New attendance policies at our school this year ..grrr

[arminnie]

Originally posted by Rock'n Robin
There are also parents who will let their children stay home if they are tired, or worked late, etc.

Back in the very olden days when I was in school it was my home room teacher who used to tell my mother it was okay if I stayed home because I was tired. They both thought that I worked too hard. I only did that a few times my senior year, but my mother never called in and said I was sick - she told the truth that I was tired.

In addition to taking college level physics, calculus and honors English, I was a student body officer, on the drill team, and an Honor Society officer . I also worked about 25 hours a week. I made a 4 point (actually higher because of honors classes getting more points) and scored well over 1500 on my SATs. I was able to graduate from college in 3 years because of my advanced placement.

SO WHAT DID IT HURT FOR ME TO TAKE A DAY OFF BECAUSE I WAS TIRED???

I am NOT defending the lazy parents and children who are trying to get out of doing anything. It's just that in today's world the school would want to fail a student like me for doing something like visiting a grandparent on his deathbed or a parent about to be sent off to war.

And I never demanded vacation when I got in the work force. The lesson that I learned was to get the job done whatever it took and not to focus on just being there during the set hours. I did whatever it took to accomplish my goals and actually took very few vacations.

 

[Christine]

Honestly, I don't see what the gripe is. The school system isn't going to impose fines until AFTER 5 days of unexcused leave has occurred. That is enough time for one family to take one WDW vacation right in the middle of school. I mean, how many more vacations (unexcused leave) will you (the OP) need above and beyond the 5 days. Seems like the school is being reasonable here.

I took my kids out of school to go to WDW. Why, because for all the money I am paying I don't want to spend it packed like a can of sardines in the park at Christmas and Easter. Nor do I want to pay the premium prices for airfare and hotels to go at those times--I can't afford that. So, I took my kids out. Between the 2 weekends on either side of the 5 days, we had a very long 9-day trip. So what's the problem?

All the other days my kids were off were for illnesses or a family emergency (all excused). If you feel you need more than 5 UNEXCUSED days of leave each year for your kids, then I'd say you haven't adjusted well to idea of having school-aged children in your life.

 

[LisaSt]

Hey Rock'n Robin what is wrong with us Canadians and our hockey? I played HS hockey and the school did everything for us and for our football players to just like most HS's do for their big teams. Look at what happens in college in the US and in some states where the schoold are funded heavily for the athletic programs they do what they can to get great players for the teams.

 

[peachgirl]

SO WHAT DID IT HURT FOR ME TO TAKE A DAY OFF BECAUSE I WAS TIRED???

Do you suggest that schools have no attendance requirements and that students should be allowed to miss as many days as they or their parents decide is okay?

Public schools teach the masses. It's impossible to individualize every single rule or regulation. People really need to learn to work within a system even if they sometimes disagree with it.

Btw, I cannot imagine a teacher telling a parent that being "tired" is a sufficient excuse to miss school on a regular basis. The better solution would have been to lighten up your schedule so that you could attend school without being exhausted.

Does anyone else find it odd that suspension is considered an excused absence?

Since the school is requiring them to be absent, they can hardly penalize them for it. Many schools here only give out of school suspensions for the most serious of infractions because it really does more harm than good. In school suspensions where students are required to do all assignments is much more effective. However, if your child is being suspended from school, attendance is the least of your worries.

 

[Pete's Mom]

At my son's school 3 unexcused tardies equal an unexcused absence so you can accumulate them that way as well.

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by dzneprincess
Hi all! Wow didn't mean to stir up trouble. I was curious as to what others have experienced. I also think 15 days of unexcused was plenty. That is not the problem for me, personally. My problem is the 5 days or more, jail time and or fine and or community service. I guess I will call the school tommorrow (1st day of school) and get some clarifications. My children are ages 9/8/7 and 1. The older 2 are honor roll students. This is my 5 year old's 1st time at this school, as he will be in Kindergarden. I understand that there are some parents out there that dont give a rats hiney about their children's scholastic activities. So I can understand where the school district is coming from, but surely it is not just a black/white area. He were are, a family unit, wanting to spend quality time together....argh it just frustrates me. We will be taking the cruise, I will just have to deal with whatever comes my way. I rebooked while we were aboard last year, and last year the policy was 20 days max, and 10 days before there was action taken against the parent. That is what caught me by surprise when I read the paper this morning.

In Pennsylvania 3 straight days of Truancy{Basically, a child can be considered truant when he or she does not attend school for three or more days in a row without a valid excuse.}

can result in the arrest of the student, the parents, a fine and community service for up to 6 months...

as someone else stated, it may be a change in state law, not something controlled by the school district..

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by peachgirl
Btw, I cannot imagine a teacher telling a parent that being "tired" is a sufficient excuse to miss school on a regular basis.

Well I told you this was back in the olden days when teachers relied on common sense and not arbitrary rules. And you still didn't answer the question of what did it hurt for me to miss a day of school because I was tired.

I learned how to manage my time and be an over-achiever as opposed to being a straight work 9-5 and then go home kind of person.

My problem with some (not all by any means) of todays workers is not that they want to take a day off when they need to work but that they think that attendance (just showing up) is all that matters and they don't look at whether their work assignments are being accomplished.

And I did not say that there should be no attendance rules and the parents and students should be able to do whatever they wanted. I just don't think a student who knows the material hands down should be failed for taking time off. The teacher, principle, and parents should not have their hands tied by arbitrary rules. There should be some room left for just plain common sense.

 

[peachgirl]

And you still didn't answer the question of what did it hurt for me to miss a day of school because I was tired.

From what you say, it didn't hurt you at all.

It didn't hurt my sister either. She was valedictorian of our senior class. She was also on notice 3 weeks before we graduated that if she missed one more day she wouldn't graduate.

She wasn't tired, she just didn't see the need to attend a single day more than the rules required her to be there. She could get away with it, so she did. Btw, as salutatorian, I pretty much had the same attitude, I just didn't cut it as close as she did.

However, it's a little difficult to predict what effects allowing tired kids to skip school would have on every student. A much better policy, imo, is a reasonable attendance policy.

learned how to manage my time and be an over-achiever

It seems to me, that if you were skipping school because you were too tired to attend you weren't managing your time well at all.

The problem is that public schools have their hands full as it is. To try and adjust every requirement to fit the exact needs of every child just isn't possible in a public school setting. If a parent wants that type of individualized attention, public schools aren't the place to get it.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

arminnie, the kids I have today that stay home because they are "tired" are not the valedictorian and salutatorian. They are barely passing. They party too hard on the weekends and work too late during the week. They can barely be bothered to do any homework or study because it interferes with their social life. Being "tired" isn't an excuse in the real world, why should it be an excuse at school?
As for the hockey player, he did not play for our school, he played travel junior A, so we got no benefit from it, other than not making his rich father angry. If we had enforced our attendance policies on that kid he would have failed big time. He also had no respect for anyone on the staff--he had been booted out of a private school for his attendance, and he treated us all like dirt. If all hockey players were like that I'd send them all back up north.
Robin M.

 

[LisaSt]

The Juniour A players here in London all get preferential treatment to. They come and go as they please mind you it is tough when they have a 12 hour bus trip to get from one city to another to play a game. they routinely miss 3 to 4 days every 2 weeks during the season. Just out of curiosity what kind of money do the teachers in the US make? I have a relative that is woring for the board in our city that makes 35K a year. She is not a teacher she just looks after 1 special needs kid from Sept till the end of May. Another relative of mine just retired after about 10 or so years as a teacher to a nice 65K a year pension and still has his full medical and every other benefit they get. Our entry level teachers start at around 35K a year and then it goes up from there. We also do not have the violence problem that seems to plague the US school systems in some areas either thanfully. No this is not a Canada is better than the US post I am just commenting that even in our largest cities in Canada our teachers don't need to rely on metal detectors etc to keep things out of our schools.

 

[Christine]

Originally posted by LisaSt
No this is not a Canada is better than the US post I am just commenting that even in our largest cities in Canada our teachers don't need to rely on metal detectors etc to keep things out of our schools.

That's probably because your TV images are not inundated with violence like ours are--you've just got more nudity, which here is the US is bad, bad, bad.....so much worse to see some ****s than to watch someone get a bullet through the head.

 

[Maleficent13]

I kept meaning to post, but then I'd read arminnie's next post and say, "well, she said it better than I would". So thanks for saving me the typing, arminnie!

I do want to quote one thing though:

My problem with some (not all by any means) of todays workers is not that they want to take a day off when they need to work but that they think that attendance (just showing up) is all that matters and they don't look at whether their work assignments are being accomplished.

MTE. And this applies to school as well. I know kids who showed up everyday and received all kinds of attendance awards in school, yet barely passed (and in some cases, didn't). I have told my employees frequently: "It's not enough that you show up." I have an employee with lots of health problems who misses an above-average number of work days. But she accomplishes more on the days she is here than my employee who hasn't missed a day of work in 5 years. As arminnie said, it's about plain, old common sense.

eta: OT, Christine, I agree with you about the nudity v. violence too!

 

[LisaSt]

Personally I would rather see a little T&A than constantly see peple being gunned down at school etc in the news. In Ontario there was a law passed a few years back that women can now go topless in public if they so choose. I would rather see that than have people shooting up the streets and yes I do realize this doens't happen all over the place but the way the US media shows it you would think it happens on every street corner in every city. I guess we are just a little more laid back up here and a much less violent society. This also translates into our kids and school as we have one of the best school systems in the world or so it has been reported anyhow. And far less school violence than most places. If I show up at the begining of the school year and let the school know my kids are going on vacation in Dec for 2 weeks they never have a problem with this there is always work for them to do and the kids are set aside 2 hours per day while on vacation to do the required work so as to not fall behind in the assignments.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Originally posted by arminnie
There should be some room left for just plain common sense.

 

[JayBee]

Oct03 Disney Magic/

Feb 04 POP/

April 04 offsite/

July 04 POP/

Sept 04 Disney Wonder

/Nov 04 Disney Magic

LOL! Did anyone really look at the OP's siggy????? :

 

[gometros]

Originally posted by JayBee
LOL! Did anyone really look at the OP's siggy????? :

Maybe if people need to take that much vacation and have to take their kids out of school to accomodate that lifestyle, they should consider home schoolinig. It would probably solve things all around.

Of course if they can afford to go to Disney that much, maybe they don't need school, since they probably won't have to work for a living

 

[mudhen]

Most school districts do allow for a certain of number of
vacation days to be excused absences.

Just like most employers have rules regarding attendance,
so do schools.
And in many cases, employer attendance policies are probably
much more strict than school districts.
(ex.-- I doubt many companies would allow "5" unexcused,
no call/ no show absences before the employee gets canned)

 

[Hillbeans]

Personally, I don't think it's fair to the child to miss that much school. You may want to vacation that much, but some kids don't learn at the level as others do and perhaps that many absences may make a difference in grades.

I think the school year is set up as such to allow for a lot of family time. My parents would occasionally take us out on the thursday before a long holiday to get to the destination before the holiday, however I think only once in my school career did we take a full week off during school time.

I know you have the "right" to do it, and family vacations do add educational value and memories to any family, however I do think that is A LOT of absences. A close friend of mine missed a ton of school at the end due to illness and she didn't graduate. It can happen, and the school will mandate it if necessary.

 

[lucky_bunni]

Looking at the OP's siggy, I'm thinking they have plenty of family time at WDW. If I were the school, I wouldn't be buying ALL these WDW trips as educational.

 

[dzneprincess]

If you will, look more closely at my sig line and my location. I am able to hop down to WDW for weekend trips. Since I have an AP I do that often. My children missed no school for the trips listed in my sig with the exception of our family cruise last year. They are not going on the cruise in September, as that is an adults only cruise. Therefore bringing us back to the point of this post, our family cruise in November, that my children will miss 5 days of school for. All the other trips are a moot point, as no school was missed. Thank you for your diligence BTW I did call the school district this morning and was assured that I did not have a problem. So panic mode off It will be the same deal as last year, I will receive a letter advising me that my children have missed 5 days of school. My children do not miss school for any other reason, except sickness. When they are sick, to the doctor we go. So there will be no other unexcused absences.

Hillbeans, I appreciate your point of view. If my children were struggling in school, then this would not even be a question, we would not go. However, I have said it before, my kids make straight A's every marking period. We had no problems last year, as far as missed work. I picked the week we are sailng, because it is after a 4 day weekend (Thanksgiving) and there is no testing going on, and there is only 2 weeks before they are again out for winter break. Thanks for your input everyone. I sure am glad that this is the USA and we are all free to parent as we see fit, and do what is best for our family.