Pulling kids out of school for a WDW trip

[LSUmiss]

I think the point is why does this "family time" (which I agree is important) have to happen at Disney? Couldn't you have the same benefit during a "staycation"?

I get the "jumping through the educational experience" hoop. When we realized our kids were going to miss school when the year got extended, I talked to the principal, told him what happened, and HE said to ask for the educational excuse. It used to happen a lot on here IIRC, but parents would come online and justify on the Dis how a trip to Disney was "so educational" and the kids would learn "so much". When I would ask if they took kids to the grocery store for the educational possibilities there (budgeting, nutrition, math (portion size & cost/unit)), of course the answer was "no".

Just own up to it and accept the consequences. Whether that means people judging you on the internet (oh no!) or not being able to turn in grades, it's still your choice.

For me personally, Disney is something important to us that we really enjoy & kids are only young once. And, I had always hoped to take my dad on a trip to Disney with my kid one day, but he’s dead now so I’ll never get the chance to do that or many other things. My DS isn’t even in school yet & will attend private school so it’s unlikely that I’ll ever have to pretend the trip is educational or whatever. But, for me, my dad’s unexpected death has 100% changed the way I view pretty much everything in life now. And, to me, how a family chooses to spend their family time is up to them.

 

[Colleen27]

I mean, seriously? You are on vacation. It's a vacation. Don't make an excuse. I learn stuff on vacation all the time, but I go on vacation to get away from the house. Our last vacation was to Boston. We went there to see a Red Sox game and do whale watching and see Plimouth Plantation and lots of stuff. I learned quite a bit on the walking tour I was on, at and the aquarium, and at the plantation... but I went to Boston to get away from work and the house and other responsibilities. Learning stuff was a bonus.

But are you really saying that if a school says "Write this letter, we know it is BS but it is required for the absences to be excused," parents should refuse on principle? Maybe I haven't been around long enough or read the right threads to have seen the absurdities some others have commented on, but I know that for our district, *any* educational content is enough to "check the box", as it were. I don't think of Disney as an educational trip, not even the trips where we did YES classes - my kids definitely learned more on the Freedom Trail in Boston or at the Smithsonian in DC - but if coming up with a few educational elements is the difference between the kids being given make up material or not, I'll give the school what they're asking for.

This thread is making me glad those days are behind us... I'll only have one school-age kid after this academic year, and she's in a private school that is very supportive/understanding of family travels and other chosen absences (we have a few elite student athletes who miss for competitions). She's probably going to miss a couple of weeks next year when we go to Japan, and our principal is really excited for her.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

But are you really saying that if a school says "Write this letter, we know it is BS but it is required for the absences to be excused," parents should refuse on principle?

Oh, no.

Lie. Or play the BS game.

I mean, in Boston we did learn about the Revolution and in Salem we learned about the witch trials and in Plimouth Plantation we learned about the Mayflower. So... there's that. And we learned about fish at the aquarium.

In Disney World you could learn about the Presidency, and motion, and car design, and the sea, and telecommunications, and agriculture, etc. And you can do all that while just being in the park. You don't need to add extra stuff. But the point of the vacation wasn't the education. It was just a bonus.

 

[Summer2018]

To an extent, I don't disagree...HOWEVER she didn't communicate with the school that they would be missing school. Strike one there. And while as a parent I do have the right to make decisions regarding my children, in the state of MA children are legally obligated to be in school and parents can face legal consequences if they are keeping their kids out of school for an extended period of time on unexcused absences (I'm not sure what the time frame is but after 5 unexcused absences the school sends a truancy notice home. if the unexcused absences continue, DCYF/Child & Family Services gets involved and the state can step in).

I maybe wasn't clear - she lived in the apartment across from us with her kids, was visiting her family in Michigan. She kept the kids out of school almost two weeks beyond when school started up after christmas break, with zero communication to the school about what was going on. We as parents have rights, sure, but we also have obligations to meet.

Yes.

In Connecticut, we have ChildFind. If a child isn't in school, we must find that child. As teachers and mandated reporters, we are legally bound to keep track of all of our students. Children who are abused tend to have chronic absenteeism. If a child is absent for two days, I must call and check on the welfare of the child. After 4 absences, we do a home visit. Police will do welfare checks when parents cannot be contacted. 10 absences can be excused by a parent excuse letter for illnesses not requiring doctor, funeral, family emergency travel, etc. After 10 absences, all others require a doctor's note. Nowhere in our policy are children allowed to go on vacation when school is in session.

I've been forced to travel during school vacations because I'm a teacher, and as a parent who didn't want my child to miss anything in school. I have kept her out for a day or two tacked onto a school vacation, but no more than that. I would love to go to WDW during October for Halloween. That won't be happening until I retire.

I do agree that we have no right to judge others. How you parent is your business unless you break the law. Should you choose to take a long vacation when school is in session, that is your right. It is also you who will have to deal with the consequences of that missed instructional time, however that plays out. Maybe it won't matter. Maybe it will.

 

[tex1989]

FULL DISCLOSURE:

My kids are 33 and 29. We never missed school for WDW although we went a lot, Spring Break, Summers, Thanksgiving, Christmas Break. My wife was the Registrar/ Attendence Clerk for a Public Middle School for 14 years retiring last year. (so we could go to WDW (when the kids were supposed to be in school).

On to my post

My personal opinion is irrelivent. You do whats right for you and your family. But......... Schools and school districts have policies and rules. Attendance Clerks don't make them, don't get a say in them. So..... if you want to take your child out of school for the trip then do it, but accept that the child may have unexcused absense days, may get a letter from the district and if you want to do it more than once in a school year and they are absent 10 days plus 1 or 2 sick days then you enter a territory you don't want to be in. IE the truency officer from the district may show up at your door. You might have to answer some questions. Don't go sit in the Attendence Clerks office and yell at them about how stupid the policy is, don't think they have anything to do with the policy other than follow it. My wife came home numerous times in her career with red eyes from crying half a day because some irate parent spent an hour yelling at her about the system generated letter that showed up at their house saying they might have to show up at the Justice of the Peace's to explain why little Johnnie had missed so many days of school. Policy is policy, district sets it the individuals working at the school don't. They report who is there on any given day and who is not. State funding is based on how many students do show up. They report it as they have to if they want to keep the ridiculously low paying job.

Okay that's my two cents, sorry for the rant but this is a subject near and dear to me and while I think you have every right to do what you think is right all I ask is don't get mad after the fact and lash out about policies you think are wrong.

 

[siren0119]

FULL DISCLOSURE:

My kids are 33 and 29. We never missed school for WDW although we went a lot, Spring Break, Summers, Thanksgiving, Christmas Break. My wife was the Registrar/ Attendence Clerk for a Public Middle School for 14 years retiring last year. (so we could go to WDW (when the kids were supposed to be in school).

On to my post

My personal opinion is irrelivent. You do whats right for you and your family. But......... Schools and school districts have policies and rules. Attendance Clerks don't make them, don't get a say in them. So..... if you want to take your child out of school for the trip then do it, but accept that the child may have unexcused absense days, may get a letter from the district and if you want to do it more than once in a school year and they are absent 10 days plus 1 or 2 sick days then you enter a territory you don't want to be in. IE the truency officer from the district may show up at your door. You might have to answer some questions. Don't go sit in the Attendence Clerks office and yell at them about how stupid the policy is, don't think they have anything to do with the policy other than follow it. My wife came home numerous times in her career with red eyes from crying half a day because some irate parent spent an hour yelling at her about the system generated letter that showed up at their house saying they might have to show up at the Justice of the Peace's to explain why little Johnnie had missed so many days of school. Policy is policy, district sets it the individuals working at the school don't. They report who is there on any given day and who is not. State funding is based on how many students do show up. They report it as they have to if they want to keep the ridiculously low paying job.

Okay that's my two cents, sorry for the rant but this is a subject near and dear to me and while I think you have every right to do what you think is right all I ask is don't get mad after the fact and lash out about policies you think are wrong.

100% this. Know the policies for your school district, and don't blame the people whose jobs it is to enforce those policies if you go outside them and there are consequences. We as parents have a responsibility to know all of the factors involved when making a decision on behalf of our kids, and making decisions taking everything into consideration.

Unrelated to vacations, we had a struggle with my kids getting to school late for a while - I had recently gone back to work full time, and my husband took a night job. Hubby and older DS both have ADHD. I was always able to manage the mornings, but when I started working days the transition was brutal on my husband between being tired from work and having trouble staying on task in the morning. We got a letter (because tardies can also fall under truancy rules), and a meeting with the principal. I never got mad at him for having to enforce district policy - but we also communicated, discussed the situation and the principal actually put in a request to allow my son to take the bus (we were walkers but there was a bus that came through the neighborhood). It made all the difference in the world that they were willing to work with us on something that they could have just said was our problem to fix. I'm so sorry your wife had to deal with parents that took it out on her!

 

[neverlandsky]

It was a timing issue for us. Pulled the kids for a week in middle school 6th and 8th grade for our first WDW trip ever. No regrets. It was our first ever week long family vacation and DH had work blackout vacation dates all on the kids school breaks. Although we will never pull them again for vacation since they are in 8th and 10 th grade now. DH now is able to get the second to the last week of summer break off.

 

[Hrhpd]

Wow. There is no way I would live in that district. Sounds awful.

Seems to be working well for the district. It is the #1 district in the state. 2 of the 4 high schools routinely rank in the top 25 in the nation. Our housing prices in our county are through the roof because of people trying to get into the school district . The policy doesn't seem to be keeping anyone away.

 

[Hrhpd]

I never said the teacher needed to spend their time bringing the kid up to speed. Most school work is easily taught at home and the child can be caught up in a couple of weekends. Not allowing the kid to turn in the same homework/make up tests that the other kids are allowed and giving them 0's is unfair. It is really hard to recover from a 0, and if the parent is willing to help them do the work then they should be allowed to try.

Why is it unfair to not make the teacher take extra time out of his/her schedule to create a different test/quiz because YOU want to go on vacation? They can't give the same test because friends text the questions to the absent student. Why should a teacher spend an hour of her time putting together a summary of what is being taught during the time the child is on vacation so that the parents can teach it? It doesn't sound bad for one student, but when you have multiple students taking multiple vacations, the time spent to accommodate parental choices for non-essential absences becomes ridiculous.

So, our district with the teacher's union have decided that accommodating parental choices to remove their child from school will not happen. And you are right, it is hard to recover from a 0. That is the whole point.

In our district, a masters degree is a minimum requirement to teach. It cracks me up when parents say they can teach it just as easily at home. I bet anyone can do your job easily too? If it is so easy and you don't like the policies, then is should be a piece of cake to homeschool. Our district also offers an online program, so that may be an option for parents that want to travel during the school year.

Again, this only pertains to vacations. If a child is ill, there is a death in the family, or other reasons the student misses that is not a choice but is beyond their control, the teachers will bend over backwards to help that student. And before you say "fine, we will just call in sick," on the 3rd day of an absence, a dr's note is required to make the absence an excused absence.

 

[Southernmiss]

Becoming one of those 'rules don't apply to me' situations.

People complain about the quality of education. So rules and parameters are put in place for attendance and tardiness. But now people buck these because they need family time at Disney whenever they want.

Schools can't win.

 

[LSUmiss]

Seems to be working well for the district. It is the #1 district in the state. 2 of the 4 high schools routinely rank in the top 25 in the nation. Our housing prices in our county are through the roof because of people trying to get into the school district . The policy doesn't seem to be keeping anyone away.

I don’t doubt that it might be a good school district. Think pp just saying she wouldn’t like that & I can understand. These threads always remind me of why we will pay for private school. It’s for many reasons in the area we live, but we won’t have to deal with any of those issues.

 

[LSUmiss]

Becoming one of those 'rules don't apply to me' situations.

People complain about the quality of education. So rules and parameters are put in place for attendance and tardiness. But now people buck these because they need family time whenever they want.

Schools can't win.

But my problem with it is that it’s largely symbol over substance. I’m in Louisiana. We have a terrible school system compared to many other states (except yours ), but we have similar policies to other states regarding attendance. So, that’s not the issue & apparently does very little.

 

[siren0119]

But my problem with it is that it’s largely symbol over substance. I’m in Louisiana. We have a terrible school system compared to many other states (except yours ), but we have similar policies to other states regarding attendance. So, that’s not the issue & apparently does very little.

I was going to say - we live in a state that consistently ranks very high nationwide for quality of education, and our town is one of the best in the state. They do not have nearly as strict a policy, when we opted to take the kids on vacation for a week we just communicated with the teachers, and all were very willing to set aside any work that was done that week for my kids to catch up on when they got home. Correlation doesn't equal causation (i.e. the attendance policy isn't making or breaking the school quality in yours, mine or the PP's cases)

 

[Southernmiss]

But my problem with it is that it’s largely symbol over substance. I’m in Louisiana. We have a terrible school system compared to many other states (except yours ), but we have similar policies to other states regarding attendance. So, that’s not the issue & apparently does very little.

Now you know the problems with your state schools have been there for years. Not sure why they can't get them turned around.

Maybe they will be better before your son is through school. Maybe you could help be part of that change.

If you look at scores an hour away in my state on the Coast, these schools have made great strides and are leaders in education. As are areas in north Mississippi and other areas of our state. Certainly, there is work to be done in several places, but lots of good is happening.

My 3 in college have not struggled to keep up with peers from around the country or world. Their Mississippi public education has well prepared them.

Our dil is from Slidell and went to private school. But her education was not like my public school son's education. His public school education was more well rounded and he had more options for AP and college prep courses. They met and graduated from the same Mississippi college.

Our local private school does great things. But overall, my kid's public education has had more variety and given them more opportunities than their private school peers.

It truly does depend on where you live and knowing your school options for your kids.

And for us, we knew what we chose and how vacations and holidays would have to work together for the best interest of our kids. And we would not ask for special treatment every year.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Our schools don't have policies against it.
My parents took us out every year for 8 days.
We got our work ahead of time and were all caught up with the rest of the students when we arriveed back.
No teacher/principal ever took issue with it.
Even now a days most of the teachers think its fine to take kids out of school ESPECIALLY when going somewhere with educational puroses.
My one sister took my niece out of school for China, Europe and Peru.
My other sister is trying to visit all 50 states and in fact is taking her kids out of school next week to do a couple that she was supposed to do over MLK weekend but due to weather couldn't.
Disney World is extremely educational as well.

 

[LSUmiss]

Now you know the problems with your state schools have been there for years. Not sure why they can't get them turned around.

Maybe they will be better before your son is through school. Maybe you could help be part of that change.

If you look at scores an hour away in my state on the Coast, these schools have made great strides and are leaders in education. As are areas in north Mississippi and other areas of our state. Certainly, there is work to be done in several places, but lots of good is happening.

My 3 in college have not struggled to keep up with peers from around the country or world. Their Mississippi public education has well prepared them.

Our dil is from Slidell and went to private school. But her education was not like my public school son's education. His public school education was more well rounded and he had more options for AP and college prep courses. They met and graduated from the same Mississippi college.

Our local private school does great things. But overall, my kid's public education has had more variety and given them more opportunities than their private school peers.

It truly does depend on where you live and knowing your school options for your kids.

And for us, we knew what we chose and how vacations and holidays would have to work together for the best interest of our kids. And we would not ask for special treatment every year.

I live in Orleans Parish so DS will definitely attend private school. And, I don’t know anyone from this area who attended public school including my grandparents who went to school in the 1930s. So, I hate to say, but I’m not really concerned if they improve other than it sucks for those poor kids without options.

And, not all private schools are the same like public schools, of course, so we intend to choose carefully. In this area, there are several private schools to choose from (almost as many as public). I’m curious, did your DIL attend a private school in Slidell?

Related to this thread, IMO, public schools are most concerned with their funding & scores b/c they have to be. And, that’s really the only reason they have strict attendance policies.

 

[Southernmiss]

I live in Orleans Parish so DS will definitely attend private school. And, I don’t know anyone from this area who attended public school including my grandparents who went to school in the 1930s. So, I hate to say, but I’m not really concerned if they improve other than it sucks for those poor kids without options.

And, not all private schools are the same like public schools, of course, so we intend to choose carefully. In this area, there are several private schools to choose from (almost as many as public). I’m curious, did your DIL attend a private school in Slidell?

Related to this thread, IMO, public schools are most concerned with their funding & scores b/c they have to be. And, that’s really the only reason they have strict attendance policies.

Yes, private school in Slidell.

 

[LSUmiss]

Yes, private school in Slidell.

Just asking b/c I don’t know anything about private schools in that area but have known ppl to commute into the New Orleans for more options.

 

[ShayBells]

I know I’m late to this party and there’s a lot of back and forth, but this argument will always confuse me. My parents always took me out of school for vacations, plural, and no one ever thought anything of it. This argument wasn’t around back then to my knowledge. I even graduated HS with honors missing 30+ days in my senior year alone. What changed? Why is it such a big deal now? What’s different?

DS goes to a private catholic school. We go to Disney every other year during school. We have never missed over their alotted 15 days for the year so far. But despite their “handbook” asking people not to take vacations during the year (and it is worded as a request not a demand) no one has ever been less than “You’re going to Disney! That’s awesome! See you next week!” I don’t know what I would do if we were in a district that was more strict.

 

[Kona65]

Does it really matter what anyone else thinks? Just be the parent for once, and don't ask for permission.