Teacher's advice on missing school

[mobay2000]

Dis261 that us how it would go down in my system too. Letter from the DA, lost credit for more than 5 unexcused absences etc. For the record, this is not the teacher's call where "truancy" is the issue.

 

[darwyn]

Thanks for this. We're taking my daughter out for Disney next month. We're specifically doing it this year because she's in 5th grade...and I consider 6th grade where "real" school begins. So I figure we take her out one final time. (unless in the future she's doing real good and I don't think she'd suffer at all)

We organized it so that we're leaving RIGHT after standardized testing. The last thing I would have wanted was for her to come back from vacation and then have to "study up" in a frantic manner to get ready for testing.

By your advice, I will not ask her teacher for homework!

Makes me sad to know as a 5th grade teacher I do not teach "real" stuff *sigh* lol. Some people don't realize 5th grade Math is one of the hardest years ever- (and no, I don't teach Math, but I know what skills are being introduced and a LOT of the kids around here struggle and then are fine the next year)

 

[jjskribs]

As a retired first grade teacher I too am bothered by the attitude that "real" school doesn't begin until 6th grade. I spent 36 years teaching children to read and I considered that "kind of important".

I also disagree that it is easier to take an older child out of school. When a first grader misses school they are missing 6 hours of instruction everyday. In both reading and math, that is a big deal!

Parents would always ask me to "just send the worksheets" and they figured the children would stay caught up. Children don't learn from worksheets. A worksheet is review and reinforcement of a concept that they learned from teacher instruction. When kids miss the instruction they can't do the worksheet.

I had many kids who missed school for Disney vacations and when they returned I often had to do one on one work with them to help them catch up. That was taking time away from the rest of the class!

So please don't think that because it's first grade it's not important.

 

[tiggerdad]

I have a question for the teachers:

Planning a surprise trip for my daughter (4th grader) this November or December. In your opinion, does it seem any easier for them to miss the week before or after Thanksgiving, or perhaps go first week in December ( 2nd week after Thanksgiving).

Or, does it really make a difference?

 

[Poppins2010]

I have a question for the teachers:

Planning a surprise trip for my daughter (4th grader) this November or December. In your opinion, does it seem any easier for them to miss the week before or after Thanksgiving, or perhaps go first week in December ( 2nd week after Thanksgiving).

Or, does it really make a difference?

How great... love surprise trips! I don't see anything critical in any of those times... of course I teach in a different state. If I had to pick, I guess I'd vote for the week before Thanksgiving... the kids are all kind of distracted then... so I don't introduce any new difficult concepts that week. Be sure to tell the teacher in the fall (tell him/her its a surprise) and follow their lead as to how to take care of anything missed. Have Fun!

 

[Turn the Page]

My children missed school for 5 days for Disney trip along with missing a few days for a death in the family and sickness throughout the whole school year and the next thing I know is I get a phone call from the police saying there are considered truant. I regret taking them to Disney now with all the trouble that it has caused. I thought because they are in the first grade five days would not make a big difference but I guess the teachers and the principal thought differently.I also had to sit down and explain why they missed the days they missed and now the teachers are holding them back in the first grade as a result.

The school district my daughter attends does not do this. In fact, when DD8 was in kindergarten I overheard a parent asking the teacher if she was aware her son would miss the entire month of January . I never heard how that turned out.

Anyway, I have heard of school districts doing this. When I lived in Kentucky my boss told me a story about how she took her kids out for a week to go on vacation, all their work was completed and turned in before they left and when they got back they got a letter from the school threatening prosecution for truancy if they missed any more school. Apparently in that district is is due to the way the schools are funded. If the parents are prosecuted and found guilty of truancy they are ordered to pay damages to the school. In my district they do pupil counts twice a year, once each semester I think, and the school funding from the state is based off those counts so if a child misses school for whatever reason it doesn't affect the schools funding.

 

[tiggerdad]

How great... love surprise trips! I don't see anything critical in any of those times... of course I teach in a different state. If I had to pick, I guess I'd vote for the week before Thanksgiving... the kids are all kind of distracted then... so I don't introduce any new difficult concepts that week. Be sure to tell the teacher in the fall (tell him/her its a surprise) and follow their lead as to how to take care of anything missed. Have Fun!

Great and thanks for the input.

I've been back working on my master's degree for the last 4 years, so family missing out. Gonna try and make it up, but when you are the new provider in the clinic you get last vacation slots. So no time out of clinic for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Would prefer her not to miss but only way to make it happen.

 

[Vernie822]

My parents used to take us to Florida every other year in May. We would miss two weeks of school and do Disney and a beach. I was probably in 5th grade the last time we missed two full weeks, because it just became too much as we got older. Because we were missing more than 5 days of school, my parents had to get special permission from the school board to take us out! Proof of an actual vacation and everything. We rarely ever missed school though other than if we were really sick.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Before you even approach the first five tips, check into your school's absentee policy. The teacher's POV will be a moot point if the admin frowns upon using school time for vacation.

 

[tiggerdad]

Before you even approach the first five tips, check into your school's absentee policy. The teacher's POV will be a moot point if the admin frowns upon using school time for vacation.

Thanks also, it is a good point.

Already discussed with principle and superintendent of education (neighbor). We are good to go here.

 

[china mom]

Makes me sad to know as a 5th grade teacher I do not teach "real" stuff *sigh* lol. Some people don't realize 5th grade Math is one of the hardest years ever- (and no, I don't teach Math, but I know what skills are being introduced and a LOT of the kids around here struggle and then are fine the next year)

Sorry for the parents who made you feel that way about elementary school. from my perspective, it is real school BUT, I feel competent to provide instruction for a dew missed days for the first few years. I can pretty much handle teaching my daughter single digit addition. But once they get to 5th grade, I am no longer competent to fill in for the teacher. I am, in fact, NOT smarter than a 5th grader.

 

[TimonMeeko]

As a teacher, when a parent sends me an email stating their students will be out of town for vacation, I just tell them to have a fantastic time. I give the student their work when they get back. I have found that parents who take their kids out of school for vacation are pretty conscientious about their student's education.

My feelings/experiences too. If parents want work I'll tell them to read for 20 minutes a night and write about what they do each day. I've been lucky in that any child missing is usually performing at/above grade level. With a below grade level child I would send them off with work to reinforce what we've been working on. Our school also has numerous subscriptions to reading and math sites the kids can access if they choose to.

As a retired first grade teacher I too am bothered by the attitude that "real" school doesn't begin until 6th grade. I spent 36 years teaching children to read and I considered that "kind of important".... please don't think that because it's first grade it's not important.

As a side note, I love when admin wants to move "weaker" teachers to non-testing grades. Correct me if I'm wrong, but teaching a child to read is kind of an important step towards future success! I've taught kinder, first, second, and third and to me, EVERY grade is important!

Anyway, I'll also add that throughout elementary school AND high school my folks would take me out of school for ten days around Thanksgiving. That was back when the MK was EMPTY at that time of year. Ahhhh, to time travel to 1985 again! I remember doing homework at the table in the Knights Inn on 192 on "rest" days. Except in eighth grade-- had a tough teacher and was nervous as I handed her the note from my mom. Sister Kathleen looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Have a great time!"

 

[china mom]

My children missed school for 5 days for Disney trip along with missing a few days for a death in the family and sickness throughout the whole school year and the next thing I know is I get a phone call from the police saying there are considered truant. I regret taking them to Disney now with all the trouble that it has caused. I thought because they are in the first grade five days would not make a big difference but I guess the teachers and the principal thought differently.I also had to sit down and explain why they missed the days they missed and now the teachers are holding them back in the first grade as a result.

Yes, consider yourself a cautionary tale for other parents. Check with your school system before making ay decisions.

Each state and county has different reporting policies and different ways of counting absences and tardies and they are handled in different ways.

I work in a courtroom and we have "truancy court" twice a month. We have no jurisdiction over children in District Court so we are dealing with the parents. in Maryland, parents can receive 10 days in jail and a $100 fin PER ABSENCE if the child is considered truant. Our local schools are reporting truancy after five unexcused absences and charging parents criminally (I think at 10).

Now, we have been doing this for a year now and so far, none of the cases have involved vacations and all have been cases of some pretty big problems (we have one kid who has missed an average of 50 days of school since K and is now in HS) but the potential exists.

My kids attend school one county away from where I work and I have never even received a raised eyebrow for pulling them for trips.

 

[darwyn]

Yeah, 5th grade Math is super hard for most kids, its introducing a lot of things that are important building blocks for advanced stuff later on. I have trouble with my 6th grade sons math sometimes (and I have a Masters degree)...bleh.

 

[dis261]

We also received a warning which we had to sign saying it will not happen again. And if it does we will have to appear in front of a judge and pay a fine up to $1500 and/or jail time.

 

[awalker1015]

I really appreciate this post!! I've been feeling a little guilty. For the first time ever we are taking kids (2nd and 4th grade) out of school for a week in May. Going a week after standardized testing is over. It's an opportunity we won't have again as it coincides with a business trip thus paying half the cost of the trip. I will note all your suggestions!!

 

[prudence64]

Just curious if anyone lies and says the kids are out sick or something? I don't think I would do it because it would be a bad example and I'm afraid my daughter would blow our cover anyway. But, it's tempting.

 

[surferdave]

Thanks Poppins, I hope more people appreciate the advice.

I wish I had known or thought about #5 before our last trip. Our daughter has fought well through a handful of developmental delays and other challenges, and we knew she could be a challenge to most of her teachers. We had pressed hard all year to keep up some of the school's services on her ISP that we knew were a challenge to the school (we know all about unfunded mandates and tried to be mindful that the school's resources were strained). We stayed in frequent touch with her teachers and knew that she occupied more of thier time than the typical student. She had gotten off to a brutal start to the school year being back in such a structured environment, and by the time our long planned out vacation rolled around I was feeling pretty guilty about the two days ahead of spring break that I planned to pull her out of school.

I remember sheepishly telling all her teachers at once at an ISP meeting about two weeks before our trip and they all laughed to hear that I didn't think they knew when were going to Disney and when. She had been telling everyone about it repeatedly for weeks. I was relieved and grateful that they didn't think it would undermine her work and that they didn't think I was being hypocritical for taking her out for a couple of days.

Makes me sad to know as a 5th grade teacher I do not teach "real" stuff *sigh* lol. Some people don't realize 5th grade Math is one of the hardest years ever- (and no, I don't teach Math, but I know what skills are being introduced and a LOT of the kids around here struggle and then are fine the next year)

That frightens me to hear, having seen what has been in my daughter's curriculum through the fourth grade. You'll get no such dismissal of the primary school teachers from me. From what I've seen any students who do not master some fairly abstract concepts in all major areas are going to have a rough recovery by the time they reach middle school. But suspect I have to pay a lot more attention to my daughter's schoolwork than a lot of parents.

This is what I remember from my elementary school years.

 

[TimonMeeko]

I really appreciate this post!! I've been feeling a little guilty. For the first time ever we are taking kids (2nd and 4th grade) out of school for a week in May. Going a week after standardized testing is over. It's an opportunity we won't have again as it coincides with a business trip thus paying half the cost of the trip. I will note all your suggestions!!

Have a great time and if the teacher is like me, email her some pics. I love seeing what my kiddos are up to.

And you know, it works both ways-- I missed school for two days last week to cruise! In the afternoon I face-timed with the kids from the deck of the Dream before we left port.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

In the district I work in, we are not allowed to give any work before the kids go on vacation. We are able to tell them to read, write in a journal, etc. We have to give all make up work when they get back