School Policy Change - Advice

[Kallison]

Our school district allows for 10 days of excused absences. Go and have a great time. Three days is not going to make one bit of difference to a 4th grader. My son is going into 5th, I just told his teacher we were taking two days at the end of September around the Jewish holiday. She couldn't have been nicer about it. My parents took me out just about every year in January for a trip to Florida. I was an honor student and suffered no ill effects! What do I remember most about growing up, those trips and the days she used to say "Let's skip and go into Manhattan". You are only young once, have fun!

 

[jd_mouse]

TinkerbellRules -- If you planned this vacation PRIOR to the school board instituting this new rule, I would DEFINITELY write a formal letter of protest. People often plan vacations a year in advance, and I think its punitive for them to expect families to cancel vacations and incur a monetary loss without sufficient notice.

Good Luck!

jd-mouse

 

[TerryN]

We also take our children out of school, the last week in Sept. I talk to their teachers, get work that they will be doing while we're gone and my kids do a little each day (yes even at the World...I'm a tough Mom). Last year both children kept journals which they wrote in every afternoon before we went to the pool. My daughter ended up coming home with work done that the teacher had given her to do, but the class got behind, so she had more done then the class. We did send a letter to the principal telling her about "a family vacation" and we would take care of making sure the children kept up on their work. Enjoy your vacation and do what your gut tells you is right for your children!! Enjoy!!

 

[Cindy72]

This subject just makes me crazy. Has the school system forgotten that these are OUR children. My child should not be penalized for enjoying a family vacation, especially if they are good students and make their work up. I think that they should encourage family togetherness. I just want to state again that these are OUR children and as their parents we are responsible for making decisions for them.

I recently heard of a story about a family who went on vacation and beacuse their children missed more than the alotted number of absences the school failed them for the quarter. Mind you, these children had a - b averages in all there classes and made up all their missed work. This is just not a fair system and new policies need to be put in place. We are not talking about children who are skipping school, we are talking about a FAMILY vacation.

My son starts First grade tomorrow. We will be leaving for Disney in Oct. for a 2 week vacation. I have already heard the school will not be pleased. But you know what they say, you can't please everybody.

Thanks for letting me vent. Oh well I said all this to say I hope you take a guilt free vacation that you all enjoy and remember forever.

 

[Cru*Ella]

Okay... a 3% penalty on the 9 weeks... assuming 100% average for the 9 weeks, brings it down to a 97%. average that with 100% for the other 3 terms and you have slightly over 99% for the year.

Even if your DD is not in that bracket, it won't even make a 1% difference over the course of the year. BTW, I used 100% to figure on because it was easier for me to do the math...


We went through this every year until we started to homeschool. We own two businesses... in one of them, summer is our busy season so we can't vacation. We took them out for a week each time, once for almost two weeks. We had all the *papers* signed by the teachers well in advance and got any extra work that was needed. Most teachers just said GO have a good time! (our kids were in that 100% bracket usually) But, we would always get a letter from the *visiting teacher* aka truant officer, and we would always call the school. They always said the same thing... we know you had it taken care of, it's just policy that we have to send you the note in case you didn't know they missed yada yada yada.

When my oldest DD was a senior, she decided against going with us.... due to block scheduling and missing a week was like missing two weeks. She wanted a scholarship (she got it) and was working extra hard. We took her the 6 years prior to that with only minimal fuss.

Advice? Go and be a family. Family values are more important that the herd mentality taught today.... if the school insists on some *knowledge*... EPCOT is perfect for that... get her a passport and have her visit all the countries and get notes from folks in each country for her. Get pictures of her at country attractions and sampling ethnic cuisine.. etc




HAVE FUN!!!!

Becky in DE

 

[mommanne]

I originally planned to go to WDW this past August 26, for 7 days. When I saw the DU kids go free package in September, I called to check with the school. They told me that they encourage family vacations, and agreed that Epcot was educational. I'm taking the kids down for 10 days on September 22, and they will miss 6 days of school.

So now I'm going for 10 days in September. It's a better package, it will be cooler than August would have been, and there will be fewer lines. To me, this means we're going to have a blast.

I don't feel one bit guilty. They will make up the work before and during vacation, and I will require them them to keep journals of their trip, especially about Epcot.

The principal I talked to at the school that more kids should be as lucky as mine. She also said what many of you did. This is a lifetime of memories in the making.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Thanks for all the support! I really don't feel guilty ESPECIALLY after we told her last week! I wrapped a costume up and gave it to her. I said "where would you really want to wear this" and she said "Disney World!" I told her we were going to the MNSSHP as well. I also asked her where she would want to stay and she said "Port Orleans with the dragon slide". Good thing we were already staying there! We pool hopped there last year, but have never stayed. She's really excited. PLUS I told her for every chapter book she read, she gets $5 for Disney. Now if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is

 

[Lorihome2]

Sounds like the trip is a big "GO" (yea!!) but I just have to vent..... I cannot believe a school district would implement something like this without massive parental uprising (pitchforks, burning torches, etc...). Our area in California has a pretty neat policy to get around the "pay-by-the-head" issue. If a child is going to be gone a minimum of five days, you can request an "independent study contract" - just like getting make-up work ahead of time, but it's a formal contract. That way, the school district can count the child as attending "school" so they get their $$, but we still have the RIGHT to take our own children on vacation. Ironically, I was only planning to take them out for three days for our January '02 vacation, but I extended the trip so we could get the contract. Funny how that works! HAVE A GREAT TIME!