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[Jaya]

I was just curious if any of you moms (and dads!) even had problems having your kids excused from school for a Disney trip.

We were talking just the other day about how my mother is so glad I'm not in school anymore, because of the big fiasco getting me excused when we went in 1996, when I was a high school freshman.

She had written notes to the main office and all my teachers, explaining that we were going on this 2-week trip and to please prepare homework in advance and excuse me from classes. All the teachers thought it was wonderful - except for one, my grumpy science teacher!! She got all stand-offish, and asked if we had written permission from the principal. I was like, ummmn... what? She said that I had to have written permission from the principal to submit to all my teachers before I could be excused from classes for a vacation!

I went home and called my mom - I was pretty scared at this point, I was only 14 and I thought our vacation was going to be ruined!! She got upset, and called the vice-principal - who happened to be a good friend of hers, he was HER former teacher when she went to my school!! I guess he got a little upset too - because we got a message on our answering machine the very next day saying he'd had a meeting with the teacher, and she was wrong, and he apologized for what she'd said to me, and said of course I was excused from school, have a great trip!!

Of course, the teacher hated me to begin with (on a science fair project, my class voted my project as the best in our grade to go on to the state fair - but she said no because SHE lost my 1st draft (not the final report mind you, just the outlined 1st draft), and even though I got her another copy a couple days after she told me she didn't have it (which was about 2 weeks after she collected them), she gave me an F!!! Which brought my grade down to a C (it was an A...) No worries though - my mom didn't care about the bogus grade, and we had 2 weeks of fun in Disney!!

[paradox]

No such thing as excused absence in Ky without a doctor's statement. All of the days count against your attendance record, and if you have 10 absent days you fail the grade no matter what.
My daughter missed 15 days of school for injuries that she received at school, and the guidence counceler tried to have my daughter failed for the school year. A quick call from my brother ( who is a lawyer ) to the school, changed her mind very quickly.
We have an alternative school schedule here, you get a 2 week break every 10 weeks. Yes you go to school for 10 weeks, and then get 2 weeks off. It makes trips very easy. We will be in WDW in Oct, a grat time to be there.

[GATechGal]

They have just changed the law here in GA to only being able to have 5 unexplained absenses before the school system has to contact you about truencies. But it's not an automatic fail. The last 2 trips we've taken have only been for a couple of days out of class at the beginning of the grading period. We've let the teachers know in advance and have asked about any homework or tests so that they could be completed before we go. No one has ever given us any trouble. I guess it just depends on the school system.

[Nick and Ryans Mom]

We are planning a trip in June 2006 right after Memorial Day weekend (before our APs expire June 9th). I have a couple friends who are teachers in our district and they all told me that since DS#1 will only be in 4th grade (and DS#2 in kindergarten) that I should have no problem, most teachers at that level have grades figured out by Memorial weekend. They will only miss 6 days of school.

Last year and the year before DS#1 missed about 14 days (in first and second grade) due to doctor appts and pink eye (if anyone within a 100 yard radius of him has it, he gets it then the school makes you keep them home for a day afterward). I was worried that he had missed too many days but the principal told me not to worry and he always makes up the work.

[Happymommy]

At the risk of being a very unpopular passporter, I have to give my 2 cents, and take the teacher's side (not about the "F" or the lost project). I taught high school for 6 years before leaving to stay home with my kids, and I have to be honest, we would never give "excused" absences for a vacation . In my school district, the absences would count against your record. I also have to say as a teacher, we spend ALOT of time getting kids caught up - or getting together work for a student before or after they go on a vacation (I am more than happy to take time to get kids caught up when they have been sick - that's my job, but for a vacation -- at times it gets to me). Actually, at my school it was policy that a teacher did not have to make any concessions to a student who missed school to take a vacation - though most of us still did. There are times of the year that I'd have a number of students taking off for a vacation (you may think your the only one, but certain times of the year your getting 4 or 5 kids telling you that their taking a vacation especially a 2 week one - I need to be honest it does get kind of crazy). I don't know if people realize, teachers have deadlines - deadlines for grades, for failure warnings, sometimes kids took vacations right before the end of a quarter and missed a test, and I really needed that test score to calculate their grade. Or they weren't in school the day of a project deadline - what happends if its a group project - sometimes it really creates a little bit of a mess in the classroom. I always told my students to have a great time, and we'd work on getting caught up when they return, but sometimes its tough getting everyone caught up. So, I have to say I can understand your teacher's reaction to your vacation (sorry) - it is not the approach I would have taken, but I can understand. I never gave my kids a hard time. That being said, I do understand why a parent would make that decision, and if its a once in a lifetime trip - yes you need to bond with your family. Next year, we'll take my son out of pre-school for a week (and believe me I've wrestled with that. Again, I hate to be the Devil's Advocate here, and I don't want to be preachy, but that's kind of a touchy subject for me, and I have to tell the teacher's side of the story. Sorry.



As far as kids having trouble getting out of school. They had to deal with the absences on their record, so that could be tough depending on how many days they had missed before taking the trip. Most teachers just deal with the vacation and don't give the students a problem (lots of complaining in the teachers' lounge about it though). I have heard of some teachers who have called home though and expressed their disapproval of the situation (that's pretty rare though - unless the student has been having a problem prior to taking the trip).

[snoozy]

You know working for our local school district I have the inside story on all this. You as the parent have the right to put your child in school or take them out of school, and if the teachers don't like it, to bad.

Nothing irritates me more then a teacher who is on a power trip and your science teacher falls into that slot. They think, let me repeat, they think they have control over what happens with your kids. They don't, you are the parent, you have the final say. In the classroom yes they have some control in regards to curriculum and positive discipline but as to when or if your child is present on a particular day is the parents responsibility.

I dare any teacher out there to find me a judge in this country that will fine or jail a parent for taking their kids to WDW, DL or any family vacation during school time. Especially when the parent goes out of their way to make sure that their child's school work is taken care of. Imagine this headline in your local paper - Parents Jailed And Fined For Taking The Kids To Disneyland. Your local tax watch dog groups, the ACLU, etc. would be in hog heaven.

Attendance is one of my job duties so I know of what I speak. As long as you let the school know a head of time there should not be any problem. Your mother did the right thing by going and talking to your teachers to get all the necessary work you needed. I have just done the same thing with my two kids, because we are taking 6 school days off for our trip to Disneyland at the end of Oct. Which is the end of 1st quarter so my kids have to be done with all their 1st quarter work one week early. I still have to talk to two of my daughter's teachers but, so far I have not had a problem and I better not. We always take our Disneyland trips during school time, lower crowds.

Every school district has attendance policies and from state to state everyone is a little different but they all follow the same general attendance rules. If your child is consistent in complying with those attandance policies the school can not site you for taking family trips as long as they are given notice a head of time. Yes, if your child has a history of truancies, tardies, or unexcused absences the school and truant officers (if you have truant officers) can question the parent and sometimes take them to court. This was obviously not your case and your science teacher got a good talking to from the VP. Good for him for doing a good job.

As for your bogus grade it didn't hurt you or ruin your life did it? My kids had a english teacher in middle school who sounds like your science teacher, she was very negative. 2/3 rds of their grade was dependent on homework, my question was who is the english teacher, she didn't like that. My kids did not get very good grades in her class but they survived and it was ok, because I know that my kids did the best that they could do under such negative surcumstances

For all you parents out there if you want to take your kids out of school for a family trip do it, if you want to take them out of school one day for ice cream do it. They are your kids and they grow up so fast and will be out on their own before you know it.

[loobyoxlip]

Nope. I took Kylor out for 6 days when we went to WDW and his teacher even told me how important she thought family vacations were.

[Jaya]

Dina:

I can totally understand how it would upset some teachers. It's a teacher's job to make sure their students learn what they are supposed to, and that they get good grades - if they don't, it can reflect badly on the teacher. I'm okay with that, what I (and my mother) had an issue with is that this teacher tried to make it a problem for a student she didn't like when she had absolutely no basis to, by blatantly lying about a school rule.

I've had my fair share of bad teachers throughout my life. I'm no genius, but I got pretty good grades in school - sometimes I would know more than the teachers would. I've had questions on tests marked wrong because of a teacher's honest mistake, because of careless mistakes, and because of downright stupidity and ignorance - and then had to ARGUE with them to get the points they wrongfully deducted. I've had five separate teachers in five separate grades make my life in their class a living hell - For things such as knocking a pencil off my desk, coming in late to class, excused by the office, the day I got my braces on, and for not putting proper punctuation and capitalization in a freestyle poem. I've also had amazing teachers who made all those bad experiences worth it.

I didn't mean to sound like I was saying "how dare this teacher mess up MY life" - because I know it's an inconvenience for them also. It was the sneaky backhanded way she did it that offended us!

[graygables]

[ QUOTE ]

Nothing irritates me more then a teacher who is on a power trip and your science teacher falls into that slot. They think, let me repeat, they think they have control over what happens with your kids. They don't, you are the parent, you have the final say.


[/ QUOTE ]

I am a former high school English teacher and a *STRONG* proponent of parental rights. The Supreme Court has issued a ruling that states that parents have the "right to the care, custody, and control" of their children and I, too, defy any judge (or school district) to deny me those rights. My 16yo DD broke her wrist last fall and that, combined with a week off for WDW, took her over the district's "10 day policy" and they tried to fail her. After a letter to the school district's attorney's office, her grades were re-instated no problem. I had a Declaration of Parental Rights already on file with the school, so I don't know if that helped. The bottom line is, you are the parent, you take your child out whenever and wherever you see fit and tell the school to take a flying leap.

BTW, as a high school teacher, I *never* had any issues with students and make-up work. I had a folder set up with each day's worksheets/plans/notes and the students knew that if they had missed, they needed to "check the folder". It wasn't any more difficult grading their papers 3 days after anyone else's. Granted, I never assigned group projects b/c I didn't feel it was fair to students to have their grades decided by someone else's actions, but that was my own personal opinion. I had a sophomore tell me once that he had "perfect attendance" since K and I told him that I felt very sorry for him. Perfect attendance means he missed so much of life that was going on outside the classroom.

If your child can "make the grade without his butt warming the seat" then so be it. Mine can, and I took them out whenever I wanted to FOR WHATEVER *I* WANTED TO. FWIW, we Cyber-school now, so as long as they get their 920 hours per year in, the state doesn't care when I go to WDW

Stepping off my oversized soapbox...

[Happymommy]

I just need to defend myself, I think I probably should not have replied to this post. I just thought I'd give the teacher's perspective as to why some may have a problem with vacations during the school year. Looking back on this thread, this probably wasn't the place to do that, it was inappropriate, and I apologize. As a teacher, I was never on a power trip - I never even let a student know that I was irritated by them being out of school for a week or two for a vacation, never- I always told them have a good time, don't bring your work on your vacation, we'll make it up when you get back . But to hear how awful a teacher is to have a problem with a student taking two weeks off - I guess it kind of got my back up so to speak. My classes were very interactive, they had alot of presentations and other types of assessments throughout the quarter. I used alot of alternative assessment (which is better for different types of learning styles, but can be difficult to make up, so I understand a teacher's frustration). Because of the learning levels I taught I used a lot of techniques besides notes and worksheets. We spent alot of time in the computer lab researching things. I taught Social Studies and it was very hands on. My group projects (cooperative learning) were completely fair, everyone had individual responsibilities and individual grades. You couldn't always just make up the type of work we did in class - it just wasn't possible. But the kids really enjoyed my classes, and really came away with an ability to teach themselves rather than just memorize things. Anyway, just need to defend myself here. Not really used to having people angry with me on the boards, but I put myself in this position. I should not have implied that I thought it was wrong to take your vacation, this wasn't the place for that and I do apologize. I juust wanted to give the teacher's perspective. I do understand the frustration a teacher feels when alot of kids are out due to vacations - Like I said, I understand it, and I think family bonding is important. I guess I offended some of you - I'm really sorry about that, but I was never, ever the type of teacher that was on a power trip, yes I have known many that are, and I've had it out with a few because I didn't like how some of my students were being treated by them- Obviously this is my little pet peeve so I'm going to stay away from this thread. I hope everyone doesn't hate me!! I just told my husband that I think I'm being thrown off Passporter!! BTW, how did that student respond when you told them you felt sorry for them - I can imagine they must have been pretty upset?

[Chrissi]

I think too many school admistrators and teachers don't realize just how hard it is to plan family vacations around the school year. So many people want to take off from work during the summer to go on vacation. Those people who typically don't miss work because they aren't the parents of sick children who need to stay home with their kids on sick days, will often get first pick of vacation dates. If you can't vacation in the summer - and let's face it - how many employers can afford for their entire workforce to go on vacation during the summer? - then, you need to travel at other times of the year. Holiday breaks seem ideal, but are actually the most expenxive in the vacation/travel industry - hardly an ideal time for family travel.

It just so happens the most affordable time and the easiest time for parents and adults to vacation is during the school year. And when you're the one paying for the trip, your schedule dictates when you go - not a teacher who is annoyed at having to do their job by helping your child keep up by giving them the work in advance if it is requested. I don't see why that is such an unreasonable request. A couple of my friends are teachers and they love when kids ask for the work so they can keep up with the class.

BTW - homeschooling is a great alternative for families that travel a lot and want to spend time together. Also negates the entire dilemna of when to take the kids out of school.

[snoozy]

Dina, no one is angry with you. You have taken what was said here personally. I don't believe anyone was singling you out. We certainly don't want you kick off the PP Boards either.



I work with teachers I know what they go through and how the vast majority are very dedicated. But even you as a teacher know that there are some that are on a power trip.



I work in a continuation high school, these are high school students who are 16-18 yrs of age. The main reasons they go to continuation high school is they are behind in credit, are working, are parents, or traditional high school is just not socially appropriate (traditional high school can be very cruel for some kids).The whole purpose of the school is to give students a more flexible schedule and let them work at their own pace to earn a high school diploma. Its not easy, they have to perfom at a higher grade point average and the volume of paperwork is at the college level.



One of the teachers that works at the school is one of these so called teachers on a power trip. His idea of getting the kids to do their work is to threaten them with probation. Now he has no legal leg to stand on and I have never in the last 6 years of watching this man operate ever seen his threats get the kids to do their work, it is extremely negative and sets the kids up for failure and confrontations. It does absolutely nothing but make him feel like he some kind of big man, when in reality he's just a jerk.



My own kids have have had their share of teachers that are negative. My son was always getting in trouble for not having a pencil, I mean referral after referral. I was being called into the principals office because my son did not have a pencil. My answer to the principal was give the kid a pencil. Some teachers take it to the very limit. This same teacher told me I was not a good parent because my son was immature. My response to her was he is 13, since when has a 13 year old boy ever been mature. Her response back was my children don't behave that way. Behave what way, so not having a pencil is a now a behavior. Now mind you on her desk for everyone to see she has a huge container of pencils. And how dare she tell me that my parenting skills are flawed because its not the same way she parents her children. This woman was wicked, thank goodness she no longer teaches at the school anymore.



So again Dina we were not going after you personally. And by the sounds of it you are a very dedicated teacher, we need more like you. But even you have to admit that some teachers are extremely negative towards their students.



Family comes first above anything else and that includes work and school. DH is a firefighter for the US Forest Service and is basically unavailable for 6 to 8 months out of the year. Depending upon how many forest fires there are during fire season we don't see much of him. Our family vacations don't always fall when its convient for the school. However, our time as a family together is more important.

[Teresa]

We had a problem with my older daughter, Samantha's school. She had missed some days (all excused, she was on a special program because of her disability so that her absences did not count against the school or her) and when I request 2 days for a family reunion, the V-Princ. told me no. I told him I knew that there was a reason for his no, and although I appreciated it, the airline tickets were non-refundable, and the trip had been planned for 2 years. The next month, before we went to WDW, she was in the hospital for 4 days for pneumonia, and signed herself out against medical advice so that she could go back to school. She was there for 20 minutes when she was told that she had been suspended and that the VP was trying to expell her! for being in the hospital!!!! He took her into his office, alone (a big no-no) and yelled at her for an hour! We had to have a big meeting with school counselors, the VP, the Principal, the head of schools for our town, and our lawyer. The end result? He was chastised, she was re-instated, and we went to WDW the next month.

The other kids have been tranferred to a private school that discourages time off, but will work around it (my kids are missing 2 days next year, and the school already knows it and approves)

What really cheeses me is the people that lie to the school. I have a friend that called the elementary, middle, and high schools every day to report her kids sick for 2 weeks while they were in WDW (and they hated it) so that the kids could make up their work and not get penalized!

[Teresa]

Just wanted to say that I agree with Dina to a point.
While all parents have the right to take their children out of school for any reason, there are state and national requirements for attendance. In Indiana, if a school has a drop in attendance, they don't get as much extra funding as a school that has an improvement in attendance.
Also, if your child is taken out for a long term, and misses a key component to the curriculem, will you teach them the things they need to know? Will you ask the teacher to give up her free time to catch your child up? Will you be okay with the rest of the class having to go back so that your child can catch up?

I do take my kids out, with a lot of advance notice I told the school last June that the kids would be out for 2 days in Feb.

I think that we all are entitled to our opinions and that this is a great place to air them, but that this is such an emotional issue. And, there is really no black or white, just different shades of gray.

[Fortissimo]

This is my 15th year teaching middle school instrumental music. There is no possible way for students to truly make up a missed concert because of a vacation. I have said this many times on this board, family vacations are more important than any concert I have scheduled.

First, are families supposed to be denied family vacations because mom and dad cannot take time off during the traditional school vacations? Not every person can take time off during the summer months.

Second, I have three nieces who were supposed to go on a vacation, but their father died while on active duty in the Air Force. My nieces will never enjoy a family vacation with their father. My point here is that if the only time a famuily can go on vacation is during the school year then I tell them to have a blast! One never knows when it will be the last family vacation.

Finally, states make the laws regarding attendance, not the teachers and or the administation. The schools must follow these laws or they risk losing accredidation. Yes, I know teachers who give students a hard time about missing school because of a vacation. I argue constantly with these teachers about the importance of family time. I know I won't chane the minds of these teachers, but I can try!

What do I do when one of my students tells me he or she is going to WDW for a vacation? I give them money for a Mickey Bar and then tell them to make sure they take a great-big sip of the best soda in the world - Beverly.