Warning-this is a very LONG rant

[punkin]

This is a two part rant. One is about stupid school rules. The other is about stupid parents. My family went to Florida for vacation on Thanksgiving week. It was great. We drove back (over 1000 miles) and got back Saturday night so the kids would have time to make up some homework. My DD14 is in high school mostly honors classes and she missed 3 days of school. None of DD's classes had more than 5 kids in them the entire week. Nevertheless, DD missed 1 French Quizz, 1 Math Quizz, 1 History Quizz and 1 Math Test. Not bad for 3 days when almost the entire student population was absent and had to make up these tests. In adition, in Science, there was a project due the Monday after Thanksgiving. There were 4 girls in DD's group. None of them was in school Thanksgiving week either. DD's science teacher said "this is a stupid project but the district requires it." So does this make sense to anyone? No kids, but they continue testing and teachers giving out assignments they think are stupid (I agree with him by the way).

Second rant: So on Sunday DH takes 4 girls to home depot for materials and they, as well as DH and I (and my DD8) work on the project. We finish. The girls get a 100, but I found out the next day that one of the girls' mother grounded her because she was out all day working on the assignment and cancelled a baby-sitting job. Hello, they had this assignment for a week. You could have picked up your lazy butt and helped your daughter. Also, we laid out money for the supplies and pizza for the girls (they were at our house from 12 to 9) and all the other parents gave money except this crazy lady. I have never heard of a child being grounded for doing her homework.

 

[Nancy]

Could be worse...our district just cancelled a week long break for February due to having a week off in Ocotber becuase of our storm/power outages.

This was a scheduled break so many families are going on vacation, teachers are going on vacation...the Spanish students are going to Spain! Now they are all told there will be school...sorry, cancel vacation plans. Teachers are mad, students are mad, parents are mad.

The Spanish trip is all honors and AP students, if there are classes while they are gone they will be very far behind. If the teacher for AP goes on her vacation they will have a sub in class and she isn't able to teach the AP classes so they will do nothing for a week..which is good for those going on the trip, but not for those at home.

The district says they have to do it so they have a few days for snow days...my district NEVER closes for snow days..in the 13 years my kids have been in the district I think we have had 10 snow days max.

 

[hentob]

This was a scheduled break so many families are going on vacation, teachers are going on vacation...the Spanish students are going to Spain! Now they are all told there will be school...sorry, cancel vacation plans.

Will the school be reimbursing all the people who lost money on their vacations?

Really, I would still go on vacation. I would tell the school "Sorry, but I am not going to cancel. Thank you and have a nice day "

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Could be worse...our district just cancelled a week long break for February due to having a week off in Ocotber becuase of our storm/power outages.

Hurricane days are in most of our school policies. The county and private schools already made up their one day of the year..but it is a part of life here. It stinks, but they deal with it.

Works out better though when they lose a teacher day or planning day here or there. But when you miss a bunch at one time---it is a big PITA to do something about it.

Too bad your district couldn't have come up with a better solution.

(My dance studio even has weather days before winter break to make up any cancellations due to hurricanes--they give awards for perfect attendance so this allows a makeup day for it).

 

[Towncrier]

Our school district has a policy that any child who misses classes for "vacation" is counted as an unexcused absence and that the student cannot make up any homework or tests given during that absence. Fortunately, most of the teachers will make allowances and don't strictly follow the policy, but they are within their rights to give zero credit for any work missed due to a vacation. We only found out about the policy when we took our kids out of school for 4 days in order to go on a Disney cruise in 2000. Neither of our children were in high school and were both doing well in school, and we gave sufficient notice to their teachers. But it was still a struggle for them to catchup on the work they missed and we decided that, at least for us, it wasn't worth the hassle of making the kids miss school.

 

[Buckalew11]

This is a two part rant. One is about stupid school rules. The other is about stupid parents. My family went to Florida for vacation on Thanksgiving week. It was great. We drove back (over 1000 miles) and got back Saturday night so the kids would have time to make up some homework. My DD14 is in high school mostly honors classes and she missed 3 days of school. None of DD's classes had more than 5 kids in them the entire week. Nevertheless, DD missed 1 French Quizz, 1 Math Quizz, 1 History Quizz and 1 Math Test. Not bad for 3 days when almost the entire student population was absent and had to make up these tests. In adition, in Science, there was a project due the Monday after Thanksgiving. There were 4 girls in DD's group. None of them was in school Thanksgiving week either. DD's science teacher said "this is a stupid project but the district requires it." So does this make sense to anyone? No kids, but they continue testing and teachers giving out assignments they think are stupid (I agree with him by the way).

Second rant: So on Sunday DH takes 4 girls to home depot for materials and they, as well as DH and I (and my DD8) work on the project. We finish. The girls get a 100, but I found out the next day that one of the girls' mother grounded her because she was out all day working on the assignment and cancelled a baby-sitting job. Hello, they had this assignment for a week. You could have picked up your lazy butt and helped your daughter. Also, we laid out money for the supplies and pizza for the girls (they were at our house from 12 to 9) and all the other parents gave money except this crazy lady. I have never heard of a child being grounded for doing her homework.

I think teachers will often schedule quizzes and tests on days before breaks so that you will be less likely to take the kids out. Our school has been known to do this.

This year, we're scheduled for a wonderful 3 day break Jan.31-Feb.2. I would have loved to go to WDW then or even have DD miss that Monday and Tuesday and go for the week. But, they scheduled the basketball tourney for that same week as the school's scheduled break.

I'll stay home this year for the tourney but you better believe they'll hear my thoughts on it. Ours is a private school that sets it own schedule and sports are not as competitive as the public schools are. Plus, we never even practice during a off week as the school keeps the thought of a week off = a week off. And Family time is family time. I appreciate that thought. Darn tourney. (Costing me more points in March & higher crowds too!!)

Not sure about that girls parents. Sounds like they have control issues and probably expect too much from her. But that is reading a lot into their actions, I guess.

 

[lindakmonty]

wow... I'm so glad our school allows vacations as excused My ds is only in Kindergarten. we're going to wdw/disney cruise vacation in Feb. we talked to his teacher at our parent/teacher conference and she said she didn't blame us for going then and told us to have a good time. she asked if she could go too He'll be out of school for 8 days I told her I'd do any work before we leave and she said not to worry...you really can't do it outside the class in kindergarten...he'll be fine. He's one of her favorites and does really well in class.

anyway back to your question...grounded for doing homework I think that mother is the one w/the problem that is just really stupid!
No they shouldn't have to give assignments that they don't agree with either!

 

[shirleyb]

There may be more to it than grounded for doing homework - with teenagers, you might not be getting the whole story! It sounds like you guys did the right thing though, and that's what matters.

 

[punkin]

Oh, our school district counts vacation days as unexcused as well. However, they will allow a parent to excuse up to 5 days of "illness" without a doctor's note so the week of Thanksgiving the whole school came down with the sniffles and just couldn't make it to class. Everyone knows what's going on, but they all wink at it.

The teachers themselves were very accomodating as far as make-ups. They don't have a chice re: scheduling tests. I think it is district-wide. Stupidest system ever devised.

Oh, and Shirleyb, I agree with you that teens exaggerate, but this is so weird I can't think of any logical explanation.

 

[harleyquinn]

What about poot teacher's wives like me that are forced to go to WDW during the craziest, worst times of the year, because I just had to marry a stupid teacher?


I wonder if schools ever go year-round how some of these up tight vacation policy schools would handle kids and teachers on vacation.

 

[rgf207]

What about poot teacher's wives like me that are forced to go to WDW during the craziest, worst times of the year, because I just had to marry a stupid teacher?


I wonder if schools ever go year-round how some of these up tight vacation policy schools would handle kids and teachers on vacation.

lol
My wife is a teacher and we are going this June. I loved it when we were able to go mid september and january

 

[harleyquinn]

lol
My wife is a teacher and we are going this June. I loved it when we were able to go mid september and january

We went this January before he got the job. Unfortunatly it was REALLY crowded (as bad as June) and other things contributed to make it a horrible trip.

I'd love to go for Christmas, but crowds drive me nuts. So I'll be melting in August at WDW forever...

 

[Rock'n Robin]

We only had 2 days of school last week (Monday/Tuesday) but the attendance rate for the school was still about 93%. I lost some seniors Tuesday for the blood drive, but nothing like you describe with only 5 kids there. In fact I only had one girl I know of who actually left town for a vacation. I can tell you that if I had a quiz scheduled, I'd still give it(and yes, only one "z" in quiz). Some teachers even make the makeup quiz a lot harder if kids miss.
We have a curriculum to get through and time doesn't stop because everyone decides to get the "sniffles". I think there must be very little respect for education in the district the OP described. I also wonder about the mother who thinks the daughter's babysitting job is more important than a school project due the next day.
As for cancelling a February break (a strange concept to me--we don't have winter break here) I'm sure families will still take their breaks, but teachers won't have that choice. Most districts don't allow vacation time during the school year since there are other vacation periods built in to the schedule. I wonder if the union was consulted--or if there is a union there. Probably not. If we use up our snow days all makeup days start at the end of the school year.
Harleyquinn, my SIL's kids go to year-round school in NC. They have some time off in October, from Christmas through mid-January, and in April, then all of July. I am guessing with all of those options not many people have to take the kids out of school. SIL's family just went to WDW in October
Robin M.

 

[hlbtimes2]

one of the girls' mother grounded her because she was out all day working on the assignment and cancelled a baby-sitting job. ....... I have never heard of a child being grounded for doing her homework.

I wonder if maybe the daughter didnt give the family she was canceling on notice or enough notice, and that is why she was in trouble. Maybe the mother was trying to teach her some job resposibility.

 

[punkin]

I wonder if maybe the daughter didnt give the family she was canceling on notice or enough notice, and that is why she was in trouble. Maybe the mother was trying to teach her some job resposibility.

OK, maybe you are right. I still think that homework should come first.

As for spelling Quizz or Quiz... Maybe it's because my mother consistently took me out of school for vacations and I never learned how to spell

But thank you so much for correcting me. You are almost as useful as spell-check.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Oh, I totally agree that homework should come first. What I meant was, maybe the punishment was not so much for doing homework, but not properly taking care of previous commitments. I'm guessing maybe mom got a call from a parent that was counting on the girl to be there, and she wasnt.

 

[Buckalew11]

As for cancelling a February break (a strange concept to me--we don't have winter break here) I'm sure families will still take their breaks, but teachers won't have that choice. Most districts don't allow vacation time during the school year since there are other vacation periods built in to the schedule. I wonder if the union was consulted--or if there is a union there. Probably not. If we use up our snow days all makeup days start at the end of the school year.

Not sure if this is about my post about Feb. break or not...

if so, our break isn't being cancelled. It is still on. The problem is they scheduled a basketball tourney during winter break. So everyone will still get a break, the basketball players just won't be able to leave town. Our private school doesn't have a union. Our public schools do.

 

[Cool-Beans]

This is a two part rant. One is about stupid school rules. The other is about stupid parents. My family went to Florida for vacation on Thanksgiving week. It was great. We drove back (over 1000 miles) and got back Saturday night so the kids would have time to make up some homework. My DD14 is in high school mostly honors classes and she missed 3 days of school. None of DD's classes had more than 5 kids in them the entire week. Nevertheless, DD missed 1 French Quizz, 1 Math Quizz, 1 History Quizz and 1 Math Test. Not bad for 3 days when almost the entire student population was absent and had to make up these tests. In adition, in Science, there was a project due the Monday after Thanksgiving. There were 4 girls in DD's group. None of them was in school Thanksgiving week either. DD's science teacher said "this is a stupid project but the district requires it." So does this make sense to anyone? No kids, but they continue testing and teachers giving out assignments they think are stupid (I agree with him by the way).

Second rant: So on Sunday DH takes 4 girls to home depot for materials and they, as well as DH and I (and my DD8) work on the project. We finish. The girls get a 100, but I found out the next day that one of the girls' mother grounded her because she was out all day working on the assignment and cancelled a baby-sitting job. Hello, they had this assignment for a week. You could have picked up your lazy butt and helped your daughter. Also, we laid out money for the supplies and pizza for the girls (they were at our house from 12 to 9) and all the other parents gave money except this crazy lady. I have never heard of a child being grounded for doing her homework.

There is a good chance the girl is saying she got grounded for doing homework, but there is another reason...like her mom told her to get it done by a certain day, or she didn't cancel the baby-sitting job when she should have or something like that.

I'm not even going to get started on the schools assigning stupid projects.

 

[daisyduck123]

As for cancelling a February break (a strange concept to me--we don't have winter break here) I'm sure families will still take their breaks, but teachers won't have that choice. Most districts don't allow vacation time during the school year since there are other vacation periods built in to the schedule.

It depends upon where you teach & how you use your leave. I'm a teacher & I take off 6 school days every May to take my family to WDW (heck, this past year we also went in January for 8 days). Our music teacher went on a 2 week vacation last year. Even our principal went to the Bahamas for 5 days.

In my county, the ONLY vacation of the ENTIRE school year that teachers get a full week vacation is Christmas. (I'd never even heard of a winter break in January until the DIS). We get Wed. - Friday off at Thanksgiving. At Easter, we get Thur, Fri, & Monday off.

 

[golfgal]

This is a two part rant. One is about stupid school rules. The other is about stupid parents. My family went to Florida for vacation on Thanksgiving week. It was great. We drove back (over 1000 miles) and got back Saturday night so the kids would have time to make up some homework. My DD14 is in high school mostly honors classes and she missed 3 days of school. None of DD's classes had more than 5 kids in them the entire week. Nevertheless, DD missed 1 French Quizz, 1 Math Quizz, 1 History Quizz and 1 Math Test. Not bad for 3 days when almost the entire student population was absent and had to make up these tests. In adition, in Science, there was a project due the Monday after Thanksgiving. There were 4 girls in DD's group. None of them was in school Thanksgiving week either. DD's science teacher said "this is a stupid project but the district requires it." So does this make sense to anyone? No kids, but they continue testing and teachers giving out assignments they think are stupid (I agree with him by the way).

Second rant: So on Sunday DH takes 4 girls to home depot for materials and they, as well as DH and I (and my DD8) work on the project. We finish. The girls get a 100, but I found out the next day that one of the girls' mother grounded her because she was out all day working on the assignment and cancelled a baby-sitting job. Hello, they had this assignment for a week. You could have picked up your lazy butt and helped your daughter. Also, we laid out money for the supplies and pizza for the girls (they were at our house from 12 to 9) and all the other parents gave money except this crazy lady. I have never heard of a child being grounded for doing her homework.

So, if she wasn't in school how do you know there were only 5 kids in each class? I would be really surprised it that was true. As for stupid school rules, I missed what the stupid rule was, giving a quiz during a holiday week or the project? Perhaps the project was part of state/federal requirements? Quiz is spelled with one z by the way.