Pulling kids out of school for a WDW trip

They also do not get the breaks off that all the other students do.
Our sports teams have practice and games during school breaks. They also start practice weeks before the school year starts so their summers are cut short.
Our drama club does not take vacations, there are 2 shows every year, they begin prep in August for the first, and they begin prep for the second during winter break. They even have to spend some 8 hour weekend days at school.
So these trips they take should be excused, since technically they are "in school" more than the other students are.

Then the chess club, debate team, science club, etc etc etc who meet after school on the grounds, compete in off-site events on the weekends, and put in personal time at home over vacations to hone their skills should also be getting additional excused absences whether they are taking trips through the school to events or not.

No matter which way you slice it, the argument is deeply flawed ESPECIALLY in the context of public schools.
 
I stated that students do not exist for the purpose of benefiting the schools, which generated your last response. I never said schools didn't benefit from students participating in activities - but if I wasn't clear in my statement, schools do NOT exist for the purpose of benefiting from what students do for them. Nor should students be rewarded simply for participating/performing on behalf of the school. Public school exists for the benefit of the students who attend. Benefits to the students should be accessible to ALL to avoid the auspices of targeting behavior with rewards that drive what the SCHOOL gets out of the students.

They are accessible to all. Every single student that walks in to that door has the exact same opportunity as the others.
Their circumstances outside of the school doesn't mean that the school hasn't made things "equal" for them.
Their circumstances outside of the school are their personal circumstances, the school is not in control of that. The schools allow every student the chance to try out for a sport, or to join a club, or to play an instrument. They are not responsible for the reasons why the student can't.
 
Then the chess club, debate team, science club, etc etc etc who meet after school on the grounds, compete in off-site events on the weekends, and put in personal time at home over vacations to hone their skills should also be getting additional excused absences whether they are taking trips through the school to events or not.

No matter which way you slice it, the argument is deeply flawed ESPECIALLY in the context of public schools.

Who says they don't?
My dd went to Nashville with her SADD group.
If the school approves an event then any student, or team of students that are members of that club are allowed to go and represent the school without the repercussions of having unexcused absences.
Just because we aren't mentioning every single one of them doesn't mean that they aren't getting these "perks".
 


With that being said - I feel like this has derailed the OP's intended conversation. Happy to continue the discussion offline or start another thread, but I won't reply here so that things can get back to the original discussion.
 
I would be very interested to hear of public schools that actually assign additional excused absences to students for club participation. Please share if you know of any.

I'm not putting my personal info out here on the board, but our school district certainly approves school sanctioned trips for clubs.
You don't get them for club participation, it isn't like there is some tally next to every students name and whoever has the most stars gets to have extra days off.
If there is an event that a specific club wants to participate in they get approval from the school district. If it is approved, some of the students, or all are allowed to participate without incurring unexcused absences.

I am not saying this happens in every single school district across the US, but it does happen whether you think so or not.
 
Working for change & awareness.

But, the bottom line is that change takes time, and more importantly some things will NEVER change. Shoot, just being born in a 1st world nation is essentially hitting the birth lottery, even if you’re poor & have uneducated parents.

People will always be unequal in opportunity, looks, intelligence, strength, health, wealth, and happiness.

Stamping out injustice is one thing. But, you will never solve unfairness. I’m not even sure that’s a legitimate goal.
 


I think it depends. Elementary age kids making memories with their grandparents, I don't think is a big deal. As kids get older though, I do think it does increasingly become a big deal. Especially if your kids are not perfect straight A kids who get everything right the first time. Missing a weeks worth of math classes might mess them up for a long time. If your kids are in high school and in some cases middle school and they are in a high homework/learning time period in school, if you're pulling them out so you don't have to deal with summer heat or Christmas crowds, I honestly think that is a disservice to the child.
 
I would be very interested to hear of public schools that actually assign additional excused absences to students for club participation. Please share if you know of any.
In my district an absence is considered excused for "Participation in a school-approved student activity".

Should you have a school chess club competition/meet during the school day I'm sure it's fairly easy to run this past the school and get it approved (now I wasn't in a chess club nor do I know someone personally so I can't honestly say that with absolute certainty but take it for what you will). I also can't say that is the case everywhere though for an excused absence.

This isn't meaning a chess club a couple of friends decided to create and play during lunch for example. These are clubs that are recognized by the school as being a school activity/club.
 
Very hypocritical and not an equal educational opportunity for all. They are all personal trips, again not pivotal for their education. Based on accepted personal choices; heaven forbid if your personal choices do not agree with the school system.
So those kids that get to go to WDW for playtime are entitled because the law says so but not the others who go to WDW with their parents? School playtime trumps parental playtime?
I'd be asking about that.
By the way, my nephew is out for a week of school in April with the marching band at his HS, going to WDW.

IMHO gives children an example that not everyone is treated equally and teaches those that go a bad lesson on entitlement. :flower1:

Probably will see many of these sort of trips disappear going forward unless there is a truly educational component attached. Is the band competing, or are they going on rides? Where I teach, many physics classes would plan a senior trip to 6 Flags and deem it for educational purposes. But, that trip is long gone as it could no longer be justified as educational.

Your argument doesn’t hold however when you say its hypocritical and not an equal opportunity, unless of course there is some reason your child was not given the opportunity to join the club/sport/band that takes said field trip. Not sure how those kids are entitled? I, by the way, am not a fan of students missing multiple days for field trips (or vacations). My school has a big music culture and some of my students miss a whole lot of days due to lessons and field trips. Their grades often take a huge hit as well and I will not give extra help or extend deadlines for them due to music events (or vacations). When I sign the F/T form they know they are responsible for everything they miss while they are out. Kind of the opposite of entitled.
 
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Okay, if you want to take your kid out for a Disney Vacation (too save money) than at least admit that it is really not for the educational experience. And please don't expect the teacher to provide a package of material that you can have your kid work on during the trip, because you know that they won't. The teachers have more important things to do than to take time out of their schedule than to put together a package of extra work. If your kid misses school, than they get an F for all of the work that they miss. Just accept it.
 
I don’t get how this turned into an argument about school groups getting extra excused time off?? FWIW, we pull our kids out for vacation. But we go away once a year. We try to break it up so it’s not a full week, but we do take them out. No one can answer this except for you.
 
Then the chess club, debate team, science club, etc etc etc who meet after school on the grounds, compete in off-site events on the weekends, and put in personal time at home over vacations to hone their skills should also be getting additional excused absences whether they are taking trips through the school to events or not.

No matter which way you slice it, the argument is deeply flawed ESPECIALLY in the context of public schools.

Our quiz bowl, mock trial, debate, ecology, etymology/latin clubs all got special dispensations to take week/day long trips. They were not even considered absences. One of my very best friends teaches ap environmental science and runs the current ecology club. They take a week out of school with her for a trip. Anyone who qualifies for the ecology club is eligible (student in good standing with less than x school violations). What would your stance be on such?
 
Not in every school system, no.

In many schools these programs come with a program fee, practice outside of school hours, and big trips are not all expenses paid. There are low income programs available for those who qualify, but a HUGE swath of kids with parents in the middle/lower middle class who do not qualify for low income programs but who simply don't have any extra money to pay program fees and trip costs, or ability to get kids to or from practices outside of when school buses are available.

All kids have access to school - but not all kids have access to the extra stuff that is "technically" available to them.

Are things different in different states? School sports/clubs etc have transportation attached to them. Ie late buses, buses to other schools and home. Our school day ends at 1:55 and there are 3:10 and 4:30 late buses.

The kids in my school are poor. They fund-raise all year to go on their trips because some of them don’t have heat or food at home. Parents can’t pay for trips. Uniforms are paid for through the school budget (taxes).

I’m in NY- what is it like elsewhere? Any non-school sports are obviously on your own.
 
I don't want to get in the way of all the back and forth, and as I have stated am not an expert on the matter other than my wife working in a MS for 14 years, but... In our district at least all of the things being discussed here are outlined in the Student Handbook that students and Parents receive during the package pick up prior to the start of school. Based on what grade you are in you go to the school find out who your teacher (elementery) or teachers will be (Middle School thru HS) and sign a few forms (most information is provided online or if needed you can use a school computer to complete). The Handbook has any dress code items, hygene issues etc. and policies on all sorts of things. One of those is how many days you can miss a year. This explains excused ones, unexcused ones and even how many days you can be out for school activities. So whatever you participate in, sports, dance, band etc. there is a limit to how many days you can miss for those activities. There is no ambiguity about the rules. You sign to receive the Handbook. Both Parent and Student sign for it. So failure to live within those rules mean you deal with the outcome of your actions. The process is actually very straightforward and simple.

In the state where I live funding from the state for education is partially based on the number of students not only in the district in total but also on counts submitted throughout the year based on actual number in attendance on specific days. So students being there or not being there can effect funding. The rules are not to make life difficult for anyone, merely to put all students on the same playing field with the same set of rules.

That's it for me, people can have opinions that differ but at least in our district the rules are clear and no matter what any single parent's view is the rules are the rules.
 
Are things different in different states? School sports/clubs etc have transportation attached to them. Ie late buses, buses to other schools and home. Our school day ends at 1:55 and there are 3:10 and 4:30 late buses.

The kids in my school are poor. They fund-raise all year to go on their trips because some of them don’t have heat or food at home. Parents can’t pay for trips. Uniforms are paid for through the school budget (taxes).

I’m in NY- what is it like elsewhere? Any non-school sports are obviously on your own.

If you are talking about bus transportation to and from school team sports events, there is a charge here for that transportation. It was $75 when my son played high school baseball back in 2005 and I don't know if they had grants to help kids pay for that. It was a private Catholic High school and they did offer scholarships to help pay the $11,000 a year tuition, so it is entirely possible they had grant money for buses too.

If you are talking about bus transportation between school and home, that went away here a long time ago (like 20 years). We have open enrollment here, so it would be impossible to even come up with a route for the buses. We have 44 houses on my street, and none of the kids attended their default home school. They were scatter among 6 other high schools. Funny thing is, the Principal of the home school lives on our street. His kids didn't go to his school either. I suspect part of it was because he was Principal, but both his kids were in the IB programs, and his school didn't offer those classes.
 
If you are talking about bus transportation to and from school team sports events, there is a charge here for that transportation. It was $75 when my son played high school baseball back in 2005 and I don't know if they had grants to help kids pay for that. It was a private Catholic High school and they did offer scholarships to help pay the $11,000 a year tuition, so it is entirely possible they had grant money for buses too.

If you are talking about bus transportation between school and home, that went away here a long time ago (like 20 years). We have open enrollment here, so it would be impossible to even come up with a route for the buses. We have 44 houses on my street, and none of the kids attended their default home school. They were scatter among 6 other high schools. Funny thing is, the Principal of the home school lives on our street. His kids didn't go to his school either. I suspect part of it was because he was Principal, but both his kids were in the IB programs, and his school didn't offer those classes.
In the district I live in at the high school level they have 21st Century Academies. These are wide ranging. In any case you can petition to go to a high school you are not assigned to (i.e. living within those boundaries) if you are going for that 21st Century Academy at that particular school. I'm not sure how the busing situation works though (free busing is provided for living X miles away from school otherwise you pay for it).

Private vs public is a whole another situation.
 

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