New attendance policies at our school this year ..grrr

[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?

 

[JPN4265]

I am sure that you have just opened a very large can of worms with this post.

 

[Cruisin]

Can the school legally charge you a fine for your kid missing 5 days of school?

 

[year2late]

Originally posted by JPN4265
I am sure that you have just opened a very large can of worms with this post.

Yup, and I will be the first (if I type fast enough). 15 unexcused absences is MORE than fair. That is 3 weeks of unexcused school time. This is on top of whatever excused abscences the child may have had. Many teachers are already overburdoned and they do not need to be spending their time on a student that is of on extended family trips.

I think if a family's need to be away from schol is so excesive, they need to figure out an alternative and more flexible school. Like it or not, schools are frequently funded by their daily attendence. No attendence, no money.

Yes, I occasionally take my son out of school for "family things". But 15 days? EEEEEEK!

 

[year2late]

Originally posted by Cruisin'Kroezes
Can the school legally charge you a fine for your kid missing 5 days of school?

These are unexcused absences. I have no problem whatsoever with a school district trying to recoop their losses. Legal, I hope so.

 

[Serena]

I suggest you ask for permission, maybe for something like this vacation, it will be allowed.

Just think of the attendance problems that caused this rule to be made.

 

[chell]

Originally posted by dzneprincess
... and any child with 5 or more, their paretns can be fined $25- $100, jailed for 30 days or made to do community service!?!?! ...

That sounds a little too strict to me. Does this school system allow you to make a vacation an educational trip?

 

[buzzz1]

15 unexcused absences is MORE than fair. That is 3 weeks of unexcused school time. This is on top of whatever excused abscences the child may have had. Many teachers are already overburdoned and they do not need to be spending their time on a student that is of on extended family trips.


From a Kindergarten teacher....... I TOTALLY AGREE.

 

[KristaTX]

Are they elementary school aged? If so go in and talk to the teachers and/or principal the second or third week of school. Hopefully planning this in advance will prevent any misunderstanding. Maybe the kids can write a report about their trip. Also, what is considered unexcused? If 15 days are allowed, then that still allows 2 weeks (10 days) for illnesses, etc. 15 days is a lot of days.

School districts have to have attendance policies. I worked in schools for 7 years and was part of an attendance committee for 2 years. It is unbelievable how much school some students miss. Any reasonable school should be willing to work with you, though, as long as you tell them far in advance and as long as your kids aren't persistently absent. If they are in high school then it probably isn't a good idea for them to miss a week anyway, but it's probably too late to change your plans now.

 

[KathyTX]

Is there a reason you couldn't you reschedule your cruise for a time when your children are not in school?

 

[Blueeyes101817]

in the high school i attended, family vacations were considered excused absences..there was a form to be filled out at least 10 days before the trip, for a maximum of 5 consecutive days...they were considered excused

 

[SpecialK]

Check the definition of excused vs. unexcused absences. In our district, unexcused refers to absences that are not called in by a parent or guardian. Excused absences are called in, ie: school is notified of absence by responsible adult prior to absence. There is a limit on how many excused absences a student may accrue for non-medical reasons. Communicate with the school. I don't think you'll have a problem.

 

[year2late]

Originally posted by Blueeyes101817
in the high school i attended, family vacations were considered excused absences..there was a form to be filled out at least 10 days before the trip, for a maximum of 5 consecutive days...they were considered excused

That may have been true for your school, but liek Serena said, "think of the attendence problems that caused the rule to be made".

The rule wasn't pulled from the sky. There must have be huge financial losses in the distric (city or state) that sparked this rule.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

My HS had a policy of only 5 unexcused absences. If you had more than 5, you had to repeat the year. Guess what counted as unexcused absences: visiting college campuses, participating in school-sponsored extracurricular activities that caused you to miss school (I was on the HS swim team and our district and regional meets were all day Friday for prelims and Sat for finals), etc.

Needless to say, I never took "vacations" during the school year! Of course that probably had more to do with my teacher mother than the school policy!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I agree that you need to check to see what the definition of unexcused is. If a child makes up all of the work missed, I don't see how the school can prevent them from going on a family vacation. Or shall I say I don't think they SHOULD be able to.

IMO the people who spend family time with their kids are probably the ones that also value education the most. They should not be punished.

Good luck.

 

[*Fantasia*]

15 days of UNexcussed, that's plenty enough. If the kids need to be out of school for more than 15 days, I think I would schedule the trip during summer so I can take the kids for a month even.

My kids are in catholic school and I don't think they have any set of how many days can be missed wether it be excused or not. That's why I won't let my kids miss too many days. I am paying the school for my kids to learn.

I'm not sure about getting fined and going to jail and doing community service. I think that is way a bit too much.

 

[Cinders]

Our school only allows 10 days unexcused and for those days the teachers are not required to allow make-up work. Although there are 5 days of pre-planned family vacation time allowed. You must fill out a request then the student takes it to each teacher to sign it then the principal approves it.

 

[luvdzny]

I agree that it is frustrating that the schools can tell us what we are allowed to do with our children. I think that time spent together as a family on vacation is VERY important! It is hard for us to vacation in Florida during the summer because DD has health problems and the Florida heat is not good for her. We always took our kids out of school for vacations and don't regret it. We do go in summer now, but we really have to cut down on our daytime activities because it is so hard for DD. I say if you want to take them out and your are willing to help them keep up with their work, it should be you decision!

 

[monarchsfan16]

Originally posted by Blueeyes101817
in the high school i attended, family vacations were considered excused absences..there was a form to be filled out at least 10 days before the trip, for a maximum of 5 consecutive days...they were considered excused

Family vacations excused?!
The school where I go doesn't excuse family vacations. Also if you miss more than 6 days of school in one quarter (marking period) you have to appeal or you will receive attendance failures in each of your classes for that quarter. Many appeals never go through, even the ones that are documented, with doctors notes.
Definitely check the definition of excused or unexcused. I'm shocked that they can fine the parents, or take legal action. I also wonder how a student can have up to 15 a year but their parents can be fined after 5 . Sorry but that makes no sense.
I do agree that 15 unexcused days is really excessive at any grade level. I could barely keep up with the work load this year and I only missed 4 days. And I remember falling behind even in 2nd grade when I missed about 10 days spread over the entire year. I hate my school attendance policy (college visits are not excused and I just barely avoided having to appeal numerous times in the past 3 years) but it's certainly there for a reason. Try to get some more clarification on the policy at your kids' school.

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Originally posted by luvdzny
I agree that it is frustrating that the schools can tell us what we are allowed to do with our children. I think that time spent together as a family on vacation is VERY important! It is hard for us to vacation in Florida during the summer because DD has health problems and the Florida heat is not good for her. We always took our kids out of school for vacations and don't regret it. We do go in summer now, but we really have to cut down on our daytime activities because it is so hard for DD. I say if you want to take them out and your are willing to help them keep up with their work, it should be you decision!

I respectfully disagree.

Aside from missing classes (which can't be easily made up by sending home work in the elementary grades--it is not the same), there is the issue of school funding. Public schools are funded based on their ADA (average daily attendance). When children are absent, the school loses money. So, I see nothing wrong with schools recouping their lost revenue.

And I also agree that 15 UNexcused absences are more than enough.