Letter to teachers for missing school?

[DMGeurts]

Does anyone have a copy of the letter they gave their child's teacher informing them of their absence for WDW? I thought I saw one posted several months ago -I thought I'd saved it, but I didn't.... Any help would be greatly appriciated.

D~

 

[sueh]

I would love to see a copy of this too.

Thanks

 

[imthatgirl]

to be honest, i dont think i would write a letter, unless the child is older and has multiple teachers. in grade school i think i would go in and talk to the teacher.

 

[I_Know_You2!]

Unless the school forces you to portray the vacation as educational, I'd just go with a simple "Andy will be absent on the following days. Please let me know what we need to do to stay current."

The one you may be looking for is here. It is, imo, over the top, however.

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SchoolExcuse/SE1.shtml

 

[imthatgirl]

wow that letter was a bit over the top.
i think the letter could be cut down to:

Please be advised that [student] will be out of school during the week of [date]. We ask that his absences be excused.
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]



and that would be plenty, lol.

 

[mncherokee]

I usually talk to the teacher and send a formal note for absences of this sort. I wouldn't go into the details (like that letter).

 

[wifey1220]

Our school has a special form you need to fill out for vacation absences. But I always email the teacher a reminder.
Dear Teacher
Student will be missing school this week in September because of a family vacation to WDW.
Thank you
Parent

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

wow that letter was a bit over the top.
i think the letter could be cut down to:

Please be advised that [student] will be out of school during the week of [date]. We ask that his absences be excused.
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]



and that would be plenty, lol.

I agree that letter is way more information than needed (at least for my grade schooler).

I write a letter like the one above but also add that "work missed will be made up at the teachers convenience".

 

[crisi]

Dear Ms. ______

______ will be out of school for a family vacation from _____ to _____. If you prepare work for her to bring with her, or have any suggestions to make sure she stays caught up to make this easier for you and her, please let me know and I will make sure that she gets her work done.

Thank you.


(A few years ago one of the teachers here had the mouse for less letter posted in the staff room or something - one of the parents had sent it - it caused a lot of humor among the teachers.)

If the teacher does go through the effort to send work along - make sure it gets done. It apparently isn't a simple matter for a lot of teachers to create work packages in advance of the lessons - make sure their effort isn't wasted. Its really easy on vacation to say "we'll get to those worksheets tomorrow" and never get them done.

 

[albertagirl2007]

From a teachers POV

Every school is different but usually the teacher doesn't excuse the absences. That is done by administration / attendance officer. Please send a separate note to the office in regards to attendance. Depending on the attendance policy, work may or may not be made up for credit.

For each teacher (if your child has more than one) something like this is sufficient.

Suzie will be absent from xx to xx. We have communicated this with the attendance officer. If possible, please assign work in advance or all assignments will be made up at your convenience. If you have any concerns please contact me at xxx

Don't worry about convincing the teacher that your vacation is "educational". Yes, sometimes teachers are annoyed when students miss class (I had a teacher say to me in the 10th grade when I had to miss one day for a family wedding "why can't your cousin get married in the summer, you shouldn't miss class") but it's your child, your family, your decision!

 

[holly7347]

Our district is VERY strict on missing school. Here are a couple things directly from DD's code of acceptable behavior and discipline handbook.

Attendance Policies
Ay child who has been absent from school without a valid excuse for 3 or more days or tardy on 3 or more days is a truant regardless of the number of minutes tardy. Any child who has been reported as a truant 2 or more times is a habitual truant.
Excused Attendance Events
Illness, physician visits funeral/dealt of immediate family, and court appearances. Parent notes are accepted for up to 3 events per grading period up to a max of 9 per school year. Additional attendance events must be accompanied by a dr. note.
Unexcuted Attendance Events
Include skipping school, suspension, organized skip day, and attendance events not accompanied by a note or attendance events not meeting excused guidelines. Family vacations are considered avoidable and will be classified by the principal as unexcused.

DD is in 1/2 kindergarten this year and we are taking her out one day for our Disney Vacation in October. So in total she will miss 3 hours of school. I knew going into it that it would be unexcused but we have nothing else planned that will take her out of school unexcused so I'm not really worried about it. Since it will be unexcused no matter what I have to say about it the note I write will be short and simple just stating that Paige will be out of school on October 8. I will give a copy to her teacher and the office so they don't call that morning asking why she isn't in school.

 

[jewelrylady]

Our district is also pretty strict. I emailed the principal, attendance clerk and each of his teachers. Everyone was okay with it because I notified them ahead of time. The principal was the one that had to give permission for it to be excused...she did, thank goodness as DSS's Mom was trying to give us grieve. So we're off with excused absences...

 

[imthatgirl]

Our district is VERY strict on missing school. Here are a couple things directly from DD's code of acceptable behavior and discipline handbook.

Attendance Policies
Ay child who has been absent from school without a valid excuse for 3 or more days or tardy on 3 or more days is a truant regardless of the number of minutes tardy. Any child who has been reported as a truant 2 or more times is a habitual truant.
Excused Attendance Events
Illness, physician visits funeral/dealt of immediate family, and court appearances. Parent notes are accepted for up to 3 events per grading period up to a max of 9 per school year. Additional attendance events must be accompanied by a dr. note.
Unexcuted Attendance Events
Include skipping school, suspension, organized skip day, and attendance events not accompanied by a note or attendance events not meeting excused guidelines. Family vacations are considered avoidable and will be classified by the principal as unexcused.

DD is in 1/2 kindergarten this year and we are taking her out one day for our Disney Vacation in October. So in total she will miss 3 hours of school. I knew going into it that it would be unexcused but we have nothing else planned that will take her out of school unexcused so I'm not really worried about it. Since it will be unexcused no matter what I have to say about it the note I write will be short and simple just stating that Paige will be out of school on October 8. I will give a copy to her teacher and the office so they don't call that morning asking why she isn't in school.

this is a very commone policy for most schools. your school uses harsher language than i think most, but it says the same thing. children are allowed 9 excused absences a year. if you have 3 in a row its considered truent, which until highschool doesnt mean much. no schools "allow" unexcused absences. but they do count the unexcused with the excused. so basically as long as your child isnt out more than 9 days a year, youre fine. whatever the reason, it doesnt really matter.

 

[LilGMom]

All I have ever done is state that my child will be out between X date and Y date, ask that the absences by excused (too many unescused within a certain time period means they can fail the child) and ask that we get his assignments prior to X date. The school does not need to know all of the details but if they ask for more details I will provide more. I will continue to do this as long as my childs' grades are good.

 

[happymommy]

Schools really do vary in their attitudes towards vacations. I'd be very cautious before you decide how to handle this!

My kids have always been in private schools, and the one they were in 4 years ago didn't like parents taking their kids out of school, SPECIFICALLY for Disneyworld. That year, at the end of the school year, I took them out a week early for Disneyworld. It was only half days anyway, and they were just doing things like ice cream parties and cleaning out their desks. I just called them in sick every day (from Disneyworld). I didn't tell anyone we were going. Turned out, the teachers had already made up the report cards, and they weren't even marked absent!

Their current school is different, in that if I let them know ahead of time, they could get the work to do or make it up. They are older now though, so I won't be pulling them out again.

If you are going to let them know, does it really matter where you are going? I think just tell them what they need to know. Some parents get petty and jealous. Teachers don't really need all the details either - they may feel like you are bragging or something. I really think for this, the less said the better.

 

[JVL1018]

I just write:
Julia will be absent the week of X and will be returning on X.
I understand that vacations are unexcused absences and work is not to be made up, but if you have any work for her, I would be glad to have her do it anyway, either before our trip or upon our return, whichever is easiest for you.
Thanks,
Vicki...

It has been my experience with all the teachers I know, that they are not fond of it when parents ask for the work beforehand, so I never ask for them to have the work ready for us prior to the trip.

During the week we're out the teacher just puts aside the work they are doing and DD has gotten it when we returned. Easiest for them.
DD did get her spelling words prior to the trip last time, but most everything else was when we got back, I am sure DS will be the same way this year.

 

[Kathi OD]

Our district is VERY strict on missing school. Here are a couple things directly from DD's code of acceptable behavior and discipline handbook.

Attendance Policies
Ay child who has been absent from school without a valid excuse for 3 or more days or tardy on 3 or more days is a truant regardless of the number of minutes tardy. Any child who has been reported as a truant 2 or more times is a habitual truant.
Excused Attendance Events
Illness, physician visits funeral/dealt of immediate family, and court appearances. Parent notes are accepted for up to 3 events per grading period up to a max of 9 per school year. Additional attendance events must be accompanied by a dr. note.
Unexcuted Attendance Events
Include skipping school, suspension, organized skip day, and attendance events not accompanied by a note or attendance events not meeting excused guidelines. Family vacations are considered avoidable and will be classified by the principal as unexcused.

DD is in 1/2 kindergarten this year and we are taking her out one day for our Disney Vacation in October. So in total she will miss 3 hours of school. I knew going into it that it would be unexcused but we have nothing else planned that will take her out of school unexcused so I'm not really worried about it. Since it will be unexcused no matter what I have to say about it the note I write will be short and simple just stating that Paige will be out of school on October 8. I will give a copy to her teacher and the office so they don't call that morning asking why she isn't in school.

Gotta love the family vacations are avoidable statement. Guess once you have children, you should never go on a vacation? If our district had that kind of policy I would just not notify before the vacation. I doubt there has ever been a school district taking parents to court over unexcused absences related to a WDW vacation.

 

[crisi]

Gotta love the family vacations are avoidable statement. Guess once you have children, you should never go on a vacation? If our district had that kind of policy I would just not notify before the vacation. I doubt there has ever been a school district taking parents to court over unexcused absences related to a WDW vacation.

Vacations during the school year are avoidable for most of us. The school gives us ample holiday time to take vacations during the summer, over Christmas, during Spring Break - we may not choose to take advantage of them because we don't like school break weather, crowds and prices - but that's our choice. And, for a few of us, school holidays are times we can't get off work (my husband can never take a vacation over Thanksgiving or Christmas - he is in retail on the Corporate side).

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

I personally didn't think twice about the unexcused abscences from school. They can call the truancy officer. I am sure they are not going to waste their time bringing me in because we took a vacation. It's not like my children are missing school every week because I forgot to wake up ( like one of their friends) or because I don't care. Both of my daughters have excellent attendance, they are good students and my vacation doesn't run by school vacation time. I am a hard worker and take vacation when my job allows. My job pays the bills and keeps us in a home. This year we dealt with death, divorce and moving. My daughters needed a much deserved vacation and i expressed that in my letter.

I wrote that they would be missing school from x to x. I said that they needed family time and that they wouldn't expect to make up work or inconvience the teachers at all to get them work to complete.

I handed it into their teacher and asked that it be forwarded to the appropriate people. I was in contact with their teachers all the time so they knew what was going on. The letter was just a formality. I didn't have a problem.

 

[disneymarie]

Does anyone have a copy of the letter they gave their child's teacher informing them of their absence for WDW? I thought I saw one posted several months ago -I thought I'd saved it, but I didn't.... Any help would be greatly appriciated.

D~

Check with the school first. Our school has required the last two years a form to fill out for educational leave for Disney or other trips. It went to the Superintenit for approval. Never had a problem with approval but it did count towards the districts 10 day absence rule. Any sick day needed a doctors note after 10.
di.