Disney School Trip-Sick Child-School Policies ??

[Hikergirl]

The problem is, the child in the OP was actively vomiting. The mom knew that.

This wasn't about a tummy ache. Or a fake illness. This girl was vomiting.

Actually that was my point to the pp, who according to her, would tell the OP that since her child was well enough to go to the park she was well enough to go to practice with the team. And if the OP took her home, that pp would boot her from the team since she went to the park that day and couldn't make it to practice.
She clearly was sick, the mom made a mistake bringing her to the park. So that pp would punish the girl by booting her from the team for being sick and going to the park anyway. I think that is a pretty crappy attitude for a coach to have. YMMV.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I remember as a kid a note from my mom was good enough. Now it has to be a doctors note on official letterhead.

It's actually not time consuming. My old pediatrician (over 12 years ago) who made us go in for every little thing in order to get a note was time consuming.

Now I call, speak to the triage nurse, give her the symptoms and she lets me know if I should bring them in or not. It's usually don't bring them in, they write a note, I print off of the patient portal. The nurse gives us instructions and it usually involves bringing them in if they aren't better within 48-72 hours.

I'm sure they look at your history too. If you call in every two weeks for a note that'll raise a red flag. It's usually twice a year for my kids. They each seem to get a 24 hour stomach bug once a year and then a nasty cold once a year.

Yeah in the big districts (the only ones I looked into in my area) around me a parents phone call is perfectly fine for illness (unless you are emancipated or are 18 or older then you can call on behalf of yourself) and it counts as excused. Now you do have limits to how many excused absences are allowed in a school year sure.

The time consuming part is that you have to call in the first place. Sounds like your area it works fine but honestly I don't know for sure that the doctor's offices I went to would do what yours does (though who knows) and just write a note for me without seeing me first. For my mom that would have meant taking time out of her work day just to call the doctor's office and hope they would do a note. And for my dad it would have meant the same though he was self-employed insurance agent so it was a tad more flexible. It just seems like an asinine policy that is very reliant on finding a doc or nurse who will take your word. My parents would have hated that policy lol

*Just commenting on the policy not how you handle it as it seems it works well enough for you

 

[because]

Actually that was my point to the pp, who according to her, would tell the OP that since her child was well enough to go to the park she was well enough to go to practice with the team. And if the OP took her home, that pp would boot her from the team since she went to the park that day and couldn't make it to practice.
She clearly was sick, the mom made a mistake bringing her to the park. So that pp would punish the girl by booting her from the team for being sick and going to the park anyway. I think that is a pretty crappy attitude for a coach to have. YMMV.

There was no mention of practice. You are adding that in. No one makes a sick athlete practice. And no one kicks a truly sick athlete off the team.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yeah in the big districts (the only ones I looked into in my area) around me a parents phone call is perfectly fine for illness (unless you are emancipated or are 18 or older then you can call on behalf of yourself) and it counts as excused. Now you do have limits to how many excused absences are allowed in a school year sure.

The time consuming part is that you have to call in the first place. Sounds like your area it works fine but honestly I don't know for sure that the doctor's offices I went to would do what yours does (though who knows) and just write a note for me without seeing me first. For my mom that would have meant taking time out of her work day just to call the doctor's office and hope they would do a note. And for my dad it would have meant the same though he was self-employed insurance agent so it was a tad more flexible. It just seems like an asinine policy that is very reliant on finding a doc or nurse who will take your word. My parents would have hated that policy lol

We are a decent size district in your metro area and moved to a physician note policy this year.

 

[Hikergirl]

There was no mention of practice. You are adding that in. No one makes a sick athlete practice.

Oh, whatever not practice, just spending the rest of the night with the team.
Besides what does it matter, you don't believe she is really sick anyway.

 

[because]

Oh, whatever not practice, just spending the rest of the night with the team.
Besides what does it matter, you don't believe she is really sick anyway.

The competition had awards from 9-11pm on Sunday, a crucial part of a competition. Depending if the OP was talking about Sunday or Monday, it was not just spending time with the team. You don't know what I think. Quit assuming and accusing.

If she was talking about Monday, I find it very weird that a school would make a team stay on property till 10pm on a school day when the competition is long over and there is no need to be there.

As I mentioned before, our athletes are released directly after awards. If they held the athletes all day Monday, I would need to know why the coaches had such crazy restrictions.

 

[pweyl36]

So, my daughter's dance team is at DW as they competed in Nationals this past weekend. Yesterday, my daughter woke up sick, throwing up. I am also on property, but staying in a different resort. Kids were allowed a park day and dd said she felt better and wanted to go to Magic Kingdom with me. We went and stayed a couple of hours until she started feeling bad again. We left the park and went to my room at another resort on the property. She took a nap and said she wanted to try the park again. We did and the same thing happened (sick). Around 7:00 pm, DD sent a text to her coaches and asked if she could leave with me, her mother, and I sign her out from the trip. She was told no. I then texted coach. I was told no, that is was school policy she stay with the team, but she could stay with me or I was welcome to stay with her until 10:00pm. Unfortunately, I returned the rental car and staying in a room together was not an option. Our only option was to stay in the park and wait until a group the proper size (4) or an adult was going back to DD's resort. Finally, a couple of hours later, a dance mom was able to take DD back to her resort. I find it unacceptable that my daughter was made to sit, feeling extremely bad, and wait at a crowded theme park instead of being able to be in the care of her mother in a quiet hotel room. This meant she went back to a tiny room with four girls, slept in a small bed with someone, and risked getting them all sick. Not only that, but when someone is sick, laying in bed with someone they are not totally comfortable with is not something they'd like to do, especially when there is the option of being with their parent and sleeping in a bed of their own.

I have requested the school policy on this and will not allow my child to travel with the school in the future if I find the policy unacceptable.

Disclaimer: I'm a teacher, different district and this is my third child so I'm not new to all the politics surrounding this kind of mess.

Sorry but I find it unacceptable that you had your sick child spread her virus around Disney. She should of never left her room.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We are a decent size district in your metro area and moved to a physician note policy this year.

Ugh I hope the ones around me don't in the future. That would be very frustrating.

The only information I can find on doctor's note is if the illness is chronic or excessive absenteeism both of which make sense but IMO it doesn't for just a normal illness day.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Sorry but I find it unacceptable that you had your sick child spread her virus around Disney. She should of never left her room.

Double, no, quadruple like.

She was actively vomiting.

I am thankful for school districts that require students to stay home for 24 hours after vomiting.

 

[sam_gordon]

Is it possible since the coach/school official didn't have access to the "check out list", that's why he couldn't let the mom check the child out? I know at least through middle school here (possibly in HS, but I don't remember), at the beginning of the year you provide a list of who is allowed to check the child out of school.

Since this happened on a Sunday, maybe the supervisor couldn't confirm that the mom was actually on the pickup list?

Just a thought.

 

[because]

..

 

[mom2rtk]

Ugh I hope the ones around me don't in the future. That would be very frustrating.

The only information I can find on doctor's note is if the illness is chronic or excessive absenteeism both of which make sense but IMO it doesn't for just a normal illness day.

I'm extremely annoyed with the new policy. It was written by school district employees who probably don't have a $6500 deductible plan like we do. It would cost me $150 straight out of pocket to take my daughter in to see the doctor for a note. She's not in the office often enough that they would just write a note by phone.

I'm just glad that we only have a little over a year left of the nonsense. In the meantime, I suppose that encourages me to send her to school sick. I won't, but that's what the policy does.

She's currently number one in her class. If they want to fail her in a course because an unexcused illness puts her over the limit, I guess we'll have to have a big ole discussion about it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm extremely annoyed with the new policy. It was written by school district employees who probably don't have a $6500 deductible plan like we do. It would cost me $150 straight out of pocket to take my daughter in to see the doctor for a note. She's not in the office often enough that they would just write a note by phone.

I'm just glad that we only have a little over a year left of the nonsense. In the meantime, I suppose that encourages me to send her to school sick. I won't, but that's what the policy does.

She's currently number one in her class. If they want to fail her in a course because an unexcused illness puts her over the limit, I guess we'll have to have a big ole discussion about it.

I actually had typed out about the cost in my original comment to the other poster about it but decided to delete that part. Not only the costs with the doctor but if an appointment wasn't available to get a note then you'd have to go to the Urgent Care..which can cost $$ too plus the costs associated with taking time off--for my mom that would have been a big thing but for my dad not as bad. And yeah I could see it leading for sure to parents sending their kids to school sick. I wonder how it works out numbers-wise for kids sent home sick during the day.

It's a very rigid policy.

Heck I just looked up and for the elementary school in our neighborhood you can even e-mail the school to let them know your child will be out.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I actually had typed out about the cost in my original comment to the other poster about it but decided to delete that part. Not only the costs with the doctor but if an appointment wasn't available to get a note then you'd have to go to the Urgent Care..which can cost $$ too plus the costs associated with taking time off--for my mom that would have been a big thing but for my dad not as bad. And yeah I could see it leading for sure to parents sending their kids to school sick. I wonder how it works out numbers-wise for kids sent home sick during the day.

It's a very rigid policy.

Heck I just looked up and for the elementary school in our neighborhood you can even e-mail the school to let them know your child will be out.

Know what's even more rigid? In my district (for the HS) if you miss 4 unexcused days in one marking period you automatically get a grade of 59 in all of your classes. You can get your grades back by not missing 4 days the next marking period and getting put on attendance probation. My son missed 4 days and forgot to submit his doctors note. He had the note in his book bag and forgot to turn it in. He had to go to his guidance counselor this morning and they accepted it. Last week was the last day of the marking period so report cards came out yesterday and I got the email and phone call around 6 pm yesterday. I was so mad at him for forgetting to turn in the note.

I think my district is trying to crack down on vacations during the year.

 

[gotomu212]

I’m trying to follow this and I think there are some major details missing and maybe more to the story?

You had a room and your daughter was staying at it for part of the day so you could have gone back to the room but didn’t. Is it because you no longer had the hotel room? Otherwise no one was stopping you from grabbing an uber and putting your daughter in bed.

When you say you wanted to “sign her out of the trip” it makes it sound like you just wanted to grab her and go home- not back to your hotel but home. Is that the case? That makes a difference to me. On all the away trips I was at students were never allowed to leave the trip early unless there was a serious injury or illness. If you didn’t have a rental car how were you going to get her home?

You also said your DD was texting her coach about staying with you. Why, if she were that sick was your daughter the one texting? In your shoes I would have called coach and said I have one of your students here, she is vomiting and needs attention. What’s your plan. Coach or chaperone would then have to deal with it and they have plans for what t do in case of illness. If you weren’t there, they would have implemented the plan. I think there’s something off here that they weren’t stepping in to oversee it or telling you to take her.

Since you were at a different hotel it sounds like you were not an official chaperone. When we’ve had overnight trips everyone gets a copy of the rules and in our case they’ve stated no one can leave the trip with a non chaperone. In the case of overnight trips, and travel arranged by the team or school, they were liable until you returned home. If indeed you wanted to leave the whole trip that would have been a major problem for us.

If you did just want to take her to a hotel room, why didn’t you if they said it was okay? If they had let you sign her out of the trip how were you going to get her to the room then? It just doesn’t add up.

 

[mom2rtk]

Know what's even more rigid? In my district (for the HS) if you miss 4 unexcused days in one marking period you automatically get a grade of 59 in all of your classes. You can get your grades back by not missing 4 days the next marking period and getting put on attendance probation. My son missed 4 days and forgot to submit his doctors note. He had the note in his book bag and forgot to turn it in. He had to go to his guidance counselor this morning and they accepted it. Last week was the last day of the marking period so report cards came out yesterday and I got the email and phone call around 6 pm yesterday. I was so mad at him for forgetting to turn in the note.

I think my district is trying to crack down on vacations during the year.

That really is awful!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Know what's even more rigid? In my district (for the HS) if you miss 4 unexcused days in one marking period you automatically get a grade of 59 in all of your classes. You can get your grades back by not missing 4 days the next marking period and getting put on attendance probation. My son missed 4 days and forgot to submit his doctors note. He had the note in his book bag and forgot to turn it in. He had to go to his guidance counselor this morning and they accepted it. Last week was the last day of the marking period so report cards came out yesterday and I got the email and phone call around 6 pm yesterday. I was so mad at him for forgetting to turn in the note.

I think my district is trying to crack down on vacations during the year.

Good lord that's ridiculous.

I could see the vacation thing but my goodness that's going overboard.

 

[anniemae]

You had a room and your daughter was staying at it for part of the day so you could have gone back to the room but didn’t. Is it because you no longer had the hotel room? Otherwise no one was stopping you from grabbing an uber and putting your daughter in bed.

This was my first thought as well, why not go back to the moms hotel room and keep dd there with mom. OP said "staying in a room together was not an option." Why?

 

[sunb75]

I am kind of baffled that you , her parent, just went along with it. I 'm sure it was a stressful, shocking situation, so that probably played into it. But it is ok to defy their "authority" and keep your child with you. What on earth could they possibly have done if you refused to send her back? They had no ground to stand on.

I agree. The reason for doing what I did was because my daughter did not want to cause 'drama'. Yes, I am mom and yes, I make decisions, but she wants to maintain a positive relationship with the coaches.

Looking back, I'm not happy I let her stay

 

[sunb75]

So this isn't the same situation.

OP, what would your daughter have done if you hadn't been around? How old is she? Is there a reason you didn't go to First Aid while you waited?

She is 16. Not sure what first aid could have done.