breakfast with the team, and goes to class.

Since his appointment wasn't until 9 am, I let him go to the first part of first period, which happens to be study hall for him.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

wow, I've never heard of this before.
I'm a Junior but at my school, your parent goes to student services, they write down the time, the reason for getting checked out, and the kids name then they sign. Then the office lady pages us for check-out. Simple as that.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well, DS is 14 and not driving.

And there is no requirement to bring anything back from doctor, dentist, orthodontist, etc. here.

Then you have a poor system of checking your kids out. In TX you had to document everything.

If your DS is required to remember he needs to leave then he has to learn to follow the rules along with everyone else.

 

[aprilgail2]

In grade school they just page the kid just gets paged from where ever they are.
In Jr. High and High school you can only get them between periods and then they have to just go to the office to meet their parent so it has to be planned in advance between the child and parent. If its an emergancy then they will send someone to the classroom to get them.
We don't need any kind of Dr's note or anything, there have been times in the spring on a extra nice day I would just go to grade school and pick up my daughter without her knowing I was even coming just so we could spend the rest of the afternoon at the park or playing ball....

 

[tink_n_pooh]

In high school (it was 10 years ago but they still do it hte same way) we had to bring a note to the main office before 1st period and get a pass. The student presents the teacher the pass for the class that they will be leaving during and then gets up and leaves when its time. There was no paging unless it was an emergency

 

[golfgal]

When the kids were in middle school we had to send in a note that morning with the dismissal time. The kids were given a pass to leave class. On the RARE occasion we got the kids out for orthodontic appointments we could put in the note they were able to walk over to the ortho office and back (3 blocks from school). If we were picking them up we had to go into the school and sign them out.

Now that they are in high school we still send the note and the kids get a pass but they sign themselves in and out of the office-we just meet them out front.

I stand corrected-DD informed me that at the high school they want parents to call in the morning with the time and reason for the kid to get out of school and then the kid picks up a pass at the attendance office when they get to school-shows you how much we do that . They still sign themselves in and out.