Received a letter from the school about missed days...

[TinkHappy]

I am a little upset with this, now I know I am not suppose to take our children out of school for vacation (they are 7 and 9), but it has always been my feeling that as long as they are doing well in school (A's and 1B) that family time is VERY important to us. Plus we always try and make it educational...

Well, this is why I am upset...Last year, at the end of the school year, the school vacation chart (for the following year-this year) came out and we were not given a February break (winter break), but they had Thur and Friday off. So, I decided to make our vacation that week and the kids would only miss 3 days of school (we went skiing in VT for the week), so I paid for the vacation, then at the start of this school year we received a notice that we WOULD have a Feb. break, but it was for the week AFTER our vacation. We already paid So, we went anyway. Well today, in the mail we received a notice saying that it was "striking" the amount of unexcused days they have missed!!! WHAT!!???! It was 5 days and I spoke with the school before we left!!
I am going to take them out of school again in May, their DF is being honored in DC, so they aren't going to miss that!!

Thank you for letting me vent!! This really upset me.

 

[PamOKW]

Are they in private school? Some of the private schools have very strict policies about missing classes.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

That would upset me also. I hope your kids were allowed to make up any work they missed. In the long run, family time is far more important than a few days absent form school.

 

[TinkHappy]

They are in public school. They do very well in school so that is why I am so upset.

Breezy_Carol ~ I agree, family time is so important!!

 

[Bojangles]

Since NCLB and all of the manditory testing, I think you will find that many schools are cracking down on unexcused absences. Just because they do well doesn't excuse them from the same policies and guidelines everyone else has to follow.

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by Bojangles
Since NCLB and all of the manditory testing, I think you will find that many schools are cracking down on unexcused absences. Just because they do well doesn't excuse them from the same policies and guidelines everyone else has to follow.

And I think part of NCLB has it set up that schools lose money for kids not in school a certain amount of days....so if your kids misses say 12 days, the school may not receive full funding from the state/federal governments who figure if they kids aren't in school, they shouldn't have to provide funding for them. How they figure that, I don't know....because it's not like the teachers' pay or mortgage is figured on the number of kids attending each day But they're trying to make schools more accountable, so they do this to make sure that schools are doing their best to keep the kids in school.

That said, I'll probably be taking mine out for vacations, too. Family time is very important, and I can't stand the parks during peak times. Would never even consider taking a trip during the real spring break times. In fact, we will be taking our oldest out in 2 weeks, but she's only in preschool so it doesn't matter right now. And, I still have to pay tuition even though she's not going to be there....wish I had the set-up the state has

 

[RitaZ.]

Talk to the principal about this. Even if you talked to the school before the trip, it's very likely that these letters are automatically mailed out to children that have a certain amount of unexcused absences.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Our school district sends out those notices too, but I always thought moreso because of it being an urban public school and probable high rate of unexcused abcenses.

I have yet to figure out why my DD gets an unexcused abcense when I return her to school with a note that she was ill.
Maybe it depends on the circumstance of the illness I write in the note. I don't keep her home unless she is too ill to go to school.

And, yes, the NCLB Act has made an impact on schools' attendance. More and more they are discouraging or restricting vacations and time off during the school year because of the requirements set forth by the new parameters.

 

[chager]

We got a note like that last year. The only way they would excuse an absence was if I had a Dr. note. Just a note stating he was ill wasn't good enough. He also was out for a week for a trip. Shool was notified...yada yada yada. Still considered as 5 unexcused days even though we were told it would only be considered one At any rate it was a private school and it was a mandatory note when absences hit a certain number. I think they do it so if they do have a family with serious attendence issues they have it documented that the parents were sent a notification about it. Kind of a CYA thing

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

The first year I got this notice I was SO upset. Then I went to a PTA meeting later that morning and every other Mom had gotten the same letter. It is a standard form once so many absences happen. We got one already this year and will be missing a week more in May with the Principals OK!

 

[wendyl]

Originally posted by RitaZ.
Even if you talked to the school before the trip, it's very likely that these letters are automatically mailed out to children that have a certain amount of unexcused absences.

That was my first thought--they probably automatically mailed those letters to all families over a certain amount of unexcused absences. I taught at Middle School for three years and you would be SHOCKED at the amount of people who took their kids out for a week here and another week there and then another week, etc... and then blamed (loudly) the school and teachers when their kids were behind. Unfortunately, the conscientious parents like you, end up having to get the same "scolding" letters as the other parents.

I wouldn't sweat it--enjoy those vacations!!

 

[JayCT]

What do they mean "striking"? I do not understand.

We have an 8 and 6 year old we are taking out of school in two weeks. We have told their teachers, but have not notified the Principal. Should we write her a letter? Now I am worried.

 

[bballmom56]

Our somewhat rural public high school does this, too. Students are allowed 15 days, I think. After 7 absences, you get "the letter". For the last 3 years of hs, DD missed 2 days each year for a national 4H competition that she qualified for every year. I told the school, the head of the program in our state wrote a letter to the school, but it didn't matter! Also didn't matter that she was NHS, top 10% of her class, a state scholarship winner - we still got the letter. We chuckled and shrugged it off as we knew it was unlikely she'd get to the 15 days. Our school is very serious about it and our attendance rate is about 93-95% on any given day.

 

[powellrj]

our schools have been sending those letters for about 10 years. Anything over 5 days in a semester you get a letter after 10 days you get a visit from CPS ( i don't know if this is true, thats just what they say and I don't want to find out if it true). When my oldest DS was in lower grades we would take 3 extra days at fall break. We stopped that , but we will take a 1/2 day that week and go for a short trip. That will be our only "family" vacation this year because the only time dh could get off, the kids were in school.

 

[stinkerbelle]

Can I ask a stupid question here?

Ok - parents take their children out of school for vacation...most likely contacting teachers or whoever and getting them their work for the following week (I can remember doing homework on an airplane when I was little).

Regardless of NCLB...how does this letter really impact your child's future? They are still maintaining their school work...they just didn't "have their butt in the seat" for 5 days.

It's not going to impact them not getting into a better college. They will not be marked lower on their work if teachers are notified ahead of time (well - they SHOULDN'T be anyway).

I dunno...just seems to me that some of these schools have their panties in a bunch over a parent deciding to spend more quality time with their children...

 

[nowellsl]

I send these letters out every day. They are automatically generated when a student has 5 unexcused absences. We do require written excuses in order for an absence to be excused. Since vacations are not considered excused absenses, parents may request that they be excused by writing a letter to our principal explaining the reason for the absence. They are required to be submitted prior to the trip and approved by the principal. We only excuse 6 absences per semester with a parent note for any reason, so if you already have 6 absences excused for say illness - your vacation would still be unexcused. We are required by state law to send the letters out.

Quote by iNTeNSeBLue98

"I have yet to figure out why my DD gets an unexcused abcense when I return her to school with a note that she was ill."

Chances are the note is not making it to the correct person. Send it directly to the attendance office!

 

[danacara]

I got a lovely letter from the State of New Jersey in April of my senior year, saying that if I missed two more days of school, I was in danger of not graduating. I had a lot of days off that year for a bunch of different reasons. I laminated it and taped it right underneath the digital sign that displayed my name as valedictorian. It was one of the comic high points of my year. See if you can find any humor in it. Your kids are doing just fine and will go on to next year with no problem.

 

[disykat]

I also got the letter in high school - 25 years ago. It didn't matter if the absences were excused or not. I wasn't valedictorian, but I was an honor student.

Just take it with a grain of salt.

 

[maroney495]

Each district here is required by law to set policy on notifying parents about absences. Our state system at our district is set up to automatically print out letters when 3 day, 6 days and 9 days are missed each semester (these are sent out for ALL absences, excused or unexcused) It is a way of letting parents know how much students have missed(it seems our parents 'forget" just how many days their children have missed.)

 

[disdreams]

I would complain to the principal, and make sure to make the point that your vacation was already paid for, and that you made the plans before you knew about the winter break.

On my daughters last field trip I was going to drive my own car so I could take my youngest child along (parents do this all the time because siblings can't ride the bus for insurance reasons). Well, when I told the peope in the office , they told me that they would have to mark my child off as absent for the whole day if she rides with me!!!! Okay, so, if my child rides the bus to the field trip, she is not absent, but if she rides in my car with me to the same field trip (and gets returned to the school to finish the day off after the trip....mind you, I'd be following the bus the entire time) then she is "absent". I coulnd't believe what I was hearing!! I told them to forget it, that she can ride the bus, and my other child and I would drive without her. That is totally ridiculous!
How do they figure this as an absence??
Who makes these rules?