New attendance policies at our school this year ..grrr

Originally posted by CJMickeyMouse
I am tired of paying tax dollars so that the children in our community can play games 20% of the time they are at school (Friday Fun :rolleyes: ) .

:confused: So every Friday all the kids have a "fun day" in your area? I never heard of this.
 
Originally posted by Crankyshank
Around here kids have close to 4 months off of school when you count thanksgiving, christmas, february, april, and summer vacations.

Why someone would additionally need 3 wks off of school to schedule a cruise bewilders me. Is 4 months not enough?
Again, I do not need an additional 3 weeks. I am talking about 5 days here. Lucky for you, that you and your family can fit into the cookie cutter mold of vacation time that the school district cuts out for you. We work for a large coporation, we choose vacation based on seniority. When your coworkers have 20+ years service, the summer weeks, holiday weeks are taken before I or my DH even get our hands on the vacation schedule. As far as changing things around here, because of this new issue it is something I am seriously considering. It has never been an issue until now, as per the title of my post it is a *new* policy. Previously, at 10 unexcused absences a letter was sent out, I guess. I don't know for sure, as we have never reached that point. I specifically choose this week after Thanksgiving, A) The kids will have just come off of a 4 day weekend b) It was a VERY big savings and c) they only have 2 weeks in school until winter break. I am not that old (29) I remember school well, and I recall that this time of the school year was slow........Again I will clarify better with the school district to see what is what. I may be in jail, I may have to pay a fine, I may have to do community service, but I will do what I feel is the right choice for my family. I have always tried to enjoy today and live life like each day is the last. While some of you say DCL or WDW will still be there, that is all well and good and true. However, I or a member of my family may not always be there. Unfortunately, that is a fact of life. Our family vacations are very important to us, not only for the destinations, but also for the memories that are created. To me, that is more important than any fine or reprimand that will be imposed on myself or DH. I was just wondering if any of you had gone thru omething similar and what the outcome was?
 
dzneprincess your work is like mine my wife can go whenever she wants to but I get to basically pick whatever is left. The first 2 weeks of Dec are always available because everyone with seniority takes X mas break and the summer is a write off as it is booked up very early. same with our march break.
 
Year2late our school board here encompases our city of over 300 thousand people and the cities around us so if I want to change school boards I have to pack up and move from our city to about an hour and a half away. So no thanks I will stay where I am as for the board ya it sucks the school my kids attend is great. It is full french immersion and they love it. My wife and I also volunteer for school lunch help and also for any events they hold we have no problem with the school directly but if our board were to try and put something over like the OP is talking about they would be shot down very quickly.
 

My initial thought at the op was 'welcome to my world' but actually, I'd almost rather pay a fine if that was a choice than to have my child fail. In our school district only immediate death in family, personal illness, or court is considered a 'legal' excuse so any vacation or even grandparent funeral is unexcused and therefore no makeup work is allowed, tests missed are given zeros, etc. Many kids have been failed for family vacations. I don't agree with it but it is the system currently in place.

We are planning a Christmas trip to WDW. It wouldn't be my first choice for a time to visit but if it's that or risk my sons getting failing grades, I'll have to deal with the crowds.

I would cancel the cruise personally.
 
Our school here in Texas has the same policies about unexcused abcences. The only excused abcences are sickness, death, or family emergency. I wondered last year if our district would uphold the new policy, and they absolutely did. Several parents found themselves with a court date. The 4th unexcused, parent receives letter explaining that the next step will be a court date.
First offense receive a verbal warning in court. The second offense is a fine. The third is a fine and /or jail confinement.
 
I think 15 days of absences is pretty excessive - unless of course it can't be avoided due to illness, etc..

I don't consider 5 days a big deal at all..
 
Several things:
1) it says the school distrcit CAN impose a fine, etc. after 5 days. It doesn't say it absolutely will in every case. If you have talked it over with the administration and worked with the teachers, perhaps you will get a note home, but they don't have to fine you the way that is worded. Now folks who just let their kids stay home probably will get the fine.
2) at the HS where I work the policy is that if a student misses over 5 days unexcused they fail the quarter--14 days, they fail the semester. Excused absences require a doctor's note. Also college visitation is Ok if they know AHEAD of time--and vacations with family if they also know ahead of time (5 days max). The problem I've seen with vacations is that a student will miss 5 days for a family vacation, but 3 weeks later will miss 3 or 4 days for strep or mono or something--sure it's all excused, but that student is even further behind. No one can predict the future or future illnesses, esp. in wintertime. I had a girl this year who missed 10 days first quarter with mono, and 5 days 4th quarter with a collapsed lung (supposedly), plus numerous other small illnesses--she did NOT graduate as she failed math (she got by in my class with a very low D). Her dad came in to see her math teacher on the day of the final exam, asking "what can we do to get Katy to graduate?" He never contacted that teacher when he got her unsatisfactory report 3rd quarter, or the F, or the unsat. 4th quarter, or the note from the office saying "your child might not graduate...." He came in the day of the final!
3) there are reasons for these policies, and most of them are students who miss as much as they can. I have had students who will miss the 5 days each quarter as if they are entitled to it--some even save them up for the end of the quarter. There are also parents who will let their children stay home if they are tired, or worked late, etc. I'm not saying I never missed school--I had 9 days out with strep one year, and each quarter in HS I missed about 3 days with (TMI) bad cramps--but I alway worked my butt off to make it up. There are kids (and parents) who don't care and they drag the attendance % of the district (and the associated funding) down.
4) just wanted to add that the biggest offender I had EVER with attendance was a hockey player. He didn't play for our school here in Ohio, he played junior A somewhere. The school bent over backwards to accomodate him because his dad is a big time developer. He always asked for his work after these trips and did it in the least acceptable way possible. What really ticked me off was 2 weeks before school was out, he went to CANCUN with his team! His excuse? They couldn't go during spring break because of hockey, so he was going in mid-May! And his stupid, rich parents were OK with him doing it--I even called him on it and told the office it wasn't a "family" vacation (these were all boys over 18) and his Mom lied to them and said she was going! I wish he had gone to live with some Canadian family like all of the other good hockey players. He was so cocky about it I wanted to smack him.
Robin M.
 
Our school has a policy of only 10 days of excused absences- 5 for each semester.

We took DD out for a family vacation (Disney cruise) when she was in 2nd grade. I sent a note to the teacher and she graciously put together a few extra things for DD to do-- chart the weather at home vs on the cruise, do research on a bird native to the carribean, etc. plus her regular class work. DD was not sick that year so we didn't use any other days. Last year when she was in 4th grade we had planned another cruise during the year but changed it after the beginning of the school year. DD had a really tough teacher and was in the GT program etc. We decided it was better to move our trip than to jeopardize her school work.
 
"Kids can ONLY have 15 unexcused absences per year."

????????????

I, admittedly, haven't read through the whole post. Perhaps this is a misprint. But certainly this isn't a problem????
 
I haven't read all of the posts so I apologize ahead of time if I'm repeating what others have said

15 days unexcused allowed? That is a LOT.

Think of it this way - who here would LOVE to have a job where they got the summer off, extended time off during holidays, Other days off randomly throughout the year for non holidays, no required nights or weekends unless you do something extra that you WANT to and THEN they tell you you can be absent for 15 days without a good reason without repercussion above sick time?

Anyone else ready to line up for this life?? :wave: :wave: :wave:

Flame me if you want because I have no kids but I did play a kid in a former life about 20 yrs ago ;) - but - I was not pulled out of school on a yearly basis for vacations. Who am I kidding, my mom and I could barely afford food so vacations were few and far between but even then - trips to see family were done school breaks.

I will admit, in my sophmore year of high school I did miss 3 days of school to go to WDW. My brother offered to pay for me and my mom to go with him and his family during spring break and since the break in NY was slightly different than VA, we did overlap by 3 days. But that was it during my entire school career.

After reading some of the attitudes here with parents feeling their kids should be able to take a vacation whenever they wanted to something has been made crystal clear to me.

Now I know where these employees that I find that don't last but a couple of months come from. You know, the ones that DEMAND when they will take off, even though the company doesn't allow time off during that period? Then they find themselves with a permanent vacation? ;) I guess they had a lifetime of their parents allowing them to do what they please whenever they please no matter what the guidelines are with their "job" - whether it be grade school, high school or a real job.

Think of what message you are sending to your kids. You are telling them that it is OK for THEM to deviate from set guidelines. That guidelines and rules are meant for other people. Like I said I am not a parent but even I can realize you are doing such a disservice to your child by enforcing a "rules don't apply to me" mentality on them.

To the OP going on the cruise and having difficulty scheduling vacation time - does your company have that many full time people with vacation hours to schedule that it's impossible for you to pick a week that your child isn't in school? If the calender is that full of time already taken by senior employees, maybe you should talk to your boss and explain to them that it's to the point where vacations are going to have to overlap because of the sheer number of weeks that need to be scheduled. Have you tried to talk to a coworker that has a week scheduled during a school break that maybe doesn't have school aged children about trading weeks? I know you are between a rock and a hard place right now but if the teachers are adamant about your child receiving an unexcused absence for taking those days for a cruise - I'd cancel the cruise and rethink vacation schedules for the future years. You never know what emergency could happen later in the year (God forbid) that could cause you to need to take him/her out of school longer which would mean penalties to you.
 
Now I know where these employees that I find that don't last but a couple of months come from. You know, the ones that DEMAND when they will take off, even though the company doesn't allow time off during that period? [/B]



That was my point as well.
 
Sorry....

I thought we all still lived in the

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ?????
 
Originally posted by dzneprincess
I am not happy about it. It now says children can only have 15 unexcused absences per year and any child with 5 or more, their paretns can be fined $25- $100, jailed for 30 days or made to do community service!?!?! *** Is there anything I can do about this? We have another cruised planned for the week after Thanksgiving, and my kids will be missing 5 days of school. Has anyone been thru something like this or have any advice?

This policy change is for the entire state of Georgia.
 
OK, I must jump in here. I also live in GA and was told of this "new" policy. I also know that in GA parents are liable for their children not attending school - this isn't a new policy - and can be in trouble with the law. I know this because my 16 year old niece was skipping school and her parents were contacted by the authorities several times (and this was 5 years ago).

Here is what the policy states....

Increased educational accountability and recent changes in Georgia Law have led to a greater emphasis on school attendance. Outlined below is a summary to the attendance policy for the Douglas County Schools for all students in grades K-12. Please read carefully and if you have questions, contact the principal of your student's school.

Any time your student is absent or tardy to school, you must provide within 3 days a written excuse stating the reason for the student's absence. After the 10th day of absence due to illness, the excuse must come from a medical doctor. Students will be excused only for the following reasons.

1. Personal illness or attendance in school endangers the health of the student or others or conditions rendering attendance impossible or hazardous to student health or safety.

2. A serious illness or death in a student's immediate family necessitating absence from school.

3. A court order or an order by a governmental agency, including a preinduction physical examinations for service in the armed forces, mandating absence from school.

4. Religious holidays, necessitating absence from school.

5. Suspension from school or other actions by the school system that prohibits a child from attending school for a period of time.

6. One day for voter registration.

7. Students sent home from school with head lice would be excused for the day sent home and one more per occurrence. Any additional absences will be unexcused.

Students shall be in attendance for a minimum of one-half of the required instructional time to be counted as present for the entire day.

Every parent, guardian or other person residing in Georgia is required either to enroll and send children in their care and charge, between the ages of six and sixteen to a public or private school or to provide a home study program for these children which meets the requirements as set forth in law. Any student who is subject to compulsory education requirements and is deemed to be truant is subject to progressive disciplinary consequences. Students who accumulate more than ten school days of unexcused absences in any semester may be ineligible for an instructional permit or driver's license and students who already possess an instructional permit or driver's license may have such suspended (O.C.G.A. 40-4-22).

Any parent, guardian, or other person residing in this state who has control or charge of a child or children enrolled in Douglas County Schools who accumulates more than five (5) unexcused absences in violation of the Compulsory Education Law, (O.C.G.A. 20-2- 690.1) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine not less that $25.00 and not greater than $100.00, imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, community service or any combination of such penalties, at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction.


Of course this is referencing my school district but it pertains to all of Georgia. Maybe this helps with the explanation of the policy.
 
On the front page of the local paper last week, there was a story about the school system in the county I live in. Some schools in this system failed the attendance requirements for standardized testing set by NCLB act again. The entire system also failed due to low test scores. I really think problems likes these are why the state has to buckle down on attendance.
 
I took DD out 4 days in Early Dec. and 4 days in May last year for WDW vacations. I'd still take her out again but not those weeks. Early Dec. was very busy and she had a lot of work to take with her. In May it was the last week of school which was actually 1 whole day and 3 half days. This was 4th grade and it was extremely stressful to take those days. I thought they wouldn't be doing much. LOL Boy was I wrong. She is a straight A student or I would not think of taking her out but still, the weeks we went were tough ones.
 
Now I know where these employees that I find that don't last but a couple of months come from. You know, the ones that DEMAND when they will take off, even though the company doesn't allow time off during that period? Then they find themselves with a permanent vacation? I guess they had a lifetime of their parents allowing them to do what they please whenever they please no matter what the guidelines are with their "job" - whether it be grade school, high school or a real job.

You're absolutely right! It's simply a matter of setting priorities and teaching your children that sometimes the fun stuff has to come after the responsibilites in life. It's a lesson that will serve them well their entire lives.

A vacation to ANYWHERE isn't justification for missing school. Family time is important, but I don't believe you need to be at WDW to get in quality family time. Perhaps if more parents took their responsibilities seriously, the state wouldn't be forced to make rules and regulations that are nothing more than common sense.

I notice one poster who complains because their school allows some type of recreational activities one day a week. If that is such a crime, how in the world can anyone justify taking their child out of school for days at a time for nothing more than recreational activities???

Attendance requirements aside, teachers have better things to do than to cater to parents who want all the benefits of a private tutor without paying for it.
 
Does anyone else find it odd that suspension is considered an excused absence?
 















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