Taking Kids out of school About This Page:

[disney]

Originally Posted by hall0731

my son's pedatrician wouldn't give me a note. I asked not to execuse him for 6 days.

i would of hate to ask did you ask your pedatrition as a last resort . but you beat me to this one . i feel for you guys with alot of pixie dust
wow i thought catholic schools were strick when i was growing up in n.y. but this takes the cake . i always hated to travel on times when kids are all off for the holidays but that i think is going to be one solution. good luck .

[hall0731]

he was a last resort. I had talked to the school, then the superendient(however you spell that word), then the truancy officer at the school district's p.d., then the district attorney's office where I would have to appear in court. couldn't get anywhere. I was sooooooo mad. I still am. If I could afford it , i would put him in private school, but too expensive. His pedatrician agreed with what I was doing becuase he knows the battle my son has had with adhd till we got it under control, but he didn't want to be called in to court if anything had gone wrong with the note at school. So he apologized and said he couldn't give me one. That is the only way i can get him execused for 6 days is with a doctor's note.

[GinaButtrfly]

As long as the kids can handle it, go for it. As a teacher and a parent, it really doesn't bother me much as long as the child isn't stressing or suffering in any way. The kids are missing 5 days in december, but they shouldn't be missing anything in Feb as long as the school has the whole President's week off. I feel it is MY decision and no one else's to determine when my family takes a vacation. If DH and I were neglectful in any way, I'd understand, but this is certainly not the case. It's a Catholic School in NYC. The principal sent us off with her blessings and wishes for a fabulous family fun time last year.

[disney]

Originally Posted by hall0731

he was a last resort. I had talked to the school, then the superendient(however you spell that word), then the truancy officer at the school district's p.d., then the district attorney's office where I would have to appear in court. couldn't get anywhere. I was sooooooo mad. I still am. If I could afford it , i would put him in private school, but too expensive. His pedatrician agreed with what I was doing becuase he knows the battle my son has had with adhd till we got it under control, but he didn't want to be called in to court if anything had gone wrong with the note at school. So he apologized and said he couldn't give me one. That is the only way i can get him execused for 6 days is with a doctor's note.

i do not like to put fuel on the fire but it makes you want to move away from not nice people like that . i stiil understand the doctors choice but how about turning the shoe to say with adhd that it would be a good experience for him to go to disney as a learning enviorment as well with him to interact with other people in this size maybe ??? just a thought .

[thinkpink]

I really value education - as it seems all posters on this board do! Our kids rarely ever miss school and we are serious about their school work. I have always been hesitant to take them out of school.

However, this year we are!! This is really our first big vacation together as a family. The kids will miss 6 days at the beginning of their year.

Growing up, our family never took vacation together. We never went to disney, camping, road trips etc.

I want my kids to have the memory of time together, traveling, sight-seeing, special things that "stick" in their heads. We have been saying for years "someday we will go to Disney..." Well, the kids are half grown! When is someday ever going to get here?

We all get too many reminders of how fleeting life is. There is no time to wait on "someday" or to keep putting off a dream so that days can continue to fly by!

Kids grow up fast. Too fast. Schoolwork will still be here. There will be enough time to catch up on lessons. Will there be a chance for a "do-over" with our kids? We hear so much about quality time...to me, quantity of time is a big part of that.

Mostly, I want my kids to remember the time we spent together, the sacrifices that we all made to make this vacation happen because it was important enough! 10 days together at disney will be hard to forget. Focused time together planning, traveling, having fun...it is important now.

So, if it means extra school work before and after the trip, working harder or playing catch up...I am ok with that.

School is important - but so is spending time together as a family.

[thinkpink]

One more thing...then I am off the soap box...

I have worked in the schools for years. This is just my opinion, but rarely are teachers frustrated by students and parents who want time off to be together. It is not the parents who are involved or spending time with their kids that are having or causing difficulty for the teachers/ school staff. It is the parents who are not spending time with their children, who are not involved that are the most frustrating to work with.

If you need to take your kids out of school for a few days to spend time loving them and loving being with them...go for it! You'll all be better for it!!

OK. That it is all I have to say...

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

That's so frustrating when I hear these sorts of things. I'd go on vacation and then show up in court. I'd love to see a judge give me a hassle for making a personal decision for what's best for my family. *snort* I'm so glad we don't have those kind of truancy laws in TN. I would either move to another state or I'd just be in court twice a year for truancy issues. Talk about overstepping boundaries.

I wouldn't be n court twice, I'd be in court ONCE - because I'd make a major case out of it. IMO, if a parent cannot decide to keep their child(ren) out of shool for a week (or 6 days, whatever) ... that intrudes on the parent's right to raise that child in the manner they choose.

So I wouldn't be appearing before a judge to argue "it was a good reason" - I'd be appearing in the state supreme court, challenging the law itself. Even if it cost me ten times as much as the possible fine. I'd eat Ramen noodles for the next ten years to pay for it, if need be.

Fortunately I also have a pediatrician that would write a sick-note for a week in the worst-case scenario that TN starts to go nuts, lol. She's got my outlook on things, thankfully.

Yes; "in the interest of healthy social and psychological development", and all that. ^_^

Hall0731, I'm sorry you're going to have to bag that trip! At least I know I'll never live in Texas, lol!

Ditto.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by thinkpink

Mostly, I want my kids to remember the time we spent together, the sacrifices that we all made to make this vacation happen because it was important enough! 10 days together at disney will be hard to forget. Focused time together planning, traveling, having fun...it is important now.

**applause**

Also, yoru kids are learning important lessons right now - cooperation, compromise, planning ... and yes, the simple value of time spent together as a family.

And that last one? You can't learn that one in any school.

[hall0731]

My dh said heck with it and take him out. the only other thing is that if they do send me to court, i don't want to give my exhusband anything to hang over my head with our son, and believe me he would use it. His rights are restricted right now for not taking care of our son when he had his visitations.

[tigger_03]

Originally Posted by hall0731

that is what I did. My son never misses school. He has had perfect attendance is doing exceptinally well in school. I held him back in kinder to repeat because of his adhd, so i said let's reward his huge achievement for passing kinder to first grade with disneyworld. lol I wanted to go to though. So next stop was the school. I hit a huge brick wall. Even though he was great in school, perfect attendance, not a problem . We planned to go in feb over his bday well not it is in june. I asked that can't this slide at all. but get this, they told me no on the 6 days out of school. So i asked, what about the two days in october that I we are flying to las vegas for a wedding. they told me to call him in sick with a fever. get that. the problem is in the houston area, so many kids skip school from grade school on up to high school and the school districts don't get state money if the butt isn't in the seat.

Holy moly! I can't believe that they would take you to court if your child misses 3 days in a 2 month period or 5 or more in a 6 month period. If I'd been in that school district when I was growing up I guess my parents would have been in court. I had dentist appointments (due to it being the only time the ortho could schedule appointments) so I had to miss school (tried to make them for after school or when I had days off but they were always closed those days). It was usually the only reason I didn't have perfect attendance. They were always counted as unexcused absences as well. Used to tick my mom off since they were dentist appointments.

What if you have a death in the family? And then something else comes up. You seriously could be taken to court and fined for those? Geez, what is the world coming to?? I'll make sure to never move to Texas though!



We are taking DD out of school this year (granted it is just preschool). She will go for the first 3 days and then miss a total of 4 days while we are gone. We asked before we enrolled her if they had a problem with it. They told us no. They wanted us to go and have a good time on our vacation. We (DH and I) will revisit our plans if we want to take them out of school once they are elementary school and above. I'll also discuss it with the school district before planning a trip during the school year.

When I was in school we left on vacation two days prior to school being let out for the summer. I know my parents (along with the other family that we were going with) talked to school to see if they had a problem with it. They didn't but we were also in 2nd and 3rd grade respectively.

[hall0731]

I do have to say in defense of texas, it isn't every school district that follows this strict policy. I had a co-worker who has her son enrolled in a school district just west of me and she took her son out for 11 days with work sent home and had no problem going to wdw. and he is the same age. I guess spring isd is the type that if you don't pat them on the back you don't get anywhere.

[Fanessa4]

I live in San Antonio TX and they do have a truancy law but I honestly dont think they go through with it. I feel its more of a scare tactic with my district. I took my son out for a week in 06 and never had any issues. I am doing it again this year for my daughter and son. If they slap a charge on me then so be it. They will have one heck of a fight on there hands.
In all honesty I think they need to concentrate more on the "bad examples" then a few days of missed work. Besides, WDW is VERY EDUCATIONAL!!! Heck, epcot alone covers 3 years of World History. LOL

I have a generic letter typed up that I found on some website. I think it was mouse for less.

Here it is,


DATE:
TO: [school official]
FROM:
RE: [students name and vacation dates]
Please be advised that [student] will be out of school during the week of [date]. We ask that his absences be excused.
The reason for [student]'s absence is that our family will be out of the state during this week. While we are gone, we will be visiting Walt Disney World. We believe that [student] will be learning many things during this trip and that his education will continue in his absence from school.
Some things [student] will learn about:
* Different cultures of the world, including architecture, language, diet, and dress, by visiting the different countries in the Epcot World Showcase (Japan, China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Canada, France, etc.) [student] will have the chance to explore the exhibits for each country and speak with natives from each country who work as cast members.
* American history by viewing the Hall of Presidents presentation in the Magic Kingdom and the American Adventure show in Epcot.
* Nature and conservation at Animal Kingdom.
* Science by exploring the Mission:Space ride in Epcot where he will have a chance to see and feel what it would be like to travel by rocket to Mars and by experiencing the Universe of Energy exhibit which teaches about fossil fuels, energy, and conservation.
* Economics by managing his own spending money and making budget decisions on how to spend his money.
[student] will also be learning about map reading by navigating in and to the different theme parks, as well as the resorts and water parks via the Disney bus system, sociological aspects of crowds including patterns and behavior, physics of the different rides, breakthroughs in technology at the Innoventions computer lab in Epcot, art and animation and the history of film, and mathematics.
We believe this will be a wonderful and educational experience for [student] and hope you agree not to charge him with unexcused absences as a result. If it is possible for [student] to take any assignments with him to be turned in when we return or to turn in before we leave any work that will be due while he is gone, please let us know as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this. If you have any questions or need any further information, please feel free to contact me.
[Parent's Signture

[cherylf]

I have mixed feelings about this. I really think it depends on when you're missing the time.
We are taking DGD(5) and DGS(2) to WDW from 9/1 through 9/6. DGD is starting Kindergarten on 8/27 and will miss 4 days of school. Since it's Kindergarten I'm not really too concerned about it. She's been in pre-school for the past 2 years and, from what I saw on the orientation day, she already has done most of the work they'll do in Kindergarten. I will be talking to her teacher and getting anything she'll miss so she can do work on the airplane.
When they get older, I probably won't do this, but I've noticed that the first few weeks seem to be a review of the prior year's work. If that's the case, I don't think that's so bad, either. Missing time in the middle of a term might be a little different. Especially if new concepts are being introduced.

[disney]

Originally Posted by Fanessa4

I live in San Antonio TX and they do have a truancy law but I honestly dont think they go through with it. I feel its more of a scare tactic with my district. I took my son out for a week in 06 and never had any issues. I am doing it again this year for my daughter and son. If they slap a charge on me then so be it. They will have one heck of a fight on there hands.
In all honesty I think they need to concentrate more on the "bad examples" then a few days of missed work. Besides, WDW is VERY EDUCATIONAL!!! Heck, epcot alone covers 3 years of World History. LOL

I have a generic letter typed up that I found on some website. I think it was mouse for less.

Here it is,


DATE:
TO: [school official]
FROM:
RE: [students name and vacation dates]
Please be advised that [student] will be out of school during the week of [date]. We ask that his absences be excused.
The reason for [student]'s absence is that our family will be out of the state during this week. While we are gone, we will be visiting Walt Disney World. We believe that [student] will be learning many things during this trip and that his education will continue in his absence from school.
Some things [student] will learn about:
* Different cultures of the world, including architecture, language, diet, and dress, by visiting the different countries in the Epcot World Showcase (Japan, China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Canada, France, etc.) [student] will have the chance to explore the exhibits for each country and speak with natives from each country who work as cast members.
* American history by viewing the Hall of Presidents presentation in the Magic Kingdom and the American Adventure show in Epcot.
* Nature and conservation at Animal Kingdom.
* Science by exploring the Mission:Space ride in Epcot where he will have a chance to see and feel what it would be like to travel by rocket to Mars and by experiencing the Universe of Energy exhibit which teaches about fossil fuels, energy, and conservation.
* Economics by managing his own spending money and making budget decisions on how to spend his money.
[student] will also be learning about map reading by navigating in and to the different theme parks, as well as the resorts and water parks via the Disney bus system, sociological aspects of crowds including patterns and behavior, physics of the different rides, breakthroughs in technology at the Innoventions computer lab in Epcot, art and animation and the history of film, and mathematics.
We believe this will be a wonderful and educational experience for [student] and hope you agree not to charge him with unexcused absences as a result. If it is possible for [student] to take any assignments with him to be turned in when we return or to turn in before we leave any work that will be due while he is gone, please let us know as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this. If you have any questions or need any further information, please feel free to contact me.
[Parent's Signture

this is what i was talking about but could not put this letter together . thank you Fanessa4 for putting such a nice well typed letter for her i was trying yesterday but i hope this will help her go to disney.

[HeatherD]

I live in San Antonio TX and they do have a truancy law but I honestly dont think they go through with it. I feel its more of a scare tactic with my district. I took my son out for a week in 06 and never had any issues.

Remember, it is always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission! I think, sometimes, when we ask for it, they have to say no. But if we present it as fact (or just do it), then they rarely use it against you unless the child has a problem. I mean, how can you say that the child is suffering from educational neglect if they are still getting good grades, passing standard exams and completing homework assignments?

So, yeah, I think it's a scare tactic most of the time.....Glad I don't have to deal with that....