Planning DVC when school calender aren't out!

[spiceycat]

I know it is not a week - but don't most schools have a 3-day weekend at Thanksgiving - now I know Thanksgiving is very crowded at WDW - but the weather is still pretty good - and the parks are decorated on Thanksgiving....

right now and next year the points are low - not sure about 2006 - but I hope this continues

the fall break is nice if the school system tells you in advance - this year for instance in her cases - she might have found out the end of July or early August - well guess what most of October was already gone......

Schools really need to get their act together - this is very bad planning on the schools part - does not inspire confidence.

maybe you should get with other parents and petition the board to have their schools schedules at least 18 to 24 months in advance - if they tell they can't find out why......It is probably one person (pencil pusher) who is a control freak - they need to get rid of this pain and get someone who will work with others.

 

[colleen costello]

This calendar confusion bugs me too. We live in a county with 2 separate school systems, and the OTHER one has started to plan its calendars 3 years at a time. I think this is great. Our smaller system bumbles along doing a year at a time. Shan, you might call the school. I have found here that the calendar is often "proposed" and just not released to the parents until the Board approves it. They'll probably tell you what the calendar SHOULD be.

Also, I have been told that more schools are ending the "day off here and there" routine because it causes chaos for families where both parents work. I guess days that the kids have off but the parents don't are stressful. I personally love the little "long weekend" vacations and we plan our WDW trips around these. Luckily our school is very flexible about vacation absences. That will cahnge when junior high sets in... We won't be able to travel at the "empty" times for a long time!

 

[zulaya]

In my school district we usually get Thanksgiving and the day after off. Sometimes we get the Weds. too.

I think in our district's case, it's just a habit. Do one year at a time. They probably think parents don't need to know - or want to know - farther than that. I am sure DVCers don't make up the majority of the parent population.

I wonder if it has something to do with budgets, like how many teacher workshop days they want to schedule and all that. Who knows? Big mystery.

 

[rinkwide]

All this scheduling and attendence BS is making home schooling look more and more attractive. (Guess I better learn how to spell attendance first.)

 

[AFMom]

We really can't plan ahead with my husband's military career. We'll be in 2 different states this school year! Also, DH wasn't able to take ANY vacation in the last 12 months, so we're trying for a trip in the Fall - not even worried about school schedules because we'd never get to do anything as a family if we did!! Luckily, our current school has a 20 day policy for the year - illnesses are only excused if they are hospitalized - so I'm betting that the kids won't get that sick!!! We're taking them out for a full 5 days.
Back to the education trip idea..... here is a link to sample letters with examples as to why a trip to Disney World is educational! Pre written for your convinience! There are also trip journals, id badges, et cetera.

http://www.themouseforless.com/schoolexcuse/SE.shtml

hope it works! If not, go to mouseforless.com and look at the left hand menu column.
Good luck to all with this.

 

[twotoohappy]

http://www.themouseforless.com/SchoolExcuse/SE.shtml

maybe this link will work. Anyways, thanks for the link, I haven't seen this site before!
I take my dd8 every year for 5 days and have never had a problem. She's ahead of the work now, but I'm sure in High School, I'll be limited to school vacations because of the difficulty of the work.

 

[mom2alix]

Originally posted by AFMom
illnesses are only excused if they are hospitalized - so I'm betting that the kids won't get that sick!!!

I'm sorry, but I think this is a ridiculous policy. There are a lot of times when kids are too sick to be at school (infecting everyone else BTW), but no where near sick enough to require hospitalization. DM just retired from teaching and was commenting on how much her health has improved since she's not around sick children all day. A lot of parents send kids to school sick because they need to work (or I guess in some areas due to policies like this) and the result is that the sick child isn't learning since they need to be home in bed and the teacher and other children get to share the germs. That's not a winning situation for anyone.

Have some of these school systems forgotten exactly who is responsible for these children (their parents)? I don't think people should just be pulling their kids out of school willy-nilly, but some of these policies are positively draconian It's like their no tolerance policies where they abandon all common sense and expel kids who take an aspirin or have a set of nail clippers. I don't think a family trip is going to severely damage a child's learning and surely reasonable parents and a reasonable teacher can come up with some sort of solution to allow a child to miss a couple of days.

On the plus side, our schools here do leave it up to the individual principal to work with parents rather than making hard and fast rules. Rumor has it we're also going to year-round schooling in the next 3 years which will be really nice for trip planning. I'm constantly amazed when I read here about the problems some parents have with unreasonable teachers and schools. It makes me want to take some treats across the street to thank the wonderful folks we've got teaching our kids here.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Originally posted by Johnnie Fedora

As for this GA law, that sounds like it is a local issue. Many public schools receive state funds based on attendence, so there is a direct relationship between attendence and the funding an individual school receives.

Yep. A lot of public schools are underfunded already. I suspect many public schools are enacting the attendence requirement in order to ensure getting much needed state funds.

 

[Laurabearz]

I gotta say..... they would have to take me to court... and of course I would pull out my child from school to attend court....

There is a huge difference between kids cutting class (which is what they want to stop... making parents more responible for getting the kids to school) and a family taking a vacation.

I have no problems if I was summoned.

 

[AFMom]

Mom2alix - I completely agree with your statements! I refuse to let my kids go to school sick - my son had a cold and was too tired from sneezing all night - so I kept him home. I try very hard not to "share the weath" of my kids' illnesses - not enough people do this!!! Colds certainly need no hospitalization - neither do most childhood illnesses! My kids are 6 and 7, and our school treats them like truant thugs. Can't stand the system here - I'm currently debating homeschooling. They don't even get a recess!!!! Ug! Anyway - I'm taking my kids out whether they approve or not!

 

[Pinnie]

Part of the calendar issue is that in a lot of states and districts the calendar is tied into the Union Contract. Our extended 5 yr contract expires June 05 and another one won't be published until a contract is signed. Of course the district would put a "temporary" one in place.

Our district has had it's calendars out on it's web site for years, enabling parents to really plan ahead.

Also, someone mentioned "professional development days" These are also now required not only by NCLB standards but by the individual state. I have to file with my state (Michigan) every spring the 30 hours of professional development I have participated in during the school year. I can only count the hours I was actually IN P.D and not lunch, teacher staff meetings, etc. All PD hours have to be accounted for so that I can remain "Highly Qualified" according to NCLB standards.

As a teacher, I am totally going to agree that the new NCLB standards are going to make PARENTS more accountable now, too, when it comes to attendance. NCLB is so underfunded that every $ is going to count, therefore attendance is an issue!

All I can say is that I have 2 more years until I retire from teaching and than I can plan to use my DVC points in the "off season" instead of during the $$$ times.

pinnie

 

[lenshanem]

Katie,
I thought this is GA law? Maybe I should look into this and verify.

We're in Cobb County district, not Marietta City district.

So, I'm curious as to what is excused? If they are sick and I keep them home I wonder if they have to have a doctor's note? If so, I can see potential for more kids getting sick by sharing germs!
Not every illness requires a trip to the doctor.


Someone mentioned the south having a fall break. My county doesn't. We really only have a three day Thanksgiving break, winter break and spring break.

Now the county I referred to was Cherokee. They just passed a year long school and their calender is AWESOME! I thought I'd be opposed to it, but really it isn't much different as far as summer off. They get a full week in the fall and also an additional week in winter, around February I think? They are slowly adding it. This year they'll have the extra fall week, the following year February, too. They go back to school only one week ahead of us, out around the same time!!! Oh, and their Thanksgiving is all week! They just got rid of all the one day holidays thrown in here and there.

I saw their calender as a bonanza of potential DVC trips!!!

 

[spiceycat]

you know about this site
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/_dbs/system_superintendents.asp

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks Pat. Actually, I had the Cobb website. This might be interesting to see what other counties in GA are doing though...

Adding to favorites..............

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

I am married to a public school employee, so travel during school time is OUT for us.

The school board here does approve the school calendar in March/April every year, so that makes it easy to plan spring break at the 11 month window.

 

[gracelrm]

DH and I are both educators. I served on the Calendar Committee for my district this past winter to set the 2004-05 calendar. I never realized how many things affect the school calendar. I learned that many things are not in the district's control. For example, due to College Credit being offered for some HS classes; they must have minimum number of days in a semester for the students to actually receive the credit. This affects the start date and fall breaks. Then if we have a December snow and miss a few days of school - those student's college hours are in danger if there weren't "enough" days in the semester. Also, in our state, Spring Break is supposed to fall during the State Education Association's big conference. When we met in February - the state association hadn't announced their dates yet. NCLB has deadlines for testing and the state has to make sure their testing contractor can meet the deadlines. So testing dates affect the school calendar. Many education "experts" feel that long breaks are detrimental to student's learning so they encourage lots of "long weekends" rather than longer breaks. While other "experts" believe that longer breaks - fewer times of the year are more educationally productive. Anyway, I think many components factor into a public school calendar that most people never know about. As far as the absences, I can't imagine any system actually believing no one should miss school unless they are hospitalized. That's insane!!!!!

 

[RuthnPaul]

We've been extremely fortunate in this respect. Between K - 5th grade, the kids in our school district go year-round (9 weeks on, 3 off, extra at holidays) so we were able to hit WDW at some of the less crowded times, particularly September. When they start middle school, it goes back to a more "normal" school year which pretty much dictated that we would head to Disney over summer (MUCH TOO HOT!!) This year the school district has implemented a fall break in addition to the spring/Easter and Christmas breaks (to get the required number of days in, they are only off about 2 1/2 months over summer) so, guess what folks? We're heading to BWV the week of October 16!! Having only one child, the different school schedule has never posed problems, but when you have kids in elementary and middle/high school, it CAN make planning difficult.

 

[WithDisneySpirit]

Last year, when one DS was 11, he got sick a lot! He started with Strep throat the day before Xmas holidays ended! Then he got strep again three weeks later. Then he got cold/sinus infections twice after that. In all, he missed about 5-6 days of school. I wrote notes and sent doctor written excuses. I also made sure he got to catch up all his schoolwork!

THEN, toward the end of the school year, his school actually sent a letter to me stating that the parent can be brought up on charges if a child misses more than a certain number of days. It was a form letter, but I was sooooo offended. I kept him home and stayed home from work with him because he was ill and it was the right thing to do!! Unbelievable

They really sent that letter to the wrong parent and I let them know it. Sorry so long, but y'all hit a nerve with me.

With regard to school calendars, our 2005-2006 usually isn't posted until April 2005. Can't imagine it would work to reserve the wrong week on a DCL trip

Thanks, Lisa

 

[twinmomplus2new]

Same here with us. when DD was in 5th grade we had just moved to my mom's while we built our new house. 2 months after she started My Grandfather was taken very ill. And I just wanted to go ( Home) Thankfully our house wasn't sold yet. So I talked to the Principal and teachers of the current school and told them of the situation. Anyway subsequently her old principal called and said to bring her in until I was ready to go back. So she was enrolled (albeit off the books) We stayed 3 weeks until my Grandfather died. Then she was put back in the new school. Anyway I ended up recieving a summons to appear for truancy. I actually was mailed a letter. telling me, "While family vacations are fun, they are not allowed during the school year"

When I went in like a crazy person, and said wait a minute... I spoke to you. The other school principal called you all her work is done... And they actually said. Sorry we can't be expected tpo keep track of all the children we have?

She never went back after that conversation!

 

[Deesknee]

We always take our kids out of school for our WDW vacations. Our kids understand this is ONLY if honor roll is met. So far so good. We have always been honest with the schools. This means plenty of homework during vacation, but usually little grief from the administration. In our small town it is 5 consecutive school days. Translation- send them to school Mon. spend 10 nights return them to school on a Friday. Usually we wait for a Monday holiday in there too. So usually we leave on a Friday pm before a Monday holiday, spend 9 nights get them back for school Monday.

We have run into a teacher or two who have had serious problems with this. One insisted on sending 14pages of math HW then only collecting 3 of the pages! Yet when a school commitee members DD went for even a longer period of time, this teacher sent NO homework.

Anyway, the way it has been explained to me by a school member it is 5 consecutive days in the state of MA. and has been for atleast 8yrs.