Pulling kids out of school for a WDW trip

[sam_gordon]

They’re still all considered EXTRA curricular no matter how valuable they are or how much work or skills they require. What about athletics? This happens a lot for that too. I think the poster’s point is simply there is a double standard. Either academic instruction is of the utmost importance above everything else for everyone or it isn’t.

And the bottom line is school sponsored extra curricular activities are counted as 'excused'. Or, more likely, the students doing the activities are still counted as "present". They are still under the care of the school. Now, if you want to make the argument that a student at WDW with their family should still be counted as "present", go for it. Contact your state representatives or whoever is in charge and get them to change the regulations.

 

[LSUmiss]

And the bottom line is school sponsored extra curricular activities are counted as 'excused'. Or, more likely, the students doing the activities are still counted as "present". They are still under the care of the school. Now, if you want to make the argument that a student at WDW with their family should still be counted as "present", go for it. Contact your state representatives or whoever is in charge and get them to change the regulations.

As I’ve said before, I have no dog in this fight. My DS will attend private school for this & many other reasons so I obviously don’t care enough to contact anyone. But,
for discussion sake, I don’t think the pp is arguing that it’s not the rule but arguing whether it should be the rule. In the end, whether they’re counted as present or not, they’re both not in class receiving the instruction that the kids who are physically present are receiving.

 

[Hikergirl]

And they missed a week of school for that?

Yes, and it was considered an excused because it was a band trip. They've been going every other year for over a decade (that I know of). Could have been even before that, that is just when I was aware of such trips.
My dd was in chorus and was always jealous because they only got to go to 6 flags for a day and Lake Compounce for another. Still, those were also excused absences too. "Fun" days that were sanctioned by the school.

 

[amberpi]

That would be annoying. I’m not sure of the high school testing schedule here yet since I only have 6th graders, but I’ll utilize this schedule as long as I can!

It's this way here too and has been forever. I think they do finals this way so those days actually get used. The last "day" though is like 1 hour and that always seemed so dumb. All my teacher friends and family love that day though.

@Princessclab - I don't disagree with your overall points, but I'm interested in this: "IMHO gives children an example that not everyone is treated equally " - is that something you try to teach your kids that we're all equal (ETA, I mean that we all have equal opportunities)? I wish that it was, but it'd feel like a disservice to suggest it's the actuality.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

They’re still all considered EXTRA curricular no matter how valuable they are or how much work or skills they require. What about athletics? This happens a lot for that too. I think the poster’s point is simply there is a double standard. Either academic instruction is of the utmost importance above everything else for everyone or it isn’t.

Band & chorus are also classes taken for credit, so not entirely extracurricular.

But, are such trips necessary to the instruction of the course? Absolutely not.

Still, hypocritical or not, it’s the state, not the school that determines if such trips are considered “attending school” or “absent”.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I don’t think the pp is arguing that it’s not the rule but arguing whether it should be the rule. In the end, whether they’re counted as present or not, they’re both not in class receiving the instruction that the kids who are physically present are receiving.

And nobody is disagreeing with that point, only trying to make sure PP understands who it really is that sets the policy.

 

[DisLiss]

I would have no issue in the world in taking a kindergarten student out of school for a family trip, particularly given the situation your family is in. Personally, if the child has an easy time with school and with their school work, and their teacher is cooperative, I'd be okay taking a child out of school at any elementary grade. (For us, elementary school is K-4.)

Once the kids hit middle school grades, it would be something I would try very hard to avoid, but *might* be willing to do if the planets aligned perfectly, so to speak.....the kid is doing great, especially if it were the earlier grades (5 & 6 as opposed to 7 or 8); there's a week when there are early dismissals or days off or something like that; the teacher is more than willing to let us know what work will be missed; and so on and so forth. But again, for me, there would need to be a very important reason for the trip, such as the reason you have, OP.

For me, high school would be a big "no" for taking kids out of school for anything except health issues or emergencies.

I don't think anyone is "wrong" if they are doing what they feel is truly best for their family & individual kids. <3

 

[amberpi]

Yes, and it was considered an excused because it was a band trip. They've been going every other year for over a decade (that I know of). Could have been even before that, that is just when I was aware of such trips.
My dd was in chorus and was always jealous because they only got to go to 6 flags for a day and Lake Compounce for another. Still, those were also excused absences too. "Fun" days that were sanctioned by the school.

We missed all kinds of school for extra trips back when I was in school and dinosaurs were our means of locomotion. Beta club, band, orchestra, ecology, latin/etymology, all the foreign languages, ap trips of various types. Junior year of high school I missed 6 weeks of school *I think*. That's kinda nuts, but they were fun, and some were even educational; some weren't. However, these were school trips so no one accrued absences. This lack of actual instruction though may also explain my poor grammar and spelling.

I think that yet again, it's situational and about using common sense.

 

[DisLiss]

Schools get federal and maybe state funding for butts in the seat. So they are vigilant about absenteeism as it lowers their funding.

Did you notify the office or just the teacher about your plan to take her out.

Having prior notification may have stopped them from sending the letter.

Our district allows 5 days off per kid for family trips. You do have to request a form, fill it out, get the teacher(s) to sign off on it and then submit it to the office for their approval. I had to get the form filled out a few times when I was in school and we had to get it filled out once for my oldest. In these cases it was always because we planned a trip after school let out, but school ran late for various reasons..usually weather related, but twice when I was a kid it was due to teacher strikes. We only used the full 5 days once. Usually we were just missing the last 1, 2, 3 days of school when not much of anything educational was happening. But in every case the days were approved, so there was no unexcused absences and we never received any letters. (We did receive one during a year when DS was just *always* sick, In our school they are automatically generated formalities that go out after a certain number of days off, no matter what.)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We missed all kinds of school for extra trips back when I was in school and dinosaurs were our means of locomotion. Beta club, band, orchestra, ecology, latin/etymology, all the foreign languages, ap trips of various types. Junior year of high school I missed 6 weeks of school *I think*. That's kinda nuts, but they were fun, and some were even educational; some weren't. However, these were school trips so no one accrued absences. This lack of actual instruction though may also explain my poor grammar and spelling.

I think that yet again, it's situational and about using common sense.

I think we also have to consider school schedules. Instructionally speaking it can be different for students who are taken out of class due to a school-sponsored event. This could be at a class or multi-class level or just specific students in specific activities. And that could be completely different for a student or even just a few students taken out for vacation. It's a lot easier for a teacher's lesson plan IMO to be worked around school-sponsored events than a student's given vacation.

I remember when I was in high school and we passed our AYP at a grade level (testing under No Child Left Behind) we were given the reward of going to the movies located just down the street. Classes were taken out in blocks and you were gone for several hours then brought back to school to attend the rest of your classes. That was by no means educational at all but it was fully and completely built into the lesson plan. It was known that if we passed our AYP we would get that reward.

That was entirely different than when I went on a cruise my sophmore year of high school right around Winter break. I was out for a few days and then winter break started. I had to make up tests and homework and do tests and homework before I left for certain classes. Completely different situation.

All the Band, ROTC, Dance, Drama, football, basketball, etc students all had those obligations already known by the teachers and school alike and planning could be very different for that in comparison to a student whose parents took them on vacation.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

We've approached it that we've done what makes sense for our family/kids, and we've accepted any consequences without complaint. We live in a small town/district, and the consequences have been manageable. If the consequences were more severe, we wouldn't have done it. We've taken the kids out a day or so here or there for WDW or other trips, although we won't going forward now that my son will be in high school next year.

Basically our policy is that teachers are not required to provide any work in advance (although some will), and students are responsible for finding out and completing what they miss via Google classroom and the Team website. Teachers are required per their contract to provide one day per week of extra instruction after school (it's a rotation by subject), so students can make up texts/quizzes then or in their advisory period if they can arrange that with the teacher.

For our district, I think that the policy is "family friendly" for the kids because it's also "family friendly" for the teachers. For example, my sister is a teacher in the adjacent district. She is not allowed to take sick time or personal days on days adjacent to long weekends or school vacation weeks. Our district, for whatever reason, is more flexible with the teachers, and that's fine with me. I believe that teachers work very hard and if they are completing their job to the satisfaction of the administration, how they arrange their sick/personal days also is between the administration and the teachers. But for example, my daughter came home the Monday before the December break this year and told me that was the last day one of her teachers would be in school before the break because she was going on a family trip - the students still had 4 days left before the break (which was rather long 12/22-1/2). Maybe her kids are in a private school and have a different schedule (my friend who's a teacher in a local private school struggles with this)? Maybe it's a big family reunion? Who knows - not my business.

We also get several religious holidays off (although we are a public school), including Rosh Hashanah, which is usually 2 days in September. A couple of times when the kids were little we did those weeks for our WDW trip, because we got a full week but the kids only missed 2 or 3 days - twice we ran into teachers and their families on "school" days, with their kids who are also students in the district! Even this week...I was on FB the other day and I saw a teacher friend posting about an athletic competition out of state that they were attending on Monday and Tuesday (also with her child who is a student in the district). We've been happy with the schools and the teachers, so no complaints here.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We've approached it that we've done what makes sense for our family/kids, and we've accepted any consequences without complaint. We live in a small town/district, and the consequences have been manageable. If the consequences were more severe, we wouldn't have done it. We've taken the kids out a day or so here or there for WDW or other trips, although we won't going forward now that my son will be in high school next year.

Basically our policy is that teachers are not required to provide any work in advance (although some will), and students are responsible for finding out and completing what they miss via Google classroom and the Team website. Teachers are required per their contract to provide one day per week of extra instruction after school (it's a rotation by subject), so students can make up texts/quizzes then or in their advisory period if they can arrange that with the teacher.

For our district, I think that the policy is "family friendly" for the kids because it's also "family friendly" for the teachers. For example, my sister is a teacher in the adjacent district. She is not allowed to take sick time or personal days on days adjacent to long weekends or school vacation weeks. Our district, for whatever reason, is more flexible with the teachers, and that's fine with me. I believe that teachers work very hard and if they are completing their job to the satisfaction of the administration, how they arrange their sick/personal days also is between the administration and the teachers. But for example, my daughter came home the Monday before the December break this year and told me that was the last day one of her teachers would be in school before the break because she was going on a family trip - the students still had 4 days left before the break (which was rather long 12/22-1/2). Maybe her kids are in a private school and have a different schedule (my friend who's a teacher in a local private school struggles with this)? Maybe it's a big family reunion? Who knows - not my business.

We also get several religious holidays off (although we are a public school), including Rosh Hashanah, which is usually 2 days in September. A couple of times when the kids were little we did those weeks for our WDW trip, because we got a full week but the kids only missed 2 or 3 days - twice we ran into teachers and their families on "school" days, with their kids who are also students in the district! Even this week...I was on FB the other day and I saw a teacher friend posting about an athletic competition out of state that they were attending on Monday and Tuesday (also with her child who is a student in the district). We've been happy with the schools and the teachers, so no complaints here.

We have a built in 3-day break at the end of October. I know attendance takes a hit those other 2 days as a result. If you can do it that way, it’s probably a lot less headache than missing an entire week (or more).

I got lucky my senior year of HS as I had a weeklong “close up” trip. School ended up being closed the entire week due to record low temps, so I ended up missing nothing. I also took 4 band trips in HS, but we only missed 1 day for each. For athletics, I never missed an entire day, but did miss afternoon classes a couple of times.

DD18 just missed 3 days for a school trip, her first ever.

 

[FindMeInFantasyland]

I pull my kids out for a week every year and have for the last 5 years. I am always nervous about it but in the end I never regret it. Now this last family trip my daughter said it gave her some anxiety before the trip because she's in middle school. In the future we will just take 2 or 3 days off.

 

[Princessclab]

Sounds like you don't know how much work goes into performing.

You are missing my point, I believe. Yes, even things we do for recreation sometimes require work, like any game played. Usually done for enjoyment, are not required or they are not getting paid for it.
The work put into playing does not qualify them for essential basic education credit required by the school laws and systems. These trips are purely for some kind of recreation.

Good discussion though, it opened my eyes how this works in the schools. Not really fair for all; too bad kids have to learn this so young.

 

[Floridaman999]

You are missing my point, I believe. Yes, even things we do for recreation sometimes require work, like any game played. Usually done for enjoyment, are not required or they are not getting paid for it.
The work put into playing does not qualify them for essential basic education credit required by the school laws and systems. These trips are purely for some kind of recreation.

Good discussion though, it opened my eyes how this works in the schools. Not really fair for all; too bad kids have to learn this so young.

I'd rather they learn it young. Life sucks sometimes. The sooner they have that one mastered the better.

 

[Princessclab]

Band & chorus are also classes taken for credit, so not entirely extracurricular.

But, are such trips necessary to the instruction of the course? Absolutely not.

Still, hypocritical or not, it’s the state, not the school that determines if such trips are considered “attending school” or “absent”.

Oh, I am well aware that the policies are wrapped up in state laws. I am not sure exactly what ours is. Often these types of laws are ambiguous and subject to interpretation, hence the school and school board. They usually work together. Just because it is in the laws doesn't make it fair or right.

Also, Marching band is not a class in our school. Band yes, but not marching band that go on these trips. Did not say chorus but ours do not go on these trips.

Again, good discussion.

 

[Princessclab]

It's this way here too and has been forever. I think they do finals this way so those days actually get used. The last "day" though is like 1 hour and that always seemed so dumb. All my teacher friends and family love that day though.

@Princessclab - I don't disagree with your overall points, but I'm interested in this: "IMHO gives children an example that not everyone is treated equally " - is that something you try to teach your kids that we're all equal (ETA, I mean that we all have equal opportunities)? I wish that it was, but it'd feel like a disservice to suggest it's the actuality.

Hi amberpi, everyone should be treated equally, especially in our education systems for children. I would like to believe that this is the case. To teach kids outright that you will not be treated equally seems very defeating. IMHO we all have the same opportunities it just depends on how you choose to take them or what path you take. Everone has bad things happen to them in life. Sorry if I got too philosophical. JMHO.
It was not my intent to get some people so upset about this. This is a subjective topic and warranted good discussion. I respect everyone's opinions.

 

[Princessclab]

I'd rather they learn it young. Life sucks sometimes. The sooner they have that one mastered the better.

I don't agree on this but we all have our own opinions.
(PS - don't you like my flower emojis lol!)

 

[sam_gordon]

Hi amberpi, everyone should be treated equally, especially in our education systems for children. I would like to believe that this is the case. To teach kids outright that you will not be treated equally seems very defeating. IMHO we all have the same opportunities it just depends on how you choose to take them or what path you take. Everone has bad things happen to them in life. Sorry if I got too philosophical. JMHO.
It was not my intent to get some people so upset about this. This is a subjective topic and warranted good discussion. I respect everyone's opinions.

Looking at the bolded... don't all kids have the opportunities to join the band, chorus, sports teams, whatever so they can go on these trips? My kids' middle school takes all kids who have all A's through the year to a nearby (2 hour drive) amusement park for one day at the end of the year. Is that "unfair" to those who didn't get all A's?

Disney trips aren't the source of "consequences". It wouldn't matter if the kids go to Disney or stay home playing Xbox. Those school systems are set up so if you miss 'x' days, you're punished. Some schools allow "educational" trips, others don't. Don't like the school policy? Either get it changed or move.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

My kids are adults now but when they were in school my son’s first grade teacher told me that according to the district’s policy if you pull your child out of school she was not allowed to provide any make-up work so she told me to call him out sick so he would be allowed to make up any missed assignments or tests.

So this is what I did when I pulled out my kids each December so we could head to Florida a couple of days early before Christmas break (and got those wonderful 50% off Florida resident room rates that carried through your entire stay as long as the discount fell during your stay that no longer exist ).

My kids were good students with no issues missing days. I did this all the years they were in school right up to senior year. I wouldnt do this if my kids had any problems making up the work or if it interfered with exams and always checked with them once they were in high school, because once in high school it’s on permanent record as my kids like to tell me.

The schools my kids attended were small, as is my town, everyone knows everyone, and our going to Florida every Christmas was an open secret and not a big deal.