Vacation during school year.

[EMom]

When a teacher is absent, the procedure is to get a substitute teacher to instruct the class, so teaching still gets done. Teacher vacation time word still need to be approved or denied. It's not automatic.

When a student is absent, there isn't any way for anyone to learn the information for that student.

Subs are rarely on par with the teacher they replace. Sometimes they are little more than a warm body. An entire class is impacted. If the grade rotates, two to four classes are impacted. So anywhere from 20- to 100+ students can be adversely impacted by an elementary teacher missing a week of school.

When we took my DD out, it impacted no one except her. We took her assignments with us and I taught the material. With a former teacher and attorney to tutor her, she had more than adequate instruction. As a bonus, DH is an engineer. Her education didn't suffer in the slightest. In fact, when she returned, she had passed the rest of her class, as they had gotten bogged down on some material which we breezed through.

Again, know your own situation.

Her teacher did not bat an eye at taking a week off to go on vacation with her fiancé. Other teachers regularly went on vacation too. That is different from when I taught and we could only take one personal day at a time and it could not be on a Friday, Monday, or combined with a holiday. With teachers taking vacation so openly and it sometimes being impossible to find enough subs on Fridays, my attitude changed. We decided vacations were fine for us as well.

 

[Skippy918]

The simple way to deal with such a long absence is to withdraw the child entirely,, then re-enroll them when you get back. I know people who return to India for a month each January when the weather there is best, and that is what they tend to do with their kids; they formally withdraw them from school and say they will homeschool, then bring them back ane re-enroll a month later. The kids do some work while they are out, just to keep progressing, and often I'm told they end up ahead of the class on the subject matter.

My coworker had to do this when he had a family emergency in his home country. They had to unenroll and then re-enroll the kids in school. They were gone about 3 weeks. The teachers did give them work to do while they were away.

 

[bethy]

The simple way to deal with such a long absence is to withdraw the child entirely,, then re-enroll them when you get back. I know people who return to India for a month each January when the weather there is best, and that is what they tend to do with their kids; they formally withdraw them from school and say they will homeschool, then bring them back ane re-enroll a month later. The kids do some work while they are out, just to keep progressing, and often I'm told they end up ahead of the class on the subject matter.

People do that here as well. We have people in our community from all over the world. And then we have close friends who are going to use this strategy to make a family pilgrimage to Israel next year.

 

[bcwife76]

That's a nice thought, but the rest of the world doesn't shut down for the time the kids aren't in school so it isn't always possible. Most parents I know have fairly strict limits on when they can vacation, either because they're in a seniority based system where the commonly-requested times like Christmas break and summer go to longer-serving employees or because they're in jobs that are seasonal to some extent and are expected to vacation during the business's slow season.

100% agree! My husband is a UPS driver (Canada) and they are not allowed to take any vacation (or sick days, so if you're sick suck it up or bring in your doctor!!) between the last week of November and the last week of December. They also have limits at Spring Break. So yes we pull our kids out if we have to (they are still young).

 

[aprilgail2]

The simple way to deal with such a long absence is to withdraw the child entirely,, then re-enroll them when you get back. I know people who return to India for a month each January when the weather there is best, and that is what they tend to do with their kids; they formally withdraw them from school and say they will homeschool, then bring them back ane re-enroll a month later. The kids do some work while they are out, just to keep progressing, and often I'm told they end up ahead of the class on the subject matter.

I wouldn't take that chance here in grade school- there are 5 grade schools in our district and if "your" school fills up then you are sent to a different school, stinks for the one kid in the neighborhood to have to get bused to a school that is further away and different from all their friends. If you withdraw when you go to re-enroll there is a chance of them sending you elsewhere.

 

[Minnie_me]

My Question is, are the teacher's allowed to take vacation during the school year? You better believe they are it's in there union contract. I say if teachers are allowed so should the kids and have a great trip!!

Her teacher did not bat an eye at taking a week off to go on vacation with her fiancé. Other teachers regularly went on vacation too. That is different from when I taught and we could only take one personal day at a time and it could not be on a Friday, Monday, or combined with a holiday. With teachers taking vacation so openly and it sometimes being impossible to find enough subs on Fridays, my attitude changed. We decided vacations were fine for us as well.

I've never heard of teachers going on vacations during school time, and I've been teaching almost 30 years. It must vary greatly state-to-state!!!! In my district, as well as in every district I am aware of, teachers are not allowed to take vacations while school is in session. We have breaks built into the school year, and are expected to take our family vacations during those times. And we do. We get 3 personal days, which cannot be used for vacation. We get 10 sick days, which cannot be used for vacation (but can be used for family illnesses). Even if teachers get married during the school year, they honeymoon during a built-in week off!

My beef with kids taking vacations while school is in session is simply the expectations that the parents have regarding the teacher's "obligation" to spend countless hours gathering and compiling work before the child leaves, and making things up that the child missed when s/he returns. As if we don't have enough to do already! I teach very young children, so it's not as difficult for me. And yet, I have parents ask me for the work that their child will miss. I refuse to send anything. I write a note explaining to them that my program is built upon experience-based learning, and I don't have a way to duplicate those experiences that their child will miss, nor will I have time to make them up with the child when s/he returns. I wish them a lovely trip, and encourage them to read and write with their child about the experience.

 

[joannjoe]

Subs are rarely on par with the teacher they replace. Sometimes they are little more than a warm body. An entire class is impacted. If the grade rotates, two to four classes are impacted. So anywhere from 20- to 100+ students can be adversely impacted by an elementary teacher missing a week of school.

When we took my DD out, it impacted no one except her. We took her assignments with us and I taught the material. With a former teacher and attorney to tutor her, she had more than adequate instruction. As a bonus, DH is an engineer. Her education didn't suffer in the slightest. In fact, when she returned, she had passed the rest of her class, as they had gotten bogged down on some material which we breezed through.

Again, know your own situation.

Her teacher did not bat an eye at taking a week off to go on vacation with her fiancé. Other teachers regularly went on vacation too. That is different from when I taught and we could only take one personal day at a time and it could not be on a Friday, Monday, or combined with a holiday. With teachers taking vacation so openly and it sometimes being impossible to find enough subs on Fridays, my attitude changed. We decided vacations were fine for us as well.

I think every situation is different. For us the kids don't get enough time off during Christmas and spring break. With a family of 6 we can afford Disney in the summer or on holiday's. We do try to tie a trip around a holiday like Columbus or Veterans day.

 

[Meldev]

I think every situation is different. For us the kids don't get enough time off during Christmas and spring break. With a family of 6 we can afford Disney in the summer or on holiday's. We do try to tie a trip around a holiday like Columbus or Veterans day.

Same here - we do try to tie into breaks but this year that didn't work out so we took the kids out a full week. Honestly I'm not a big fan of having tons of work to make up either but life just keeps getting busier (as you know with 4 kids too) you steal away when you can!
Every district is different both of my sisters are in districts with very strict school missing policies - I'm in a district like a precious poster mentioned where kids take trips, not only for vacation but sports, etc. My DD's gym meets this year have me pulling her out of school twice and totally missing a day once, and there are still meets I don't have the schedule for yet!

 

[tvguy]

My Question is, are the teacher's allowed to take vacation during the school year? You better believe they are it's in there union contract. I say if teachers are allowed so should the kids and have a great trip!!

Teacher here get sick days, but no vacation time during the school year. The school year is 180 days, they are required to be at work the week before and week after school so they work 190 days, 38 weeks, and have 14 weeks off. If you can't find a week in those 14 weeks to go on vacation, something is wrong. Even if they want to earn extra money and work both summer school sessions, they still end up with 6 weeks off.

 

[Colleen27]

Many schools also have 1-2 weeks in Mar/April for Spring break and a fall break that last at least a week as well...some schools out east (not here) have a week long break in Feb too. It's more than just Thanksgiving/Christmas -- and with a 10 week (in most cases) summer break -- most people can probably find time for a week or 2 of vacation from work during that time. Of course, given this is the Dis -- that is never the case.

We don't get anything like that - Easter, Christmas, and summer are the only times we have a full week or more off. Beyond that, there's two four-day weekends (Thanksgiving and Presidents' Day) and a few three-day weekends at Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the end of the first semester. We also don't get many minor holidays - no day off for Columbus Day or Veteran's Day or MLK Day. That makes it very competitive to get school break times off of work even in positions without seasonal restrictions, and in jobs that do have them it can literally be impossible.

Only on the DIS do I know people who assume everyone can just put in for vacation whenever they want and be reasonably sure of getting it approved. In real life, people who work in construction or marine services or farming can't take off "in season", people who work retail or services can't take off around the holidays, etc. And even in fields that aren't seasonal everyone wants the same few weeks off - around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter/spring break, and the middle of summer when there are fewer school/extracurricular conflicts - so people at the lower end of the seniority scale are often shut out of taking vacation during those in-demand times.

 

[Meldev]

We don't get anything like that - Easter, Christmas, and summer are the only times we have a full week or more off. Beyond that, there's two four-day weekends (Thanksgiving and Presidents' Day) and a few three-day weekends at Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the end of the first semester. We also don't get many minor holidays - no day off for Columbus Day or Veteran's Day or MLK Day. That makes it very competitive to get school break times off of work even in positions without seasonal restrictions, and in jobs that do have them it can literally be impossible. Only on the DIS do I know people who assume everyone can just put in for vacation whenever they want and be reasonably sure of getting it approved. In real life, people who work in construction or marine services or farming can't take off "in season", people who work retail or services can't take off around the holidays, etc. And even in fields that aren't seasonal everyone wants the same few weeks off - around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter/spring break, and the middle of summer when there are fewer school/extracurricular conflicts - so people at the lower end of the seniority scale are often shut out of taking vacation during those in-demand times.

Exactly. Even CPA's have a busy season - and for auditors that can vary by client as to when they can go and when they can't. That in and of itself can change as clients change!
DH had a very busy time in June a few years ago - then July got crazy for travel. Summer vacations for us were off-seasons in May and September!

 

[NHdisneylover]

In our area parents can be fined up to 120 euro per kid per day if they miss school for vacation and it is not approved.

When we first moved here, we had already booked and paid non refundable deposits for a family reunion cruise that resulted in our kids missing a little over a week. The principal was willing to approve that trip only because we showed the prepaid receipts from before we knew we were moving, and copies of invoices from multiple family members

Now DS attends a private school (well, semi private, hard to explain) and the school has many kids whose extended families are in other countries. They are pretty willing to allow kids to miss a week or even two to visit family abroad every few years--knowing that flights in school breaks can be prohibitively expensive and that often other countries have other vacation time frames and cousins should have some time together, etc.
DS has not missed any time there yet, for vacations (he's been there nearly 4 years) but we do plan to pull him a few days early before Christmas next year to visit DD in the US, where she will be going to college.

I can't honestly EVER remember anyone being gone for vacation when I was in school. I think it's far more common today.

I missed a week (sometimes two) every year but one. My mom was low on the seniority totem pole and the only time in my 12 years of schooling that she was able to take a vacation week while I was out of school was spring break when I was in 9th grade.
She pulled me for a week every year to visit family in another state, and some years we also took a vacation to somewhere fun (usually Mexico).

 

[tvguy]

We don't get anything like that - Easter, Christmas, and summer are the only times we have a full week or more off. Beyond that, there's two four-day weekends (Thanksgiving and Presidents' Day) and a few three-day weekends at Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the end of the first semester. We also don't get many minor holidays - no day off for Columbus Day or Veteran's Day or MLK Day. That makes it very competitive to get school break times off of work even in positions without seasonal restrictions, and in jobs that do have them it can literally be impossible.

Only on the DIS do I know people who assume everyone can just put in for vacation whenever they want and be reasonably sure of getting it approved. In real life, people who work in construction or marine services or farming can't take off "in season", people who work retail or services can't take off around the holidays, etc. And even in fields that aren't seasonal everyone wants the same few weeks off - around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter/spring break, and the middle of summer when there are fewer school/extracurricular conflicts - so people at the lower end of the seniority scale are often shut out of taking vacation during those in-demand times.

Yeah, the public schools here started taking Presidents week and Thanksgiving week off about 10 years ago. Some schools with a large population of students who go to Mexico for Christmas now take 3 weeks at Christmas. Regional differences. Also seen
"Jersey Week" mentioned her for New Jersey teachers, they get a week off for conferences.

 

[Colleen27]

Yeah, the public schools here started taking Presidents week and Thanksgiving week off about 10 years ago. Some schools with a large population of students who go to Mexico for Christmas now take 3 weeks at Christmas. Regional differences. Also seen
"Jersey Week" mentioned her for New Jersey teachers, they get a week off for conferences.

I admit to a bit of jealousy when I see some of those posts on the DIS. Jersey Week, Patriots Day, full week for Thanksgiving or Presidents' Day, etc. The trend here has been just the opposite - a few bad winters and the school board started building in more extra days, just in case, though we've only had one year in the last 12 with enough bad weather to require make-ups. We can't start earlier by state law, and I guess shorter/fewer breaks was more attractive than extending the school year into late June.

Personally I wish they'd go to a year round/"balanced" calendar. Shorter breaks, spread out over the year would be so much better for us and for many other families in our area than the extended summer break. Teens like the traditional schedule, though, because it means they're available to work at the peak season of several local industries.

 

[Happy Snowman]

In the part of Canada where I live, there are no issues with taking kids out for vacation during the school year. They usually say "have a great trip"

I am always surprised how strict most schools in America are with vacation policies.

I always took my kids out for vacation until the day came where they found it too hard to catch up and now we just go on holidays, March Break, etc.

http://cchs.crps.ca/Attendance Policy.php

http://khs.kainaied.ca/Kainai High School Attendance Policy.php

These look pretty much like what people in the US have too

 

[scoutie]

My Question is, are the teacher's allowed to take vacation during the school year? You better believe they are it's in there union contract. I say if teachers are allowed so should the kids and have a great trip!!

Not here. We get two personal days, and if we take more time, we get docked in pay.

As a teacher, I'm supportive of kids going on vacation. Is it difficult for me? Yes. I can gather the work, but they do miss actual instruction, which means I have to generally give up my lunch to re-teach the material to the kids.

 

[tvguy]

I admit to a bit of jealousy when I see some of those posts on the DIS. Jersey Week, Patriots Day, full week for Thanksgiving or Presidents' Day, etc. The trend here has been just the opposite - a few bad winters and the school board started building in more extra days, just in case, though we've only had one year in the last 12 with enough bad weather to require make-ups. We can't start earlier by state law, and I guess shorter/fewer breaks was more attractive than extending the school year into late June.

Personally I wish they'd go to a year round/"balanced" calendar. Shorter breaks, spread out over the year would be so much better for us and for many other families in our area than the extended summer break. Teens like the traditional schedule, though, because it means they're available to work at the peak season of several local industries.

They built a high school here in the late 1970's that was year round, it went traditional a few years ago. And one school district went year round because houses were being built faster that they could build schools for all the kids, then the economy tanked, houses were foreclosed on, and the kids vanished. Some of those schools have gone back to traditional schedules.
Frankly, I don't care, other than we clearly need to have a longer school year if our kids are going to keep up with other countries

 

[dollarmite]

I am so glad that Australian schools don't have this draconian attitude. DH and I have taken our kids out of school for up to 6 weeks at a time to travel overseas and never had a problem. The general attitude from the school (when I tell them, not ask them, about the time off) is "have a great time!" or "what a wonderful opportunity!" Sometimes they offer to give the kids work; sometimes they don't. It's never had any impact whatsoever on their grades one way or the other.

We try and incorporate the 2 week breaks held at various times of the year, so that the most they miss is 2-3 weeks either side, but it's not always possible to do that.

All this talk of children being automatically failed, making them repeat grades if they miss beyond a certain number of days, etc boggles my mind.

Last year DS1 was in grade 12, and missed about 3 weeks all up (plus the 2 weeks school holiday). He still managed to graduate top of his class and was already ahead of a lot of the work so being absent didn't make any difference.

During one trip (ironically during the 6 week Christmas holidays so therefore he didn't miss any school), we took a side trip to China. DS2 learnt more about their lifestyle in that short time than he did during the 2 month in-class stint the year before.

The principal was willing to approve that trip only because we showed the prepaid receipts from before we knew we were moving, and copies of invoices from multiple family members

That is so far over the line, and a completely inappropriate invasion of privacy, that I have no words. I would never in a million years provide information like that to anyone so that a relative could get time off from school (or work). How much I spend on holidays is no one's business but mine and DH's.

 

[GusGus77]

Reading this I am so thankful I homeschool!!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Frankly, I don't care, other than we clearly need to have a longer school year if our kids are going to keep up with other countries

I completely disagree with that assessment. More hours in school does not equate to better learning. Even less so when those hours are focused on test scores. (see the article below--interesting that students in Finland, a top scorer in the world, spend fewer hours in school than students in ANY US state, and Vermont, whose students are among the best performing in the US spends the fewest hours in school in the lower grades. Even Korea, the other top scorere, requires fewer hours than half of the US states).


http://www.centerforpubliceducation...school/Time-in-school-How-does-the-US-compare

That is so far over the line, and a completely inappropriate invasion of privacy, that I have no words. I would never in a million years provide information like that to anyone so that a relative could get time off from school (or work). How much I spend on holidays is no one's business but mine and DH's.

Well, thankfully, our family wanted us there and were understanding of the situation (and WE knew what everyone had paid because we were the key contact people between the TA and family when lining up the trip anyway ). Honestly, the school did not care HOW MUCH someone had paid, but a key point was that this was not just our family vacation for the four of us that we could pay a fee to move to another date. 16 people from 5 different households were involved. I even took in school calendars to show that when we had booked we were working to avoid missing school and that the three cousins were still not missing school, this was planned around a US vacation schedule. Basically, the school wanted a compelling reason why we couldn't just travel during one of the many school breaks and I had to provide that reason and evidence to back it up.