When to send a note to school

[bnts1993]

I have a daughter who is in 5th grade and a DD that is in 9th and have a couple questions about sending a note to school. I found a great template on mousesavers.com but was wondering when it is a good time to send the note to school? We will be going in 12/13-12/19 so should I wait until November or December or should I send it sooner?

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Before you send any note, you need to know the school or district policy regarding vacations. In my district, vacations are not excused absences, so I don't send a note ahead of time(it can be done but may put a teacher in a tough spot, if they give the work and credit they may violate policy). For my highschooler I send a note acknowledging the absence when we return, and depending on what was missed I may need to lie and say she was sick(terrible I know but what are you going to do). She has been lucky so far and all her teachers have allowed make up work without the lie, but if we ever get one who sticks to the rules, a small lie may have to be. For the middle schooler, even though the absence is consider unexcused, make up work is allowed, so unless he has a lot of absences it isn't a problem to have 2or 3 days of unexcused.

 

[SGB13]

My kids can be excused. And we try to take any homework they will miss with us. So to give the teacher time to get the information ready. I usually try to give the letters about a month ahead. You may want to keep in mind that you will have a holiday shortly before you go and allow extra time for that. Have a great trip.

 

[Neko]

We went in Dec last year and told the teachers at the 1st quarter conf. in Oct. Kids were in Kind. and 4th. Our kids start in two weeks, and the district has no absence policy other than if it is 'excessive', negative measures will be taken (no specific number of days). We told the teachers they were leaving for end of Dec holiday a week early and both would make up missed work.

 

[stephie1012]

never mind responded you your other thread.

 

[disney*mom*82]

Last year is the only year we ever ran into what could of been a problem. My dh is a first grade teacher in a different district than our kids, so we vacation on his breaks. Our son started middle school that yr so we werent real familiar with different policies, figured they we district wide. Well, informed the school and each teacher just after Christmas break that the kids would be missing a week of school in March. Our dds school was like thats fine have fun, remind us later and we will get you her work. Nothing from my sons school. So February came around and I decided to call and let them know, well the office informed me that they have a 10 time absence poilcy, weather he missed from being sick, vacation, whatever, they only excuess 10 for the year, after that it is up to the teacher if they will allow the student to make up their work and if they will give full credit for it. Ahhh

Anyways, I called and talked to the teacher and luckily all except one told me not to worry about it, the other was a weird teacher and he never shot straight with me. So, we went, had a blast of course, and he did all of his homework in advance and turned it in before we left and there were no probelms! Now we are planning to go Sept 5-12th so they will miss 3.5 days of school, hope that works out ok, and not sure if we will still go in March like we usually do or not, just have to wait and see.

Anyways, to answer the question, I usually give a early notice, just to let them know there will be a londer absence sometime durring the year. Then a few weeks before, I remind them and hope they give us the work about 1 week in advance so we can get it done and turned in, no since in homework while on vacation! ....sorry so long!