A vent: taking dd out of school for WDW

[meandtheguys2]

Just as an aside, I am planning on homeschooling my daughter. We live here in FL 30 minutes from WDW and are there all the time. I plan on creating a lot of homeschool curriculum around WDW.

That would be fun living so close! You have the chance to do what others say they do! Have a load of fun!

 

[sleepyone]

In our district, I believe a trip can only be excused if it is an "educational" trip. Therefore, a letter such as this one would be perfect and would be required if you have any hopes of getting an excused absence. At WDW, there are specific opportunities for learning, if you choose to accept them. That's the point of the letter, not to hoodwink the teachers. It may be form over substance. It may not. That depends on the parents and the children. Do they take the opportunity to learn something (in a fun way) at World Showcase, AK, etc. or just ride rides all day, everyday?

Personally, I don't see any difference between a trip to WDW and the "educational" field trips taken by our elementary classes. They spend the day at some local museum, animal park, historical site, etc. They make it fun with a small slightly-academic activity but it's mostly just kids having fun out of the classroom. I know because I've been the chaperone on every trip my child has taken. Believe me, it may be "educational" in the larger sense, but not a lot of traditional "learning" is taking place. But I bet every one of those trips is documented on paper as an "educational" trip or there's no way the District would permit it. Who knows, those same teachers who would laugh at your letter may have written the documentation for such a field trip?

To the OP, I don't think your letter was over-the-top. It said what you had to say to get the trip "excused". It didn't go on and on or claim that the only reason for the trip was to educate the child. The teacher had no way of knowing whether you meant what you said or not. She shouldn't have snickered in front of your daughter, if that's what she did. What do these teachers expect? That you would write "We're going to WDW and my child won't be learning a thing while we're gone. By the way, please grant her an excused absence for educational purposes."


Jackie

I just received a note from dd's teacher, her absence WILL be excused.

 

[Anne MN]

We took our DD's who are in 4th grade out for a week in sept this year- school had NO problem with it.
one DD had a lot to make up (they put her in acelerated math- was not supose to be)
other DD was just told to "have fun" (it was her WISH TRIP)
about a month after we got back the 2nd DD had a DR note signed to be home- still having teacher come everyday for 2 hours ( she is very behind still) she has been out most of the year for medical reasons, so she is "almost home schooled"
the tutor we have is great- DD also has an IEP, so the district has to follow specific guidelines, and i still have to "remind" them of things. their funds are tied to her IEP-
If she goes back at the beginning of next school year, we will probably go vacation in late fall- will let teachers know and they can catch up when they get back

 

[MomOfMonkeys]

My 12yo DS went to DW with his Science club this past fall. It was completely educational. They had behind the scenes tours, as well as educational tasks, etc. There is a tour company based out of Orlando that arranges these. He missed a whole week of school, and had the best time. I believe they went to Water Works as well. My DS is now expecting us as a family to do the same tour, LOL. This particular club does this every year, for each grade in his middle school.

So, yes, Disney World is a very "educational" experience, (as well as a fun and family oriented one)

P.S. We bought the Disney travel books, the ones for adults and kids, as well as the trivia one. The kids are already reading up and taking notes for our trip next month!

 

[meandtheguys2]

My 12yo DS went to DW with his Science club this past fall. It was completely educational. They had behind the scenes tours, as well as educational tasks, etc. There is a tour company based out of Orlando that arranges these. He missed a whole week of school, and had the best time. I believe they went to Water Works as well. My DS is now expecting us as a family to do the same tour, LOL. This particular club does this every year, for each grade in his middle school.

So, yes, Disney World is a very "educational" experience, (as well as a fun and family oriented one)

P.S. We bought the Disney travel books, the ones for adults and kids, as well as the trivia one. The kids are already reading up and taking notes for our trip next month!

Yes, it is educational if take a lot of time and plan an educational visit. There was a ton of planning and expense that obviously went into that visit with the extra tours etc. That is not how most people vacation. Learning to say "hello" in Japanese just doesn't cut it or looking at the fruits and veggies growing in "THe Land". If someone believes that what they normally do for vacation is equivalent to what a child would learn in school for a day, then I would be investigating the school.

 

[RWinNOLA]

In junior high and high school, which is all I can tell you about b/c this is all that I have personal experience with, in many states, as someone posted, teachers have absolutely no control over excusing absences or not.

Doctor's notes, illness notes, or death-in-the-family notes are turned in to the office, and the data entry person goes through them and types in the pre-determined codes for the excuses and posts them to the student's report.

This report is directly linked to the state's education department, which is why there are predetermined absence codes. Schools are assigned values based on their average daily attendance numbers, which is then used as part of a formula to label schools as "in decline," which is a label that eventually leads to school closure, or even allows a school to collect extra money from the state if their "numbers" are good. Federal funds are often based on attendance numbers, also.

If an absence is labeled "unexcused," the child gets no grade for any assignment/test that has been missed.

(With the competition for grades and getting into the "right college," could you imagine the uproar if a child got to miss tests and assignments b/c they were at Disneyworld and got the same grade as students who were there? ) Just thinking about that for a minute....

This is just a look from the other side....teachers are not the enemy or the bad guys (usually). You can see some of the pressure that they are under. Oftentimes, they are caught between irate parents and administrations and state departments worried about numbers...when all they want to do is teach those kids.

So, if you are looking for someone at whom to be angry because you don't have full control of your child's time, you are looking in the wrong place. IF you blame the teachers, you are shooting the messenger.

I noticed you are from Louisiana. I live in southeast Louisiana and just yesterday registered my DS, 5 for kindergarten in the upcoming school year.

We have a trip planned to WDW for the second week in December. I picked this timeframe because my wife will be out of school (working on masters) and we also have a DD, age 3 (at time of trip) who will be taking her first trip to WDW and I felt this would be the last opportunity for quite some time to take a family trip to WDW when it's not so hot and when the crowds aren't so bad as I don't plan to pull DS out of school for vacations as he gets older and his education becomes more advanced.

So I figured that it's Kindergarten and it shouldn't be too much of an issue to take my DS out for one week to take a family vacation. But I was quite surprised at the response I got from the principal when I mentioned that we were planning a family vacation during school time. She basically told me that we should plan all of our vacations around the school year. I understand that this is probably the answer she has to give and knowing little about my DS at this point, could not speculate as to whether he it would be too difficult for him to catch up on work that he misses. But I keep getting back to the fact that it's kindergarten and it just surprises me that an educator would discourage a week long family vacation. I can't imagine anything that could happen during this week in kindergarten that would be more valuable to my child than a family vacation in WDW.

Anyway, just wanted to chime in since this has been on my mind since yesterday. When DS starts school in August, I plan to discuss our vacation plans with his teacher and let her know that we will be more than willing to take work with us, make it up when he returns or do whatever works best for his teacher. But, I don't plan to cancel our vacation plans.

 

[Nora94]

when I was just out of college with my degree in elementary education, I visited Epcot. That was the best part of Disney! They had a whole room set up JUST FOR TEACHERS and it had lesson plans you could take and use. If you are going there, you can hop in, teacher or not, and pick up some cool lessons to teach while at Disney. Every subject was covered.

My dd is being taken out of kindergarten for 6 school days starting on Friday. We are going to do 2 things - write a Disney ABC book (she will take Digital pics for each letter's thing, then we will print them out and make a book when we get home) and also we are going to find as many hidden Mickey's as we can and she will document each one with her camara. We will count them all up when we are done with our stay. These were my ideas and her teacher thought they were great.

I would not have written a letter like yours, but just cause it ain't my style, ya know? And as a teacher I would have laughed too, honestly. Not in a mean or ha- ha way, but more of a cute, look at this, way.

Nora

 

[liveforthemagic]

I just sent my kids to school with their notes today. a 1st and 4th grader. They will be missing the last 7 days of school. One of those days is Field Day--when they do no work at all--and the last day is a half day. They go to mass, collect their grades and come home.

Me and DH are self employed and our busiest months are June - September--we just can't close up our office during those times. We don't get spring break and to be honest, I can't afford DW during peak time at Christmas break. Plus, grammy and grandpap need a visit sometime....

So my note just explained that we picked the end of the school year hoping that most lessons were wrapping up. Also explained that we were trying very hard to balance the education of our children with spending quality family time together before they are too old.

My note didn't hit on anything educational about our trip--but I did offer to have my kids complete extra work before they go or to do a project to turn in on their last day.

We'll see what happens tonight....We're going no matter what. But the guilt...oh the guilt.

 

[liveforthemagic]

Ok. So the 1st grade teacher just laughed and told my DD to have a wonderful time.

The 4th grade teacher told DS she would have to get back to him. Hmmmm. She loves projects....I am starting see one in my future.

Oh well. Once its done, just another reason to have a great time at DW!

 

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

Frankly I'd be worried. What an imbecile of a teacher. I know that sounds mean, but to LAUGH at something a parent wrote, in front of their child!??! That is so wrong on so many levels...

Personally I would speak to the school principal and ask why the teacher felt it necessary to "mock" your letter in front of your child. I'd be very concerned with someone like that teaching my future kids.

Now that doesn't apply if it was a laughing in a "cute look at this way" as another poster suggested. But it really irks me when a teacher can't look at someones vacation options, knowing that they are planning on TEACHING their child something during that time, and understand that the kid may just learn more there than they will in class.

 

[aanthony03]

Just curious for those of you who have taken your child or children out for a WDW trip, did the school ever say that they will hold the child back for missing school? If so, is that legal?

 

[crisi]

Its legal in some states. Some states have mandatory failure policies, if you kid misses X days, the teachers CAN'T pass them. But usually X is pretty high.

We've passed these laws because of the cry over inadequate education - kids in high school who can't read, money being sunk into the schools that people feel is going nowhere. Well, they can't learn if they aren't there - regardless of how great the teacher is or how much money we throw at the schools. I have a friend who teaches who talks about kids who miss 30 or 40% of the school days - or more! And then their parents complain when the kid doesn't pass.

 

[Tricialiv]

We are going in December, missing 1 week. DS will be in 2nd grade. DD pre-school. I am not worried about the schools take on the trip unless DS gets sick. In Feb he had pnemonia and missed 7 days. I am hoping for a very healthy first semester! But they are kids for such a short time, the wonderful family togetherness is what is important in the long run. Not a weekly spelling and math test. But we do make up all work that is given-in a very timely manner.

 

[RWinNOLA]

Its legal in some states. Some states have mandatory failure policies, if you kid misses X days, the teachers CAN'T pass them. But usually X is pretty high.

We've passed these laws because of the cry over inadequate education - kids in high school who can't read, money being sunk into the schools that people feel is going nowhere. Well, they can't learn if they aren't there - regardless of how great the teacher is or how much money we throw at the schools. I have a friend who teaches who talks about kids who miss 30 or 40% of the school days - or more! And then their parents complain when the kid doesn't pass.

I believe this is true for Louisiana and the number is 18 absences (excused or unexcused) which seems kind of low to me. Especially when that number also counts for kindergarten. If they miss a week for vacation, you kind of need to cross your fingers that they have a relatively healthy year.

 

[mommykds]

Our school district also considers vacations to be "unexcused" & if a child misses a test/assignment they are NOT allowed to make it up & are given a zero for that test/assignment which is figured into their grade average. I think this policy stinks!

I am taking my kids (DD 9, DS 6, DD 4) out of school for 3 days in October to go to WDW. I thought about lying to the teacher & calling in absent but I know my kids will be too excited to tell everyone about their trip when they return so that would just make me look like a fool

So I am just going to tell the school the day before we leave since they do not need advance warning to make up work packets which they will not do.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DS is currently in 3rd grade. We took him out for two days in January to go to WDW. I wrote notes to his teachers to let them know what we were doing, but I never said it would be educational. Our distict states that vacations are unexcused, and more than 3 unexcused days will result in prosecution for the parents. His teachers excused the days and didn't give him any work to make up. His grades for the marking period were fine.

In the Fall he will be in 4th grade and we are taking him out for 4 days. DH started a new job in March and his vacation won't be awarded until mid-September. He has to use it, in a one week block (not a day here and there), prior to holiday time in November. DS has ONE day off from school between Labor Day and Thanksgiving so we are going to WDW the weekend before and coming home the weekend after that ONE day. Between DH's work schedule and DS turning 10 in January (one more trip before he becomes an "adult" by Disney standards) we figured a week in October is our best bet.

Yes, the District may choose to prosecute us on truancy charges. Now THAT would be a learning experience for DS!! But I am not going to try to pass it off as an educational trip. I don't think DS learned a darn thing while we were there in January because he is too impatient! I can cetainly see opportunities to learn, but my DS isn't one to snatch those opportunities. He is an A/B student. Taking him out of school for four days is something we decided to do regardless of the consequences. He won't be 9 forever. We want to do this while he will still appreciate it. Luckily I work for an attorney, so if prosecution is the path the District chooses to go down at least I will have representation!

 

[crazymomof4]

Our distict states that vacations are unexcused, and more than 3 unexcused days will result in prosecution for the parents.

WOW that's a really tough policy!
Our school district allows up to 10 school days to be considered "excused" for vacation. A family is only permited one excused vacation per school year. I had to read this sectoin in the attendance policy over several times before I actually believed what I was reading! I feel very fortunate that we enjoy this leniency.

 

[corrinna]

I agree with all the teachers out there, being a teacher myself!!! I am just jealous that I can't take my vacation with that family......just b/c I know where they are going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MomOfMonkeys]

I guess we are very fortunate at our school. We have not only a spring break in March, we also have a "fall" break in October. So it is easy for us to schedule vacations during the school year.
When my husband was finishing up school, he had several classes in the Orlando area. The school was very tolerating of me taking the kiddies out for this. His job paid for the hotel down there, and thus made a few Disney trips affordable. We just did school work the days he was in class, then we planned a day for DW before we came home .

Maybe some schools are okay with somethings, it doesn't hurt to ask. I asked before we took them out, and I guess they didn't mind so much if we were making up the work then. Each school system is sooo different.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Just to clarify a bit...

The policy is "more than 3 unexcused absences in a grading period" OR more than 10 in a school year. But obviously by going to WDW for a week we will have DS out for four consecutive unexcused days in one grading period. Oh, and if he is tardy three times it counts as an unexcused absence. Which I don't quite get. If he is 15 minutes late three times how does that make an unexcused absence? And what work will he get zeros on if he doesn't miss anything? The whole system is quite silly. If you arrive at school by 10 AM you are "tardy" but if you are in your seat at 8 AM and leave for an appointment at 9:30 then you are counted present for the entire day.

Dallas public schools have more problems than they can shake a stick at. There are lots of drop-outs, lots of disinterested parents, etc. There is also a chronic lack of funding. But prosecuting me for going to WDW is EXACTLY the sort of thing they would choose to waste time and money on. So we'll see. I would like to think the policies are in place more for the older kids. Maybe there are truant elementary kids, but my DS isn't one of them. Perhaps they only prosecute as a last resort if a child is in danger of failing because of tardies and unexcused absences. I don't allow my son to stay home simply because I can't be bothered to get him to school each day! He arrives on time, in uniform, with his materials and homework, every day. Hopefully they won't bother to try to make an example out of me, but it IS the policy so they could if they wanted to.