What is your school's attendance policy?

[MSSANDRA]

Here in NC, it really is not a excused/unexcused issue. It's the total number of days missed. K-8...if they miss more than 20 days, it is supposed to be a retention situation. They do make exceptions if the child has doctor notes for some or all of these and has good grades, BUT not always. High school is MUCH stricter. It does vary some from school to school but most school are on a block schedule and absence is based on each class. If you miss more than 4-7 days of the class, you get no credit for the class unless you make up the time minute for minute. It does not matter if these are excused or not. Of course exceptions are made but most school pretty much stick to this. We stopped school time vacations when DS hit HS.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Our ISD allows 10 absences per school year (regardless of excused or unexcused). Any absences beyond 10 and you are turned in to the DA's office for a truancy hearing. Absences are counted as unexcused unless you have a doctors note. Missing more than 1 1/2 hrs of school is considered an absence, missing less than 1 1/2 hrs is considered a tardy.

 

[2disneyboys]

Our public school district policy is a note home after 5 days. A note to the truancy officer after 10 days and retention after 20 days. They do not differ between unexcused/excused, but I suppose in case of sickness, dr notes could help fight ur cause.
My kids go to private school and they encourage family vacations so it's not a problem to miss school. Of course, both boys do well in school. If they were struggling in anyway we would not pull the out.

 

[Lisa71]

I know our daughter and son attended differant schools (son has special needs) and the public school told me they "review" at 20 days..not sure that is official, but they look at each situation. He has missed 4 days this year, DD in a private school, was told that it just could not interfere with academic progress. I will say, I am a nurse and HATE the "perfect attendance" awards. Really? Thanks for sending your kid sick so now mine is too. There are always exceptions, and a day here or there is not a big deal, but weeks for no illness will mean the child had not seen the material.

 

[happymommy]

I have no idea about the public schools here in my county (in Maryland) but I do know neighbors that have taken their kids (older than mine) out and don't seem to have issues.

My kids go to an independent (non religious based) private PK-12 college prep school. The curriculum is much harder than the public school, so you would think that they would have a strict policy about attendance. They are strict about a lot - uniform, honor, behavior, etc... But as far as attendance that is a very individual issue.

Some kids' parents can't get away during summer break, so they go places during the school year. We took our kids out for 4 days to go to our friends' daughter's Bat Mitvah in Arizona in December - now that was hard to have all the work done ahead of time so since my son is in high school that was the last time we're doing that! But still, the teachers just told him what to have done.

I also agree - if your child is sick, please keep him or her home, to avoid spreading germs!

Yikes my poor daughter has missed well over 10 days due to illness this year.

Funny thing, at the Catholic school my kids attended in Ellicott City for two years, they had it written clearly in their handbook scolding parents who wanted to take their kids out of school during the year. They wrote that they give ample time during winter break, spring break, and summer for vacations, and they don't allow excused absences - SPECIFICALLY to Disneyworld, yes they wrote that! Ha! Guess where we were the last week of school in K and second grade? I called them in sick and we were at Disney! It was just that stupid half day every day week, cleaning out your desk, ice cream party stuff so they missed nothing - they weren't even noted absent on the report cards since they must have been done ahead of time. Just had to share...

 

[crisi]

Our public school district policy is a note home after 5 days. A note to the truancy officer after 10 days and retention after 20 days. They do not differ between unexcused/excused, but I suppose in case of sickness, dr notes could help fight ur cause.
My kids go to private school and they encourage family vacations so it's not a problem to miss school. Of course, both boys do well in school. If they were struggling in anyway we would not pull the out.

Ours is similar. If you have an extended illness, an IEP will override this, but then you need the IEP. And there is a subjective element to enforcement. A kid who is actually ill a lot, and has been to the doctor, will not get held back for being ill. However, if your kid misses 20 days of school and didn't go to the doctor all year, DCS will want to know why you don't get your kid medical care.

We got to the truancy officer notification once, but we only got a letter, not a home visit because the district knew what was going on with our kids.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

At 6 unexcused absences a child may be held back in middle school and high school.

Kid in one of my HS classes didn't graduate because of a similar policy we had. My Sophomore year, I was in "Intro to Physics". It was a very interesting mix of students - 1/2 future engineers who were planning to take Physics I & II in the next 2 years, 1/2 Seniors who were not going to graduate without another 1/2 science credit. One kid accumulated a total of 7 points for the entire semester (got 7 out of 100 on one test and skipped every other test day).

Well, this one kid was tardy almost every day and 3 tardies was equivalent to an absence. 7 unexcused absences & you got no credit for the class. With 6 weeks left, he was up to 20 tardies. Every single day from that point on, he'd slide in just seconds before the bell. Got down to the last day for seniors (for whatever reason, seniors get out a week early at our school), and he cut class. No credit for the class, not enough credits to graduate. He was making an "A" in the class

 

[TheDisneyOutsider]

I live in Canada and in my high school we are allowed to miss 13 days a semester. Although, if you are sick they aren't as strict about the amount. If you miss over 13 in a semester, than in order to pass the grade you have to make up the amount of classes that were over the 13 mark during lunch or after school. In elementary school, which is up to grade 8, they didn't have a set amount of days and their reasoning was that younger kids get sick so much, they can't help the amount of days missed.

 

[littlezar]

I just got a letter yesterday regarding my oldest and his "excessive absences." His high school does block scheduling - A day/B day.

"Regulation 5-17.1 states that unless extenuating circumstances are established, a student who is absent from a course more than six times, in a semester, excused or unexcused, will fail the course for that semester. A student is considered absent if he/she misses more than 15 minutes from a class."

My son's 3 absences for his A1 & A2 classes were:

sick (Illness - excused)
absent for trip to NJ for my brother's wedding (Other - excused)
absent for 1 class/came in 30 minutes into the 2nd class for doctor's appt/bloodwork had doctor's note (DR-excused)

My son is currently taking medication that requires blood tests each month followed by an appt in the dermatology clinic at the naval hospital to get his meds. I can pull my son out during his lunch/study block for the blood work the day before his appt, have it done close by and get him back before he misses anything BUT he still needs a doctors note even though he's only missing lunch/study! The appt at the naval hospital has to be between 8AM & 2PM. His school day is 7:25-2:00. I'm going to have to call the school tomorrow to find out his B day absences so I know when to change his April appt to.

So, all that said, no during school vacations for us. All 4 of my boys missed 2 full days so we could attend my brother's wedding (which was on a Friday night) and none of them had any issues making any work up. It was all done within the first 2 days after they returned. They all get good grades (A's & B's or in the case of the kindergartener "on grade level" LOL) They all had their absences excused. Yet, I have to worry about my kid failing a semester? Just doesn't make sense. I can understand if these absences were unexcused but not when they excuse it. What's the point of sending in a note then? Why should I care if they excuse the absence when they can fail him anyway?

 

[lucyem]

I am not sure what the middle & high school policies are, but here at our grade school after 10 missed days of school the principal calls home and discusses the situation with the parents. Thought being if something serious is going on that perhaps the school can help. Last year my DS in K missed about 15 days total between WDW and getting sick. I never got a call. But then again our principal is a big WDW fan and knew where we were

 

[thebeesknees]

10 unexcused absences for us, and then it is turned over to a truant officer. The only excused absences allowed are for sickness, or a funeral in the family. We pulled our kids for 5 days last year to go to WDW, and they did their work in a timely manner when we got back and pulled straight A's, but we won't be doing it again. This year, DS is in 4th grade and just the few sick days he has had have made it very difficult for him to catch up in math.

 

[kt_mom]

DD goes to a private school so I'm not sure what the public school policy is around here, but at her school they allow up to 15 unexcused days a semester. I'm not even sure what they qualify as excused or unexcused because we've never gotten anywhere near 15 days. We usually take her out for 5 days in the fall for our Disney trip then she might miss a day or two here and there for sickness or something but that's about it.

 

[Jaime4004]

This is from our handbook:
Truancy is defined by RSA 189:35-II(a) as “an unexcused absence from school or class”. An unexcused absence is an
absence which has not been excused by RSA 189:35-II(a). Ten half days of unexcused absence during a school year shall
constitute habitual truancy. All cases will be dealt with individually and at the discretion of the administration.

Not even quite sure what that means. 10 half-days. So maybe 5 full days? That's actually the first time I ever checked the policy, only out of curiosity from this thread, it wouldn't actually impact when I take the kids out. I've taken the kids out every year for a week (one year it was one week twice that year) and a few other days here and there for various reasons. The last sentence makes the most sense, as not all absences and parents are created equal, so it should be dealt with individually. A kid skipping school for many days and the parents not caring is a bit different than a good student being taken out, making up the work, and not having any problems because of it.

 

[Mom2six]

I'm sorry some of you have to deal with these strict attendance policies when deciding whether or not to take a family vacation! At least there are many things at Disney that are indeed educational, if that helps to convince the schools.

 

[Mandychelle79]

Our school pre-approves family educational trips. We can miss 10 per semester or 20 for the year. But if they are dr excused or for a preapproved vacation they do not get held against the student. Right now my daughter has missed 8 days, all but 2 of those were doctor excused so they dont count.

 

[bekkiz]

You guys will love this. My dad lives in a pretty affluent area, here's their language about missing school:

The state funds that we receive for the daily attendance of students are not paid whenever your child is absent from school for any reason. Every time your child is absent the Blankity Blank District loses $50.

If your child does need to be out of school, please consider providing the District with a voluntary contribution of $50 for each day your child is absent.

I love it!! So, funny, but they also allow for independent study contracts when you're going on vacation. I think they're being quite reasonable

 

[meggiebeth]

It sounds incredibly strict in the US!

In the UK, I think your attendance is okay if it is over something like 85%. Schools have an attendance target though, I think mine is 92.2%. That is the attendance the school is aiming to get in general. However I know many people who are truant from school quite regularly for no reason... so it isn't very effective.

If you ask for time off, whether it be for a wedding, funeral or family holiday/ vacation, the school is given the power to grant the time off or refuse it. We are allowed to ask for up to 10 days off over a school year.

If the time off has been refused and you still go, you are expected to pay a fine of £50 per child. We asked for a day off for a funeral of a close relative and were very annoyed when it was refused by the school!

It CAN be very unfair because there is no criteria for schools (i.e. they have to give someone time off under certain circumstances.) So depending on the nature of the school, different things can be decided. So although one school may say yes, another school may say no and ask you to pay the fine.

My school (it has been classed as 'failing' by Ofsted) refuses time off to anyone, no matter what the circumstances are, because it is trying to raise attendance. It has upset many people who have had to attend a funeral, wedding or holiday... and haven't been given a chance.

I'm afraid a holiday to Florida would certainly not be allowed. In contrast, my old school (which my brother now attends) would have granted the time off without hesitating.

 

[pls5286]

We are on the "naughty list" with both of my kids schools. My DD9 has had 10 absences from school this year, all but one with a doctors note, and all are excused, however, our school system requires a meeting with the parents after 10, excused or unexcused. She has had extensive dental work and missed 1 day on two separate occasions, the flu, a GI bug, URI, and we got the dreaded head lice. There was one more in there, but I can't remember what for.

DS15 has missed 9 days this year (more days than he has missed since he was in first grade) he is the one who brought home the GI bug, has had strep throat, 4 teeth pulled at one time and missed 2 days with a very bad back injury. He too has doctors excuses with his absences.

DSS12, who lives primarily with his mom, has missed over 20 days this year, mostly unexcused and his mom is being prosecuted for truancy (more to this story) will have to repeat the sixth grade because all but 3 of his absences are unexcused (those absences were when he was with us overnight for various reasons).

After 10 excused or unexcused absences, you have a meeting with the schools principal and social worker to see what can be done to help the child's attendance and if unexcused, a referal to the truancy board is made.

I must say that if the kids are out of school for two or more days, I have emailed the teachers and have their assignments so they are not behind when they return.

 

[seashoreCM]

Kid in one of my HS classes didn't graduate because of a similar policy we had. ... One kid accumulated a total of 7 points for the entire semester (got 7 out of 100 on one test and skipped every other test day).

Well, this one kid was tardy almost every day and 3 tardies was equivalent to an absence. 7 unexcused absences & you got no credit for the class. With 6 weeks left, he was up to 20 tardies. Every single day from that point on, he'd slide in just seconds before the bell. Got down to the last day for seniors (for whatever reason, seniors get out a week early at our school), and he cut class. No credit for the class, not enough credits to graduate. He was making an "A" in the class

How could he be headed for an A if he got 7 out of 100 on one test and 0 out of 100 on all the other tests?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

How could he be headed for an A if he got 7 out of 100 on one test and 0 out of 100 on all the other tests?

Sorry, I didn't word that very well. That was 2 different kids. It sounded better in my head than it looks on paper

The kid who had an "A" going into the last day had also inserted right into the middle of one of his papers, "I bet Mr. K doesn't even read these things". Sure enough, he got the paper back marked 100% and then took it to Mr. K to show him his joke. Mr. K laughed a lot, said "that's funny", and then crossed off the 100% and marked it 95%

A girl in that class was late the last day because she had brought a greased pig to school to let loose in the hall. But because it was greased up, she & her friends were unable to pick it up out of her trunk