Kids missing school for a cruise!!

[mom2val]

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[DisneyCowgirl]

Texas public school missed 1 week each year k-4 th grade with zero problems. Our district clearly stated in handbook that 1 week of family vacation was excused. Now in private school in Texas and still no problem missing 1 week each year in 5-7th grade. We do vacation usually 1 week before Christmas break. We always get all makeup work and when we return from break it all gets turned in first day back.

Where are you that one week of family vacation is excused? I love that!

 

[DisMom829]

We live in SouthEast Texas, in Dec of 13 we had a DW Vacay planned to start the day after Christmas. My DH's job changed the holiday Vacay schedule & he got bumped to Vacay the week before Christmas. We had a tough decision to make, we planned meetings with both kids principles at school DS 7th grade & DD 2nd grade. The jr hi gave him excused based on he had to write a full report on the Vacay, which we managed to incorporate a lot with Social Studies at Epcot. The Elementary on the other hand raked us over the coals. DD ended up with 5 unexcused absences & we got a certified letter in regards to truancy from our school district. When we met with the principals as soon as we found about DH's change, we had the letter from DH's job stating the Vacay schedule change & the printout where I had booked our Vacay dates after Christmas. I will NEVER pull them out again. That was a nightmare.

 

[mom2val]

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[ocspartan]

DFW area--- here is the info from the current student handbook of the Texas public ISD my daughter was in.... FAMILY TRIPS Students shall be excused for family trips, subject to the following guidelines: Parents must notify the school in advance in writing . Students must make prior arrangements (at least one week) with teachers for make-up work. Semesters exams will not be given early. A maximum of five consecutive school d ays or one trip per year shall be allowed.

You are lucky that your kids attend a school with logic.... We are here in the Houston suburbs and the handbook clearly lists vacations on the unexcused side.... Our week cruise on the fantasy resulted in no less than three emails, one letter and a certified letter about truancy and possible court dates.....

Doesn't matter that my daughter went on to have straight a's and receive the principals award, or that they cancelled classes in case we were getting some cold weather just so they could save half days for the teachers that as my daughter said they spent mostly watching movies.....

Bottom line know the local laws in your school district, all are different some are more logical than others. Knowing all of the risks and penalties you'll need to weigh out the pros and cons personally.... Btw we have another cruise booked for a week during the school year next year just before a break....

 

[belac]

So I was curious and here it is for our Texan members: If your school policy states that Travel is an unexcused absence you have to be a bit persuasive with you principal or perhaps you can become chummy with you child's physician for one of those great doctors notes that state they did a culture and state that the child is to stay away from school until the culture results get back in 4-5 days to prevent infecting other children or staff.

What are the truancy laws in the state of Texas?

A~ Compulsory School Attendance (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.085) A student between the ages of 6 and 18 MUST attend school and all District – required tutorial sessions unless the student is otherwise legally exempted or excused. Upon enrollment in prekindergarten or kindergarten, a child shall attend school.

B~ Failure To Attend (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.085) An individual, required to attend school, who is absent without excuse on ten or more days; or parts of days within a six month period. An individual, required to attend school, who is absent without excuse on three or more days; or parts of days within a four week period. (that is where they get you)

C~ Parent Contributing to Non Attendance (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.093) If a warning letter is issued, the parent with criminal negligence fails to require the child to attend school as required by law, and the child has ten or more days or parts of days within a six month period, or three or more days or parts of days within a four week period; the parent shall be charged.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

So I was curious and here it is for our Texan members: If your school policy states that Travel is an unexcused absence you have to be a bit persuasive with you principal or perhaps you can become chummy with you child's physician for one of those great doctors notes that state they did a culture and state that the child is to stay away from school until the culture results get back in 4-5 days to prevent infecting other children or staff.

What are the truancy laws in the state of Texas?

A~ Compulsory School Attendance (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.085) A student between the ages of 6 and 18 MUST attend school and all District – required tutorial sessions unless the student is otherwise legally exempted or excused. Upon enrollment in prekindergarten or kindergarten, a child shall attend school.

B~ Failure To Attend (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.085) An individual, required to attend school, who is absent without excuse on ten or more days; or parts of days within a six month period. An individual, required to attend school, who is absent without excuse on three or more days; or parts of days within a four week period. (that is where they get you)

C~ Parent Contributing to Non Attendance (Texas Education Code Sec. 25.093) If a warning letter is issued, the parent with criminal negligence fails to require the child to attend school as required by law, and the child has ten or more days or parts of days within a six month period, or three or more days or parts of days within a four week period; the parent shall be charged.

Oh yeah! I've seen all this language before--when we got letters saying the truancy police were going to bring us DOWN! I had the nerve to take both my kids out of school for a whole week for a trip to New York City.

One of my kids was in Pre-K. Yes, you can be truant from Pre-K. The other one is in second grade and makes straight A's.

During that missed week, my kids saw the Metropolitan Museum, more than one broadway show, an off-broadway show, a military submarine, an aircraft carrier, the space shuttle, the rockettes, the museum of natural history, the statue of liberty, snow, and tons more, and they figured out how to navigate the subway and stayed in a tiny apartment that a family of 4 would actually live in. I am 100% fine with my decision.

 

[belac]

Oh yeah! I've seen all this language before--when we got letters saying the truancy police were going to bring us DOWN! I had the nerve to take both my kids out of school for a whole week for a trip to New York City.

One of my kids was in Pre-K. Yes, you can be truant from Pre-K. The other one is in second grade and makes straight A's.

During that missed week, my kids saw the Metropolitan Museum, more than one broadway show, an off-broadway show, a military submarine, an aircraft carrier, the space shuttle, the rockettes, the museum of natural history, the statue of liberty, snow, and tons more, and they figured out how to navigate the subway and stayed in a tiny apartment that a family of 4 would actually live in. I am 100% fine with my decision.

Wow that is a lot to do in a week and sounds fabulous. I would take my DS out of school for that too.

 

[PoopDeckPappy]

One school week. DD was in 1st grade. This December DDs will be in 2nd grade and 1st grade and will again miss one week. I don't know that we'll do it when they are in middle or high school but for grammar school we'll do it each year. Later years will depend on how well they can adapt to missing a week of school.

 

[tb209]

We took our first Disney cruise this past January. We did schedule the cruise for a shorter school week (Monday off for teacher workshop) so then they were only to miss 4 school days. However we live in Minnesota and there was a snow day during that week so they only missed 3 days. Personally, I don't think I'd go beyond 5 days for the ages of my kids.

 

[mom4fun]

My ds is 13 and he has missed 5-6 days of school for vacation since kindergarten. It has never affected his grades. He has had all A's throughout middle school. With that being said, he almost never misses more than 1-2 days the rest of the school year and he is motivated to do the work and study that it takes. For 8th grade he will be missing 8 days due to the panama canal cruise we will be taking. It fell over a school field trip so I thought it would be perfect timing to take advantage of taking him on a field trip we chose.

 

[jlynch924]

DD (11, heading into 6th grade) has missed 3-4 days every year since Pre-K. This year, she will miss 5 days straight in November. She goes to private school in Texas, which is understanding about these things.

 

[dvcdisney]

Not specifically for a cruise, but for the past 11 yrs, we have, at least, been on a 2 week vacation in March and another 2 wks in August. But technically, that's only 1 week they miss of school. My oldest just turned 15 and will be in grd 10 this September. We are planning another 2 wks in March so he will miss 1 wk of school. With our school board, if you are in high school, you have to follow a procedure to miss any pre-arranged days off. The students have to get all the teachers to sign a sheet and provide comments, which will need to be signed by the parents. Then a meeting is set up with the student and the Vice Principal to review the sheet.

For this past March, he was told by all but one of his teachers to wait until he gets back to catch up. I always get him to check to see if the teachers would like him to work on a project or something to make sure he's catching up. At this age, we have asked him if he is willing to miss the week and do extra work. It's his decision because he is the one who has to do the work.

 

[jrabbit]

My kids never had issues with missing school - they were top students. But as they get older SPORTS becomes an issue!!! (With out High school there would not be any High School sport!! Same with college.) Yep "our" priorities are a bit skewed!!

 

[Ofinn]

My kids never had issues with missing school - they were top students. But as they get older SPORTS becomes an issue!!! (With out High school there would not be any High School sport!! Same with college.) Yep "our" priorities are a bit skewed!!

My kids are homeschooled, but Little League kills Spring cruising, and now he wants to play Fall league. UGH!!! I always feel guilty when he misses games so I can only imagine how seriously coaches and parents take high school sports.

 

[momof2n2]

My kids are homeschooled, but Little League kills Spring cruising, and now he wants to play Fall league. UGH!!! I always feel guilty when he misses games so I can only imagine how seriously coaches and parents take high school sports.

Ugh. Next year (2015-2016) we will have to respect a school calendar as my son will do dual enrollment with 10th grade homeschool & local community college.
It's.
Gonna.
Do.
Me.
In.

 

[tvguy]

K-12, 2 kids, zero days missed for any vacation for 2 reasons.

First, DW and I can't get time off during the non-peak fare weeks.

Second. Given that we set a goal of working all the kids doctor, dentist, orthodontist and eye appointments around their school schedule, we'd kind of be hypocrites if we turned around and took them our for a vacation. And yes, neither kid missed a minute of school from K-12 for any such appointment.

 

[NYIceQueen]

We live in NY and all our family is in Florida. My husband's parents are in their 80s and not in great health...my grandmother is in a nursing home under Hospice-type care so my mom will not leave for a vacation, so it's up to us to take my parents' only grandchildren to FL to see them.

This will be our first year taking a "family" vacation, as all our other vacations have always been going to someone's house.

However, with that in mind, flying to/from Florida 3 times a year is expensive, so the only way we can swing it is to usually fly on off days (like 3-4 days before vacations start, for example), which means missed school.

We let the teachers know ahead of time (DD will be entering 8th) and I usually make her do work while on vacation. Since science is covering animals (specifically marine ones) around that time, the plan is for her to do a report on the marine life she sees/what she learns about them. She will also be working on her Spanish, and since they're required to take a 2nd language we will use this experience as a prep for her verbal Regents Spanish test.

I also don't allow missed days through the year for anything other than the most serious illnesses, and my daughter is an Honor Roll student.

Part of scheduling, though, is that the schools are coming out later and later with calendars and Spring Break is at different times each year. Makes for planning an affordable cruise during a break tough.

Each person has their own limit, though, and knows their child. We're used to it for the above reasons so I feel okay. Once she's in high school, though, that can't happen, and frankly that's one reason we're doing a cruise this school year.

 

[shell12367]

my son will miss 2 weeks of school this year for vacation, he is only in Pre-k, so it isn't a huge deal, but it is our first disney cruise!

 

[Disney Mommy D]

My son missed a week this past year for our Disney trip. At the time he was attending a private Pre-K. Now that he is going to regular school we won't be pulling him out for vacations. If we ever do, he would only miss 1 or 2 days tops. Our district is very strict about absences and I would not want him to get behind if at all preventable.