School excuse wording

[JCH]

I just don't get how parents can bash teachers so much. I love my students and my job, and I am one of those teachers who always works from 8 to 5, partly because I have 0 planning time, and sometimes the grief from parents and the public is enough to make me want to quit. A typical day is arrive at 8, make copies for the day, parent conferences from 8:30 to 9, teaching from 9 to 4 with 1 25 min lunch break, then do extra curricullar clubs from 4 to 5. I do keep 1 day a week free after school for retakes, and have my own rule that on Friday I go home on time. But our contract is 8:30 to 4, so we are not required to stay even a minute late.

If a student is taking a long weekend for a vacation, it is usually fine so long as it is not the last week in the grading period. A lot of teachers take one or two personal days for Disney, so we understand. Asking me to have work in advance for two weeks, however, is not possible.

I just wish parents would be a bit more appreciate when we put in work beyond our contracts rather than act like they are entitled for us to work for free so their kid can go on vacation.

That said, OP, you should be fine! A lot of students miss those two days due to airline prices being so much higher the following Wednesday, so most teachers I know use it as review and reinforcement instead of new material.

 

[bwilcox]

My son never had an "unexcused" absence. If he was absent, I excused it. I told the school that he was out with my knowledge and consent and that was the end of it. None of the three districts he attended ever felt a need to make an issue of it.

I can't imagine living somewhere as invasive and draconian as you describe. What an awful way to try to raise kids! One more blessing to count.

Actually, it is one of the best school districts in the state, and I feel it is an excellent place to raise kids. But hey, to each their own.

 

[goofy4tink]

My son never had an "unexcused" absence. If he was absent, I excused it. I told the school that he was out with my knowledge and consent and that was the end of it. None of the three districts he attended ever felt a need to make an issue of it.

I can't imagine living somewhere as invasive and draconian as you describe. What an awful way to try to raise kids! One more blessing to count.

Invasive and draconian??? Nope. We all have to sign the sheet that affirms that we have read the handbook and know what is in it as far as policy goes. There is a reason our town is desireable..it's school system. There are expectations.
I still say that no one can tell anyone else what to do about taking a child out of school for a trip to WDW. It is up to each family to make that decision...not a board full of strangers who feel you are making a bad choice if it's not the same as theirs. Seems to be a constant need for reinforcement here.

 

[Mama Who]

Invasive and draconian??? Nope.

Taking people to COURT for having their children out of school three days is absolutely draconian. Yes.

 

[Bummbok]

Taking people to COURT for having their children out of school three days is absolutely draconian. Yes.

I'm assuming its 3 days unexcused and not 3 days period.

Therefore all you need to do is make sure the days off are excused...and if not don't go or risk the consequences. *shrug*

I rather doubt that the school/state policy is some big mystery that jumps out and suprises people...unless you're the sort that signs papers saying you've read and understand when in fact you didn't.

 

[Magpie]

My son never had an "unexcused" absence. If he was absent, I excused it. I told the school that he was out with my knowledge and consent and that was the end of it. None of the three districts he attended ever felt a need to make an issue of it.

I can't imagine living somewhere as invasive and draconian as you describe. What an awful way to try to raise kids! One more blessing to count.

ITA - our schools care more about whether the children are learning, than they do about checking off attendance so they can get the maximum amount of money per student.

I'm so grateful our system doesn't tie funding to attendance! We have some excellent schools, student achievement is higher than the US (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4054489...s-students-trail-global-leaders/#.TnUne-yvxUQ) and parents have the freedom to decide what's best for their own families.

We're very fortunate.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Why all the different letters?
2) We took the kids out of school every year without a problem.
3) Forttunately, they had diffeent teachers.
4) The letter was just photocopied.

************************************************

Dear Mr/Mrs xxxxxxx:

Please excuse yyyyyyy from school the next full week. Her
cousin, Mick, in Florida is ill and we must attend his bedside with
some of his goofy relatives. We are making a wish upon a star
for his renewed health, and will certainly do wishes every night
for his well-being. With a little luck and some magic, we shall
return in eight days and seven moderate nights.

Thank You,
Donald

 

[MaryKatesMom]

1) Why all the different letters?
2) We took the kids out of school every year without a problem.
3) Forttunately, they had diffeent teachers.
4) The letter was just photocopied.

************************************************

Dear Mr/Mrs xxxxxxx:

Please excuse yyyyyyy from school the next full week. Her
cousin, Mick, in Florida is ill and we must attend his bedside with
some of his goofy relatives. We are making a wish upon a star
for his renewed health, and will certainly do wishes every night
for his well-being. With a little luck and some magic, we shall
return in eight days and seven moderate nights.

Thank You,
Donald

What else can I add for my trip in Nov?

 

[judowoman]

1) Why all the different letters?
2) We took the kids out of school every year without a problem.
3) Forttunately, they had diffeent teachers.
4) The letter was just photocopied.

************************************************

Dear Mr/Mrs xxxxxxx:

Please excuse yyyyyyy from school the next full week. Her
cousin, Mick, in Florida is ill and we must attend his bedside with
some of his goofy relatives. We are making a wish upon a star
for his renewed health, and will certainly do wishes every night
for his well-being. With a little luck and some magic, we shall
return in eight days and seven moderate nights.

Thank You,
Donald

 

[Tbone17701]

How about, "Dear School Administrators,
We are taking our kids out of school for ____ days from ___ (Month) to ____ (Month) so that the family can enjoy lower crowds and less expensive lodging at Walt Disney World, in Florida. The educational lessons of this family vacation will include:
1) economics - the importance of maximizing savings on family vacations
2) geography - the location, weather, and municipal infrastructure of Orlando, Florida
3) math - how quickly costs can add up for food, lodging and souvenirs
4) sociology - the diverse nature of people who attend theme parks
5) psychology - methods used by Disney to induce higher spending in their theme parks
6) English - grammatically correct signs and warnings on thrill rides
7) history - many Disney rides are based on myths and legends, and several are based on bona fide historical American artifacts and personalities
8) physics - actually experiencing positive and negative G-forces on several thrill rides
9) science - discovering the effects of dehydration and lack of sleep
10) foreign languages - hearing several languages in use by actual foreigners
11) biology - seeing, smelling, and possibly depositing stomach contents on the sidewalk after thrill rides
12) engineering - viewing and actually riding highly engineered thrill rides
13) astrology - examining and describing stars seen on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame" in DHS
14) art - experiencing actual animation instruction and getting a back-lot view of motion picture production
15) phys ed - walking approximately seven miles per day.

I hope you agree that, based on this ___ week visit, my children should be awarded a bachelor's degree in General Studies from the nearest state college. If that is not possible, please provide instructions on how my children can complete any additional requirements of their regularly scheduled classes (as if their classes could possibly cover anything remotely as comprehensive as this vacation will expose them to!).

Very truly yours,
Mrs X"

That should get the ball rolling for you...

I work in the travel industry and actually printed this to share with co-workers and clients...priceless!!

 

[Colleen27]

If you choose to pull your kids out (or choose not to) it *does* say something about how you "value" time in school vs. how you "value" other things. What, exactly, it says depends on your circumstances.

If you truly cannot get vacation time from your job during *any* time your kids are off school, then it is a question of "vacation time with family" vs. "time in school."

However, most people are not quite so limited. Kids are typically out of school for 14-15 weeks over the course of the year, plus various long weekends, etc. For most people it is possible to schedule time away from work during one or more of those times. And, at that point the thing you are valuing is lower cost, lower crowds, and/or better weather vs. time in school.

Furthermore there are (shockingly!) other places you can go to avoid some of these problems. WDW is too hot and crowded in the summer? The upper midwest has plenty of lovely lakes (including some Great ones) that aren't super crowded and have lovely weather. You can make a nice vacation out of a trip there. They don't have Splash Mountain, but you can't have it all.

True enough, but I don't think it is all that surprising that many families aren't content with the limited options available in the overlap between school and work schedules.

We could, in theory, vacation when DH is out of work without pulling the kids out of school, but that would limit us to very short trips (3-4 days at most) which clearly leaves out options like Disney, Mexico, cruising, etc. Since DH can't get away during the summer and our schools have few breaks during the year we'd pretty much be stuck with spending a lot of $$$$ for little enjoyment or limiting ourselves to the lovely midwest during the not-so-lovely winter months if we restricted our travels to the times everyone in the family has off at the same time. And this is where it does come down to values - we value travel too much to have the extent of our family vacations limited to a long weekend in Chicago or a couple nights in Frankenmuth. Since the kids can make up schoolwork missed for travel far more easily than DH can make up business lost if he chooses to close up shop during his busy season to vacation on the kids' schedule, we pull the kids out of school for a week every winter to have a real family vacation.

 

[KateMW]

This..and my other issue: this whole PR spin of "Disney is Educational! Really! they go to Epcot and learn about countries! "

Call it what is is.. a vacation. it is NOT a class field trip and can never substitute for solid learning about a culture. even Field trips are merely expanding on what was learned from the classroom/text.

This exactly!

 

[seashoreCM]

True enough, but I don't think it is all that surprising that many families aren't content with the limited options available in the overlap between school and work schedules.

Since the kids can make up schoolwork missed for travel far more easily than DH can make up business lost if he chooses to close up shop during his busy season to vacation on the kids' schedule, we pull the kids out of school for a week every winter to have a real family vacation.

Your family would be in an excellent position to use this strategy: Some time before the vacation, extrapolate the homework that would be covered during the vacation and have the kids shoot for accomplishing that prior to leaving on vacation. This is not meant to be perfect; some of the actual work (what the extrapolation did not catch) would still need to be performed during or after the vacation but hopefully this is less than a third of the total.

Meanwhile the kids should not be expected to give up school sports or similar activities (added later) simply for quality family time's sake.

 

[Colleen27]

Your family would be in an excellent position to use this strategy: Some time before the vacation, extrapolate the homework that would be covered during the vacation and have the kids shoot for accomplishing that prior to leaving on vacation. This is not meant to be perfect; some of the actual work (what the extrapolation did not catch) would still need to be performed during or after the vacation but hopefully this is less than a third of the total.

Meanwhile the kids should not be expected to give up school sports or similar activities.

Our school makes it really easy. On Fridays I can log into the school's website and see all of the kids assignments for the coming week. My kids handle most of their missed work at natural lulls in our trips, whether before we leave, on the plane/in the car (depending on the destination) or in the evenings when the 3yo is in bed but the 10 & 13yos aren't tired yet.

Planning around sports is getting trickier, because between my two we've got football, basketball, baseball, softball, and swim to juggle but so far we've managed to travel in their off seasons. DD10 is still at a level (rec leagues) where missing a practice or game isn't a big deal, but DS13 has his sights set on making our state-champ high school varsity football team so even as a middle schooler he does NOT miss football. But Jan/Feb are a lull between seasons so we should have at least that as an option for the foreseeable future.

 

[Jerseyguy's Wife]

To the OP: I had to fill out a similar form and created a thread to ask for educational ideas. There were several good ideas before the thread entirely derailed. I will try to post the link to it here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2531856

You may have to copy and paste it into your browser. I don't know if you can click directly there because it ended up being closed due to nastiness.

What I ended up doing was typing a list of what we were going to do and how it was educational. For example: Social Studies- Country learning project at EPCOT, Science- applied physics on ToT and the Monorail, etc. And my DS was in kindergarten, so applied physics went a lot like this: I hold a penny in my outstretched palm or a ball on a string and ask him what he thinks will happen when we start to move, drop, whatever.

This year, we are going to WDW in December, and I am taking him out of first grade for 4 days. And yes, I am going to apply for the educational exemption again, per his teacher's request. My request this year looks a lot like this:
Science: Behind the Seeds tour
Social Studies/Diversity: Christmas around the World project (I can send you a copy of my newly completed pages if you want them-just PM me).
Art: Animation class at DHS
Arts: FOTLK, Nemo, Beauty and the Beast stage show

We are also going to visit Kennedy Space Center, so I have an entire Science day there.
Luckily, I only have to fill four days with education (and yes, it can be done); the rest of the days are just for fun with Mickey Mouse.
Good luck. I hope you all have a wonderful time. I hope this was helpful.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

this is what I write.

dear teacher,

My child will be absent jan 21-24. We will return on jan 25. Have a good week.

Sincerely,
Me

My kids. my life. my choice.
of course we homeschool now... so it isnt an issue

 

[Wadecool]

To the OP: I had to fill out a similar form and created a thread to ask for educational ideas. There were several good ideas before the thread entirely derailed. I will try to post the link to it here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2531856

You may have to copy and paste it into your browser. I don't know if you can click directly there because it ended up being closed due to nastiness.

What I ended up doing was typing a list of what we were going to do and how it was educational. For example: Social Studies- Country learning project at EPCOT, Science- applied physics on ToT and the Monorail, etc. And my DS was in kindergarten, so applied physics went a lot like this: I hold a penny in my outstretched palm or a ball on a string and ask him what he thinks will happen when we start to move, drop, whatever.

This year, we are going to WDW in December, and I am taking him out of first grade for 4 days. And yes, I am going to apply for the educational exemption again, per his teacher's request. My request this year looks a lot like this:
Science: Behind the Seeds tour
Social Studies/Diversity: Christmas around the World project (I can send you a copy of my newly completed pages if you want them-just PM me).
Art: Animation class at DHS
Arts: FOTLK, Nemo, Beauty and the Beast stage show

We are also going to visit Kennedy Space Center, so I have an entire Science day there.
Luckily, I only have to fill four days with education (and yes, it can be done);
the rest of the days are just for fun with Mickey Mouse.
Good luck. I hope you all have a wonderful time. I hope this was helpful.

Wow. I just read the last 3 pages of that thread you linked, and boy you weren't kidding about it turning nasty in a hurry!

 

[pilferk]

Wow. I just read the last 3 pages of that thread you linked, and boy you weren't kidding about it turning nasty in a hurry!

This topic usually does, unfortunately.

People ask for specific, helpful advice and it gets dragged into the "should you/shouldn't you" debate.

 

[Jerseyguy's Wife]

Wow. I just read the last 3 pages of that thread you linked, and boy you weren't kidding about it turning nasty in a hurry!

Yep. It started on page 1. There were several good ideas in there, though. And the you should/shouldn't debate is okay with me; it's the holier-than-thou, no-middle-ground, "you are a bad parent" tone it takes that irritates me.

 

[pilferk]

Yep. It started on page 1. There were several good ideas in there, though. And the you should/shouldn't debate is okay with me; it's the holier-than-thou, no-middle-ground, "you are a bad parent" tone it takes that irritates me.

OK...please excuse the following rant but I gotta do it:

[rant]
I don't mind the debate...when the original poster asks "should I/shouldn't I". I get that, and it's a hot topic. My response is usually "We do it. Do what you think is best for your family and what your school board can live with. Ignore everyone else's opinions." And for those looking for a sly aside....yes, I would include my own on the subject, no matter what paradox that creates.

But when, as in your thread, they DON'T ask that question...but ask for specific, helpful advice (in other words, the decision has already been made) on SPECIFIC things related to doing so...then, IMHO, you either provide helpful feedback or you don't. You answer the question that was asked, or you don't. The decision has already been made, it's obvious what the OP's decision is....there's not useful purpose to debate it.

Just because there's a tangent to be gone on, questioning the decision that's already been made, doesn't mean it SHOULD be gone on. If someone REALLY feels the need to debate "should you/shouldn't you" either create a thread to do that, or find one of the (very few) on the subject that exist and haven't been closed.

But what ends up happening is people run roughshod over the thread and what helpful info may have been there either gets drowned out...or those with slightly thinner skins, who have helpful info but don't want to enter the fray, DON"T POST. The cacophany effectively silences a good portion of posters.

The ultimate problem is: The current "tangent" tends to quell the discussion of the topic brought up by the OP. It silences a lot of voices, drowns out a lot of others, and generally isn't helpful to the OP. And it gets threads locked.

[/rant]