quick ? about school

[The Mystery Machine]

She is not sending them as it is my gma's 85th bday party which has been planned for a while now...I just don't get why they expect the kids to be there on a sat with just a 2 day notice..this is where I'm getting hung up on...

So they take the absence, I guess I don't understand the problem. Is she trying to get perfect attendance awards or is already in trouble for absences or something like that?

 

[illuminationsfanatic]

In the school district where I teach, as long as the parent calls in, no matter what the reason, it is considerd to be excused. Unexcused would be the student simply not showing up with no parent/guardian phone call.

 

[cheermom1]

So they take the absence, I guess I don't understand the problem. Is she trying to get perfect attendance awards or is already in trouble for absences or something like that?

No I she was upset that they are giving a 2 day notice and EXPECT the kids to be there! i would suspect most parents would be upset over this as well..give a better notice!! PLAN it better b/c as a pp stated I'm sure the teachers don;t have anything planned either...this is just a day to say there were open..

 

[tinkntraining]

So they take the absence, I guess I don't understand the problem. Is she trying to get perfect attendance awards or is already in trouble for absences or something like that?

In my situation it absolutely would matter. Any missed tests, assignments or projects that were missed because of an unexcused absence, would not be permitted to be made up. The student would be given a zero, which could really affect their gpa (a fact I learned only AFTER my DD was credited with an unexcused absence).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No I she was upset that they are giving a 2 day notice and EXPECT the kids to be there! i would suspect most parents would be upset over this as well..give a better notice!! PLAN it better b/c as a pp stated I'm sure the teachers don;t have anything planned either...this is just a day to say there were open..

Oh OK.

You know what, there is no way you will ever have a "free SAT" for a whole school. So even if they "plan" it will never work out.

 

[cheermom1]

Oh OK.

You know what, there is no way you will ever have a "free SAT" for a whole school. So even if they "plan" it will never work out.

I get that but they can at least TRY!

 

[Piglets Mommy]

See I'm thinking the same thing..why didn't they PLAN this better..how many kids do you think will be there?

In our school dist. we get 3 snow days. If we use more, they are made up in the summer, so if you plan a trip at the beginning of summer break, it is a risk you take. This is unfair, as they had no warning. Sorry, Grandma's 85th trumps school!!!!
Yeah...that makes no sense. There is no way that none of the teachers has a wedding, out of town event, etc to attend.

So they take the absence, I guess I don't understand the problem. Is she trying to get perfect attendance awards or is already in trouble for absences or something like that?

The big deal in a lot of school districts would be that a student would get a zero on everything done that day, which could really affect grades, esp. in HS. However, in this case, I doubt there are any major exams planned with 2 days notice

 

[punkin]

...completely ridiculous. I have pretty much every weekend scheduled for the next month or so...I would take the unexcused and to heck with the GPA.

I'm still waiting to see what they do at my DD's schools. No mention of anything so far, though the calendar automatically adds days at the end of the year when they use too many snow days. We knew that last year in advance, so lucky I haven't bought plane tickets for our summer trip yet.

 

[cheermom1]

See I can handle spring break and summer, I understand that if we go over snow days they will have to be made up with a reasonable notice...but do give a 2 day notice for a sat???? this just blows my mind..

 

[auntie]

In my situation it absolutely would matter. Any missed tests, assignments or projects that were missed because of an unexcused absence, would not be permitted to be made up. The student would be given a zero, which could really affect their gpa (a fact I learned only AFTER my DD was credited with an unexcused absence).

Exactly the same here. They are pretty specific as to what is an "excused..or unexcused" absence is. Usually anything health related, family related, court related, that type of thing is an excused absence. Which let's face it..pretty much covers almost everything. They do have a policy for high schoolers where if your child is out for more than four days in a row..they are to return with a dr.'s note. This is to discourage parents from taking kids out of school for week long vacations. Missing school for what is considered with an unexcused absence could mean that the child doesn't get to make up a test that's missed that day, or that they aren't able to hand in late a homework assignment that was due the day he was absent. Of course this would be reflected in the grade for the quarter. Also district policy is that if a child is absent (whether excused or unexcused) more than 9 times per semester (18 days total for the year) they may not receive credit for courses taken. Ridiculous..don't ever get the flu.
As far as snow days, we generally have three snow dates built in to the calendar. Meaning that if they don't close school more than three times..there is nothing to be made up. If they have to make up snow days, we're told in September, that those days are to be made up during the Spring break/recess week. Again, you have enough time to work that out if need be. We've only had one time where a day was taken back from the Spring recess. I've got to tell ya..not many people showed up either.

I think it's ridiculous that they would give two days (or less notice) that a snow make up day will be on Saturday. If the kids are in academic good standing..I'd skip it.

 

[barkley]

i suspect if one of the schools around here tried that there would be a major uproar. there's allot of seventh day adventists in our neck of the woods, and they would no way/no how allow their kids to attend on their sabbath.

i have to wonder in some of these areas that have gotten so hard hit with snow this year if the districts have considered appealing to the state for special circumstances to allow for disreguarding a number of those lost days. we've got something in our state law that specificly covers this-if the snows bad enough that the govenor calls a state of emergency then the days the schools are closed for that period can be forgiven. seems like this would work better than pulling the kids in on weekends (and i'm guessing having to pay overtime to the non union staff like bus drivers, caf people, yard monitors, admin staff...).

 

[Becky2005]

II don't understand why the schools didn't put in a few extra days in case of snow I mean, we live in NY...NY gets snow.

Exactly -- ours really does do that. In ALL my years living in this area -- all my life -- I don't ever recall them using all FIVE built-in snowdays. Now it may have happened back in '78 or so. Our calendar always has 5 days built-in at the end of the calendar for snow days. Now, 99.9% of the people assume the last day of school is going to be the "this is the last day unless we have snowdays" day. If we have a snow day though, that's where it is tacked on & you know about it the instant you have a snowday -- OK, now the last day of school is June 2 instead of June 1 type of thing. We have never gone over 5 so I don't know what they would do in that case.

I would just eat the unexcused. I'm thinking there will be a lot of kids NOT there. I'm guessing the teachers aren't really going to have anything major planned either because I'm sure they don't want to be there Saturday either.

They just automatically send the "your kid needs to be in school" letter no matter what. My DD was getting homebound instruction due to medical last year & it was all set up & I still got the letter. UMM...it's counted as being IN school when the homebound teacher is teaching you.

 

[hereyago]

DD11's school system did not have any snow days built in. We live in S.E. Virginia. But they did decided that Presiden'ts day, which they would have had off originally would be the first make up day during that week of the "big" snow ordeal. The other snow day has yet to be determined.

As far as the the calling in for absence. DD's new school, middle school, we don't call in because we will get that call anyway saying our kid was out and had an unexcused abscence. I do however, email the teachers to let them know. Then when she does return to school, she has to take a note from me saying why she was out.

 

[cheermom1]

Exactly -- ours really does do that. In ALL my years living in this area -- all my life -- I don't ever recall them using all FIVE built-in snowdays. Now it may have happened back in '78 or so. Our calendar always has 5 days built-in at the end of the calendar for snow days. Now, 99.9% of the people assume the last day of school is going to be the "this is the last day unless we have snowdays" day. If we have a snow day though, that's where it is tacked on & you know about it the instant you have a snowday -- OK, now the last day of school is June 2 instead of June 1 type of thing. We have never gone over 5 so I don't know what they would do in that case.

I would just eat the unexcused. I'm thinking there will be a lot of kids NOT there. I'm guessing the teachers aren't really going to have anything major planned either because I'm sure they don't want to be there Saturday either.

They just automatically send the "your kid needs to be in school" letter no matter what. My DD was getting homebound instruction due to medical last year & it was all set up & I still got the letter. UMM...it's counted as being IN school when the homebound teacher is teaching you.

this is how my kids school does it too ...right now from my understanding our last day will be June 10th b/c of snow..why can't they do that in my nephews school???

 

[PollyannaMom]

Exactly -- ours really does do that. In ALL my years living in this area -- all my life -- I don't ever recall them using all FIVE built-in snowdays. Now it may have happened back in '78 or so. Our calendar always has 5 days built-in at the end of the calendar for snow days. Now, 99.9% of the people assume the last day of school is going to be the "this is the last day unless we have snowdays" day. If we have a snow day though, that's where it is tacked on & you know about it the instant you have a snowday -- OK, now the last day of school is June 2 instead of June 1 type of thing. We have never gone over 5 so I don't know what they would do in that case....

Same here. Our calendar has 5 built in, so you know the "safe" last day of school not to book trips before, and you know the "maybe, if we don't use our snow days" last day of school, and the real one will usually be somewhere in between.

 

[punkin]

OK, just because of this thread, I went to check our school calendar and this is what it has on the bottom:


School Contingency Calendar, 2009-2010

If the school year should be disrupted by emergencies and schools are closed, the school year will be extended.
If schools are closed... The school year will be extended by...
5 days one day to June 17, 2010
6 days two days to June 17 and 18, 2010
7 days three days to June 17, 18, and 21, 2010
8 days four days to June 17, 18, 21, and 22, 2010
9 days five days to June 17, 18, 21, 22 and 23, 2010


I don't think we have gotten to 9 days yet, so no worries here about Saturday school.

 

[disykat]

An unexcused absence is generally not a big deal for a student. I'm guessing there will be lots of them under these circumstances. The people I really feel sorry for are the staff. An unexcused absence may not be an option for them!

 

[cheermom1]

An unexcused absence is generally not a big deal for a student. I'm guessing there will be lots of them under these circumstances. The people I really feel sorry for are the staff. An unexcused absence may not be an option for them!

I know but still I wonder what they were thinking about the 2 day notice? Do they really expect most the kids to be there?? Why can't they just take them on to the end of the year or spring break?

 

[disykat]

I know but still I wonder what they were thinking about the 2 day notice? Do they really expect most the kids to be there?? Why can't they just take them on to the end of the year or spring break?

I honestly think they don't expect most of the kids to be there. They will force the staff to be there, classrooms will be mostly empty, but the state will be satisfied that they had the makeup day.

I would send my kids if I could, but if I had unchangeable plans already in place those would probably take priority.

 

[cheermom1]

I honestly think they don't expect most of the kids to be there. They will force the staff to be there, classrooms will be mostly empty, but the state will be satisfied that they had the makeup day.

I would send my kids if I could, but if I had unchangeable plans already in place those would probably take priority.

Yep me too...which is what sil is doing since it is my gma's 85th bday and this has been planned a while now...but it is still not right they have the unexcused absence since it really is the school's fault for not giving a proper notice..