I'm expecting a visit from the truancy officer

My SIL called me today and told me a truancy officer had just showed up at her door.

When my folks took the whole family to Disneyworld a few weeks ago, it involved four days unexcused absence for each of their five grandchildren (SIL's two sons and my three) because vacation is considered unexcused in our district. I warned Jackson's principal about it an entire year in advance, plus SIL and I sent notes to the kids' teachers and school offices six weeks in advance, and we worked with the teachers to ensure all homework was completed before we even went on vacation. Our kids worked their bottoms off doing extra homework so they'd be all caught up when they got back.

And still, with all that preparation and notice and cooperation, the truancy officer came to SIL's house to give her a verbal warning. She said the notes to teachers and advance work on homework made absolutely no difference, and that she could fine them $25, but she would let them off the hook this time.

The truancy rate here is one of the highest in IL. Wouldn't you think that officer would be better employed tracking down the parents of chronic truants, rather than those of children who've gotten to 4th and 7th grade with no unexcused absences (and, in fact, often perfect attendance) until now? :angry: Good grief, it's not like we've made a habit of this!

 

I have never heard of "Vacation" being an unexcused absence before. Question: Don't teacher's there get professional or personal days off? Just a thought! I would be a little ticked! Hope that you don't recieve a visit.

 

Wow, Amy! That's ridiculous! :angry: K&K's teacher takes every other Friday off, as a personal day. When I took R&C to Disney seven years ago, Russell's core teacher joked and asked if she could stow away in a suitcase. No advice here; it's too bad your school district doesn't recognize and support family vacations for the learning and enriching experiences they are.

 

Vacation is ALWAYS an unexcused absence. The only excused absences are basicall sick days--and if you have more than 2 in a row you need a doctors note for them to be excused. Students generally get 10 unexcused absences a year, and more than that can cause a child to be retained. A teacher is usually given 3 personal days a year, and sick days accumulate--I know teachers who have retired with 100 accumulated sick days--when I taught you got 3 sick days a year.

Also, I would think a family vacation is a bit different than a professional day, when a teacher spends their day in classes.

Amy, I have never heard of a truent officer showing up over a declared vacation though.

 

Cathy, that is weird that she gets that many days off--unless she us using accumulated sick days. It is one thing for a teacher to joke about going on vacation, but another as to how the absences are catagorized.

 

Over here the school sent out an email that gave the dollar amount the school loses each day a student is absent from school. It was "implied" that we should pay the district if we were taking our kids out of school for an unexcused absence. Apparently over here they are only concerned about the money and not the educational welfare of the child!

So are you under no circumstances allowed to take your children out of school for an unexcused absence over there? What do they expect you to do? Would it have been ok for you to just call and say your child was sick for four days? I find that strange. I could understand if a child/parent had a chronic issue with being tardy or absent but sheesh, can't a family go on vacation!

-Kimberly

 

Kimberly, I forgot, a religous observance is also excused. My boys were excused when I took them out for Rosh Hashanah.

Children are in school for a total of 180 days. They get a week off over Christmas, a week in the spring, 10 weeks in the summer, and other days here and there. I think most families can arrange for vacations when the schools are off from school. If that is impossible, then you suffer the consequences of your decision. Can you tell I used to be a teacher? It is a HUGE pet peeve of mine when kids are pulled out of school for vacation.

 

There are always threads on the Dis boards about taking children out of school for trips.............they are some of the most heated usually and they tend to go on for pages and pages and pages (think breastfeeding/circumcision/SAHM).........................I planned our trip for the last year K&K were in preschool and planned it for a week that they already had holidays so they only missed 3 days (again, we are talking 3 hours of preschool a day). My intention was to take them for a once in a lifetime trip at their oldest point possible without them having to miss any 'real' school. That being said, now that the Disney bug has bitten me I am totally planning on taking K&K out of school at some point so that we can go in November when the Christmas party is happening. Sorry but there is absolutely no way I am taking my children to Disney during any of the school breaks (I was there for New Year's Eve before and I would never subject my children to that chaos)........nope just not going to happen. If things go as planned K&K will be in 5th grade when we go again and I absolutely will not think twice about taking them out to go whether excused or unexcused.


At one point my mom (a teacher) took every Wednesday off..........I was on bedrest and needed someone to drive me to my doc appointments. Life happens, yes even if that means a family vacation! At my work we can put in for vacations when we would like them to be, we aren't told when we have to take them (with a few exceptions of course). Why should we be told by the school calendar when we can vacation?

Hope your visit goes well Amy!

 

Sharon, I completely agree that it is not something to be taken lightly. However there my be other circumstances that lead to the decision about when a family takes a vacation. Cost may be an issue or maybe other relatives schedules. Schools have different days off and if a reunion (for example) is trying to be planned it makes things difficult.

Over here we have year round, traditional, and modified traditional school schedules sometimes within the same city. If you have a high school, middle school and elementary school aged children it is quite possible they don't have a week off at the same time together. I know people that have children in the same school on different tracks (my sister in-law). Her husbands business is putting together music festivals. Their busy time is during the summer so for their family to be able to spend any time all together someone has to miss school.

As with all things moderation is key and it is those that abuse that make it difficult for the rest.

Oh, and thanks for all your hard work as a teacher!

-K

 

QUOTE(sharongl @ Nov 19 2007, 06:48 PM) [snapback]502852[/snapback]
Vacation is ALWAYS an unexcused absence.
I've thought about this some more, and looking back, we didn't call it "vacation." It was "educational leave." I took Russell out of school for three "Educational leaves," during his K-12 career, and each time, his teacher gave me a form to fill out and sign, stating the purpose of our trip and what he would learn. We always did homework before, during and/or after the "leave," and there was never any issue.

QUOTE(sharongl @ Nov 19 2007, 06:48 PM) [snapback]502852[/snapback]
The only excused absences are basicall sick days
What about sports? What about the football players that miss a class (and most likely the SAME class) every week, so they can get ready for their game? Why is it okay for the quarterback to miss math every Friday, or the runner to miss Spanish every Wednesday, so they can compete in a school sport? What about the kids in the school band? I'm sure they have to miss classes here and there. Or how about PSAT/SAT testing? Curtis elected to take his PSAT on a Wednesday last month, because the Saturday PSAT conflicted with something else he wanted to do. He missed a history test and had to make it up, but since the PSAT was an excused absence, it was okay. Should he have been forced to take the Saturday PSAT (and it's not even a "required" test), or suffer an unexcused absence?

QUOTE(sharongl @ Nov 19 2007, 06:50 PM) [snapback]502856[/snapback]
Cathy, that is weird that she gets that many days off--unless she us using accumulated sick days. It is one thing for a teacher to joke about going on vacation, but another as to how the absences are catagorized.
When I said that Russell's teacher joked and asked if she could stow away in a suitcase, I didn't mean that she was making light of the situation. I think she was trying to set me at ease, since that was my first experience wanting to take a child out of middle school for a few days. Bad wording, on my part. As far as K&K's teacher taking every other Friday off, as a personal day, I know her situation. But even if I didn't, as long as she has an agreement with her supervisors (principal, district, etc.), and the kids in her class are taken care of, I think it's fine. It's the inflexible employer that will lose quality people, IMO, if they don't allow necessary personal time off work.

QUOTE(fourznuff @ Nov 19 2007, 06:51 PM) [snapback]502859[/snapback]
What do they expect you to do? Would it have been ok for you to just call and say your child was sick for four days? I find that strange.
That's what I was wondering. Is that something we really want to teach our kids?

QUOTE(kj2racing @ Nov 19 2007, 08:37 PM) [snapback]502994[/snapback]
Life happens, yes even if that means a family vacation!
SO well said!!! :good: And we only go around once!
I look back on the time we went on a big trip with my parents and my sister's family.... the few days of school missed could never compare with the life experiences and memories we'll all carry with us forever.

 

I guess it's just surprising to me because when I was a kid, my parents took us out of school for vacation a couple times, and there was never a problem at all. We were asked to give a report when we got back, and that was it.

Jackson's teacher made a journal for him to write in each day at Disney, and he did a fantastic job. On his first day back, he took his trader pins, autograph book, room key/theme park pass, and even an expired Fast Pass to show the kids, and he asked if he could read a page of his journal to them. She said they were all very interested and excited, and she was stunned at how well he can write when given a little freedom in the subject matter.

I guess this just ticks me off because if the truancy office were to look in our files, they would see that our children have been in school, on time, 99.999% of their school careers. We live in a very sub-par district with some serious issues, and it seems like a colossal waste of time and money to do a home visit to my SIL, who is so involved at school and so supportive of her kids' educations. Also, the district allows 10 unexcused absences a year, so I certainly didn't expect they'd send a truant officer after 4.

Yes, we could have called them in sick every day, but we wanted to be sure they were caught up with their school work when they came back. So we are technically penalized for being honest and trying to make the kids and their teachers as prepared as they possibly could be.

My parents wanted to give us all a trip that we'd always remember them by. To try to juggle 12 peoples' schedules, unfortunately, involved taking the kids out of school for four days. We'd heard so many horror stories of people who went to Disney in summer or on regular school breaks, and my parents really wanted this to be perfect. They got exactly what they wished for. We had perfect weather and very light crowds. My brother was talking about the trip with a friend, saying how wonderful it was, the friend had nothing but awful things to say about their trip, which they took over spring break last year. He said the crowds were ridiculous, to the point that they missed much of what they'd come to see/do. They spent all that money and had a terrible time.

We're all thrilled that we took the trip, and even if it were to cost me a $25 fine, it would be so worth it. My kids' teachers and the school administrators were supportive of it, saying family time is so important, especially with grandparents, and my entire family has a memory that will last forever, and that's what counts to me.

 

Dianne I can see how this would be a hot topic on the Disney boards, it is always a hard decision to make.

We have been to Disney three times in the past with my older two, each time pulling them from school for a week, we, like Amy, always gave teachers far in advance notice had the kids either stay IA the week prior to do the work ahead of schedule, plus bring some on the plane to do. It never seemed to hurt them academically or otherwise. I have always worked in areas either in hospital or office where the nursing staff is limited and vacations go by seniority and it was near impossible to get the week of kids school breaks off because senior staff always got them, so to get any vacation we did the best we could under circumstances.

We have actually booked our Disney trip for next year, and like Dianne are going down for the Christmas Party and will be pulling the boys out of school for a week.

Cathy good point about sports players, I remember Carissa's senior year they took a school chorus trip to Tennessee and pulled over 70 students for 3 days the week prior to the spring break.

 

QUOTE(jxnsmama @ Nov 19 2007, 08:19 PM) [snapback]502740[/snapback]
My SIL called me today and told me a truancy officer had just showed up at her door.

When my folks took the whole family to Disneyworld a few weeks ago, it involved four days unexcused absence for each of their five grandchildren (SIL's two sons and my three) because vacation is considered unexcused in our district. I warned Jackson's principal about it an entire year in advance, plus SIL and I sent notes to the kids' teachers and school offices six weeks in advance, and we worked with the teachers to ensure all homework was completed before we even went on vacation. Our kids worked their bottoms off doing extra homework so they'd be all caught up when they got back.

And still, with all that preparation and notice and cooperation, the truancy officer came to SIL's house to give her a verbal warning. She said the notes to teachers and advance work on homework made absolutely no difference, and that she could fine them $25, but she would let them off the hook this time.

The truancy rate here is one of the highest in IL. Wouldn't you think that officer would be better employed tracking down the parents of chronic truants, rather than those of children who've gotten to 4th and 7th grade with no unexcused absences (and, in fact, often perfect attendance) until now? :angry: Good grief, it's not like we've made a habit of this!

In our county, you'd have received a warning letter from the truancy judge. The same thing happened to my neighbor when she was gone a few years ago for her sister's wedding and Thanksgiving (it was all in the same time frame). When she was arranging the time off with teachers and admins at her kids' schools, they all gave her their blessing but warned her she'd get a notice to appear in court. Personally, I think it's ridiculous and so does our former elementary school principal (she has since retired). She felt it took the decision-making out of her hands as she knew already which families were attendance problems and which were conscientious. But she absolutely had/has no control over approving or denying time off from school. All absences are unexcused unless accompanied by a dr's note or it's a student's religious holiday (like Rosh Hashannah). If you go over the limit per semester (5 days), you will hear from the truancy judge, plain and simple. Vacation time is definitely NOT considered an excused absence here in Knox Co. The only absences excused other than dr's note sick days would be any type of school-related activity (for example, a trip for a sporting event, the trips all of my kids have taken with various school groups, like to Florida for TAG, or to Charleston for TAG or to Chattanooga for TSA).

 

Wow, I am speechless. I have never hear of such a thing. I don't even know if our district has a truancy officer. I have no idea how many unexcused absences my kids get a year. My kids will be missing a total of 4 1/2 days this year for vacations. Two are for a trip to Disney the other 2 1/2 are for an out of town trip for their Uncle's wedding. I had no idea about the wedding prior to scheduling the Disney trip. I have already let my kids teachers know they will be missing two days in late January and all my daughters teacher said was, "Good for you. Everyone should make the time to take a vacation now and then."

Maybe next time you should see some type of therapist with an MD at the end of their name. Then they can declare the vacation a medical necessity and your kids can have an excused absence.

I am not going to be able to stop thinking about this today!

 

In general I think the not excused without a doc note is stupid. Kayla and Kyle each missed one day (different days, different years) of preschool during their 2 years in that school (which I think it pretty good since it was their first exposure to other children, they had never been to daycare or anything). Neither time did I take them to the doctor and I think it is ludicrous that I might in the future feel like I have to in order for the absence to be excused. My child has a cold or a fever or has a productive cough for one day that I think it is best that they stay home and I am forced to go to the doctor and pay the copay just to be excused? Sorry, dumb!!

Another thing I think is dumb is that K&K's school can not give out tylenol or advil without a doctor note but in the same paragraph it talks about prescription drugs and for that you just have to supply the meds. Does that make sense? Shouldn't they require a doc note for the prescribed drugs? Nope........just for the over the counter ones.

Sorry Amy, I don't know why I just went off like that.......................

 

QUOTE
All absences are unexcused unless accompanied by a dr's note or it's a student's religious holiday


Kim, do you mean if a child stays home for one day with a fever, they need a doctor's note to get back in school? Doesn't that force parents to send sick kids to school when they'd be better of resting in bed? I'm already pretty tough about letting the kids stay home, and if I had to try to get a doctor's note to get them back in (it's nearly impossible to get an appt. with our family doc on short notice), I'm afraid I'd be sending them with anything less than 103 fever and pneumonia. What a pain!

I think vacations should be at the discretion of the parent/teacher/principal. If the child is doing well academically, has not had chronic truancy problems, and has made all efforts to complete missed work, the truancy office should not be involved.

 

QUOTE(MamaKim @ Nov 20 2007, 04:41 AM) [snapback]503106[/snapback]
The only absences excused other than dr's note sick days would be any type of school-related activity (for example, a trip for a sporting event, the trips all of my kids have taken with various school groups, like to Florida for TAG, or to Charleston for TAG or to Chattanooga for TSA).
Now, see, that's a double standard. If students can go on trips with the school, why can't they go with their families? And for a kid who is excused to go play with a ball for the school, how is that a justifiable absence from his/her academics?!

 

Wow, that is crazy. Our county lets you have 5 vacation days a year and they are excused absences. We went to Disney last Dec. and took my oldest DD out of school for 5 days and I sent a note saying we were on vacation in Disney World, and they were counted as excused absences. Now if we had taken anymore vacation days after that, they would not have been excused, but up to 5 a year are here.

 

QUOTE(2gherkins @ Nov 20 2007, 03:13 PM) [snapback]503265[/snapback]
Now, see, that's a double standard. If students can go on trips with the school, why can't they go with their families? And for a kid who is excused to go play with a ball for the school, how is that a justifiable absence from his/her academics?!


I don't think its a double standard. If they are traveling with a school sponsored activity, how can the school charge them an unexcused absence? That would be like being penalized for participating in something the school itself sanctioned.

I was one of the "kids excused to go play with a ball for the school"...we were expected to be academically responsible or we weren't allowed to be on the team. Meaning: If we cut class we couldn't play. If we weren't in school that day we couldn't play. If we were failing our class(es) we were put on probation just like everyone else...and we couldn't play. You learn quick to show up in class and get the work done on time, or you don't play. It was really good discipline actually. This was true for people involved in all sorts of school sanctioned activities (musicals, etc).

I don't agree with some of what people are posting regarding schools requiring doctors notes and excused/unexcused absences. I'm with Diane on the doctors notes. Whatever happened to common sense? If a kid is sick, they should stay home. For the un/excused issue...why not come up with a set number of allowable unexcused absences and a list of things deemed "excused". Things like religious observances, school functions, sickness, etc would be excused...just a note from the parent required to legitimize it. (IMHO most family trips would be unexcused. Not saying they aren't worthy of taking, just that it shouldn't be an excused absence.) Truancy Officers could then focus on the kids who have missed umpteen days of school rather than those who are there 99.9999% of the time.

 

In general, if a child is sick for a day or two, a doctors note isn't required. If they are sick longer, than one is required, but if your child is out of school sick for 3 or more day, you should have them at the doctor anyway. BUT if a child is called in sick one or two days every month, they are going to start asking for a doctors note. This is because there are A LOT of kids who cut school and call themselves in sick--especially at the HS level. Does that make more sense? For instance, Marcus was out for 2 days with Strep throat this year, and I didn't need a note--although getting one was easy since we were at the doctors. But if he was chronically absent, they would have asked for the note.

One of the reasons I have a hard time with kids being pulled out of school has to do with my personal experiences. As a special ed teacher I generally had 4-6 kids in my resource room on a given day, so one kid out, really messed up the entire class--especially if that child was out for a week. Also, my students were kids who were struggling to begin with, and couldn't afford the time out of school. I also know kids who were in danger of failing the year simply based on absences--at the High School level.

The end result is, you know your kids, and what they are capable of. If you choose to take them out of school for a family vacation, you need to look at the consequences vs. benefit. If you can live with the consequences, then go for it. Like Amy said, she will gladly pay the $25 because of her experience, and that is all I am talking about.

 

QUOTE
Meaning: If we cut class we couldn't play.
Sure it is not acceptable for anyone to cut class but what about the times you weren't in class because the bus to the away game had to leave before the end of school in order to make it on time? What makes that absence from class any different than a parent taking a child out of class? That is where I am thinking the double standard comes into play. In other words it is ok for a child to get out of class to hop a bus to the next game but it is not ok for the child to hop a plane for family vaca?

 

:shok:

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it's the school's business whether I take my kids on vacation or they stay home sick. If they keep up with their work, stay out of my business. I'm going to be in constant battle with the school if they are always questioning where my kids are. Wow, I can really see why parents want to homeschool. School attendance isn't even mandatory, hence why homeschooling is permitted.

I'm starting to regret our decision to return to the US for the boys to start school.

 

QUOTE(Renald99 @ Nov 20 2007, 09:58 AM) [snapback]503523[/snapback]
I don't think its a double standard. If they are traveling with a school sponsored activity, how can the school charge them an unexcused absence? That would be like being penalized for participating in something the school itself sanctioned.
It is a double standard. Unless the entire grade (i.e. fifth grade going to outdoor camp, as part of the school's curriculum) goes on the trip, the select kids on the trip are missing class. If vacations have to be off the school schedule, so should extra-curricular trips.

QUOTE(Renald99 @ Nov 20 2007, 09:58 AM) [snapback]503523[/snapback]
I was one of the "kids excused to go play with a ball for the school"...we were expected to be academically responsible or we weren't allowed to be on the team. Meaning: If we cut class we couldn't play. If we weren't in school that day we couldn't play. If we were failing our class(es) we were put on probation just like everyone else...and we couldn't play. You learn quick to show up in class and get the work done on time, or you don't play. It was really good discipline actually. This was true for people involved in all sorts of school sanctioned activities (musicals, etc).
So make kids who take a few days to go on vacation be academically responsible, too. If they don't have the grades, their vacation is not excused. My son is also 'one of the "kids excused to go play with a ball for the school".' He's missed more classes due to meets and games than any family vacations we've taken. I'm grateful the few days he's been out of school spending time with his family have been approved.

 

QUOTE(Mellizos @ Nov 20 2007, 02:16 PM) [snapback]503652[/snapback]
:shok:

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it's the school's business whether I take my kids on vacation or they stay home sick. If they keep up with their work, stay out of my business. I'm going to be in constant battle with the school if they are always questioning where my kids are. Wow, I can really see why parents want to homeschool. School attendance isn't even mandatory, hence why homeschooling is permitted.

I'm starting to regret our decision to return to the US for the boys to start school.


Cathy, actually school attendance is somewhat mandated. Public schools are required to have a total of 180 days. If less than half the students are present on a given day, that day doesn't count--the main reason for delayed openings and snow days for bad weather. Think of it this way, you have a team of 20 people working on a project. On the first week, 2 people are out due to a vacation, on the next week another 2 are out, etc. The job gets difficult to get done, since someone is always catching up, and others are trying to do the job of the missing people. A classroom is similar. If every parent pulls their child out for a vacation--keep in mind there are a total of 45 weeks in the school year, and with a small class size of 20 kids, that would mean a child would be out of school for one of every 2 weeks of the year. It makes it difficult to keep going when there are so many absences. Not everyone is as good as the moms here are about making sure their kids do the work and keep up while gone.

 

QUOTE(jxnsmama @ Nov 20 2007, 10:01 AM) [snapback]503256[/snapback]
Kim, do you mean if a child stays home for one day with a fever, they need a doctor's note to get back in school? Doesn't that force parents to send sick kids to school when they'd be better of resting in bed? I'm already pretty tough about letting the kids stay home, and if I had to try to get a doctor's note to get them back in (it's nearly impossible to get an appt. with our family doc on short notice), I'm afraid I'd be sending them with anything less than 103 fever and pneumonia. What a pain!

I think vacations should be at the discretion of the parent/teacher/principal. If the child is doing well academically, has not had chronic truancy problems, and has made all efforts to complete missed work, the truancy office should not be involved.
No, it means the child can stay home with a 'mommy note' but that day counts towards the five unexcused absences allowed per semester. If the child continues to be sick for another day or so, and you take them to the doctor then and get a note, then all those days become excused absences. Am I making sense? But if it's an occasional "my child is sick" with a tummy virus or something and they do not go to the doctor, that day is an unexcused absence. This is a big reason why we don't take our kids out for anything because if they are sick, they need those five days, just in case.

 

QUOTE(Renald99 @ Nov 20 2007, 12:58 PM) [snapback]503523[/snapback]
I don't think its a double standard. If they are traveling with a school sponsored activity, how can the school charge them an unexcused absence? That would be like being penalized for participating in something the school itself sanctioned.

I agree. If it's a school-sanctioned activity, then of course it should be excused. When my child goes on a school field trip for a class such as when Sean went to band competition last year, by all means it should be excused. No double standard there as far as I see it. Attending these types of activities is actually part of the student's grade in some cases. If they are required to participate, then why should the school count that as unexcused? Our school system has implemented a fall break, a two week winter break, and a spring break to help accomodate people's vacation schedules. Families are expected to try and make their trips during scheduled time off. The only exception to this are seniors in high school who are allowed a few days for college visits (3?).

 

I don't know what our district's policy on this is, to be honest. I've never been one to plan vacations during the school year, but I've thought about doing it. I think if your child is able to keep up with the coursework, they should be allowed to have some personal days for whatever reason. I remember Logan's 5th grade teacher hated it when people took their kids out for a day to go to Disneyland and said there was too much going on for them to miss school and they should go on the weekend. My feeling on that is 1) Disneyland is a lot more crowded on the weekend so that's why a mid-week visit is more appealing and 2) If there's so much going on during the school year that one day just can't be missed, how do kids who get sick manage? My kids are rarely sick, so they don't miss much if any school due to that. I also think there are educational and life benefits from taking family trips and sometimes the benefit outweighs the downfall and it's just not always possible to schedule those things into the scheduled school vacation time. When I was a kid, we had to be practically at death's door before my mom would let us stay home sick and we didn't take vacations during the school year except once when we went to Mexico as a family in February of my 4th grade year. That's something I will always remember.

 

We've pulled the kids out for a week four times (once per year) thus far (all but third grade, and not this year, though I'm not sure if there's a "yet" hanging in the air), and the teachers and principal have all been completely supportive every time.

Sharon, not sure about where you live, but here, the decision for a snow day has nothing to do with the day "counting" as a school day, and everything to do with student (and parent, for the drivers!) safety. The buses here start their rounds at 6:30 AM or so, and if the back roads haven't been plowed, it simply isn't save to hold school. In the next town over from us, which has more of a "downtown" district, they cancel school if the sidewalks haven't been plowed, as that leaves the kids walking in the streets with the cars slip-sliding around. Last year, that town DIDN'T cancel school on a day of a big storm. The Superintendent's office heard about it for MONTHS afterward.

 

It does have to do with safety of the busses--that is true! But I have also worked in districts without bussing--the entire town is 1 square mile, and if the weather was bad enough that they didn't think enough kids could make it, they would cancel. Also, there are occasions when schools get closed due to sickness--this is because they can't get enough teachers and students into the building for it to "count", so they had to call the day. I remember a TS member posting that last year.

 

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see how one child's absence costs the school money? Isn't it the taxpayers that pay for schools? And even in the case of private schools, the tuition isn't affected by one vacation day.

 

"I don't see how one child's absence costs the school money"

Most public schools work on a system where they get a certain amount of money for each student in attendance each day. At our school, as long as your child is in school when attendance is taken, they get the money for the day. If I send my child to school, then take her out at 9:00am, they still get the money for the day. Yes, it's the taxpayers paying for the schools, but the districts still dole out the money according to certain rules and restrictions.

 

I still pay my school taxes even if my kid is out. and my SIL pays and she homeschools, my dad pays and I have been out of high school since 1990 Plus my kid's school does several fundraisers every year AND I have paid for the one field trip my 5th grader has gone on this year. so when they say that everytime a kid is out they loose money - how? I do not pull my kids out to play very often but if I decide to because of a great opportunity then I will - I don't want to loose money either and by taking them to a place like Disney - you would if it was too crowded and no one could enjoy themselves. A vacation like that is one those kids will remember forever --those 4 days in school will just blend in with the rest.

don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in sending kids to school everyday but we are not guaranteed tomorrow and I also want to have as much fun and make as many memories with my bunch as possible.

Our school district does "year round" school - we get 1 week off every 9 weeks and 1 week at Thanksgiving, our summer is shorter but it is nice because we do have more time that is not everyone's vacation time to play with.

 

My sister also pays taxes and has no children. There are all kinds of things that are paid for by the taxes we pay that we may not personally take advantage of. It's just the way our system works. Our school also has fundraisers, but those are run by PTA and are used to raise money to compensate for things schools just can't afford to offer anymore because of budget cuts. Just tonight my principal emailed me and asked that at our next PTA meeting we discuss the PTA paying part of the cost of a choir program. PTA also helps pay for the school P.E. program which isn't fully covered by the school. Each grade level is allotted one bus for a field trip during the school year, however, one bus will not hold an entire grade level for some grades, so another bus is needed and the parents are usually asked to help pay for it. I don't really know what happens to the money that a school doesn't receive when a child is absent. It's probably just part of the whole budget. They expect a certain amount of absences and that is worked out as less money going to that school.

 

Wow! I've just read through this and I must say I've never heard of any of this before! Maybe things are different here in Canada or maybe because we run a private school and my children go there. When I was in school though we sometimes took holidays during the school year and I don't know of any issues with that back then. My mom always made sure my sister and I did extra so we didn't miss any school work.

 

Its sad that they go after those who are actually caring for there kids and those who really need to intervention dont get anything....

This is one reason I decided to take mine out of public schools