And honestly if our school had some sort of crazy rule that demonstrated they were more interested in making sure I did what they told me than in whether or not my child was demonstrating academic competency, well let's just say we'd be high-tailing it out of that school in a hurry.
Actually all this talk had me curious so I checked our district's website for full disclosure. For our 2 elementary schools there is no set 'cap' on the number of absences (excused or unexcused) allowed and the need for 'make-up work' is determined by the child's teacher. In our middle school there is also no set cap on the number of absences allowed and, again, there is no differentiation between 'excused' and 'unexcused' absences. At the middle school level however make-up work is expected to be completed. In our high school students are allowed 10 absences per full year class/5 per half year. So actually that could mean more than 10 days a year since classes don't actually meet 5X a week (our school has longer class sessions 2-3X per week). Again absences are not subdivided according to whether they are excused or unexcused. An absence is simply an absence and aphone call the morning of the absence followed by a note from home is all that is necessary - no doctor's notes, no obituaries, no nothin'. While it does say that loss of credit "may" occur if a student exceeds the 10/5 day policy, it also goes on to say that this decision can be appealed to the principal. What a breath of fresh air. Apparently our schools use alittle old-fashioned common sense
I'd say that falls under the realm of 'common sense' wouldn't you? It's called making decisions based on individual circumstances and it really is a great way to make decisions. While I never denied certain rules of play are necessary and make perfect sense, as far as such blanket policies are concerned.............just say no. More often than not they're simply a cop out for lazy administrators who are unfortunately sometimes more interested in protecting their sense of superiority than in educating our children. 
Did I ever suggest that if a parent sends in a note for an absence of a 100 days that they should be excused because they are the parent?
WOW WOW WOW!
I am sitting here reading this.... I find it amazing that people want to argue.
The policy is the policy! Its not like arguing about it is gonna change it. NEWS FLASH!!! Insulting someone online doesnt change the policies either. There is no way someone can know every school, city, county and state policy.
Each school system is different, private schools SEEM more lax the public.
Some schools let you make up the work, others give the kids zeros.
Some schools with excuse the absence, while others will not.
if YOU decide to take your kids out of school. check the policy first. At that point deal with YOUR adult decisions..
well said!I hope you were being facetious but just in case................Did I ever suggest that if a parent sends in a note for an absence of a 100 days that they should be excused because they are the parent?
All I did was cite the policies for our district. If you don't think they are strict enough I suggest you take it up with them not me.
And for the record no one is saying their "special children" should be exempt from the "rule" that everyone else must follow. Rather they are saying there should be no rule period and therefore it should apply to no one. You are right, my children are no more special than yours in this regard. Therefore, should you decide to 'challenge' such a policy and take your family on a vacation while school is in session, you'll get nothing but support from this side of the fence
Honestly, there really should be a rule here that people must demonstrate competence in the area of reading comprehension before are allowed to comment on other peoples' posts.
Lots of popcorn for this thread!!!
The "you" wasn't specifically directed at you. I just read a lot of posts where parents said their child can miss when they see fit. Personally, I don't care what your school district says. I only care about the one my children attend. What you do is your own business. There is no need to 'challenge' such a policy as there are no specific # of days stated. I am pulling my child out for a vacation but I am within the guidelines. I investigated school in great detail before I sent my DD. I wanted to choose one whose handbook I agreed with.
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Honestly, there really should be a rule here that people must demonstrate competence in the area of reading comprehension before they are allowed to comment on other peoples' posts.
How exactly is that an insult? I've been talking about common sense all along. That's kind of the crux of my argument isn't it? Using common sense as opposed to looking to the 'handbook' to make every decision. I did in no way suggest the pp didn't have common sense if that's what you are trying to imply. Please.
And by the way, no, I never did say that 10 days in a row would not be cause for a moment of pause. It was the OP that was talking about two weeks. And they are her kids aren't they? She's not taking my kids out of school for two weeks is she
It is awfully rude to imply that other people don't have good reading comprehension.
I could be wrong but I'm guessing the insult she was referring to was the above quote.
I'm also guessing that her point was that a common sense approach won't work because people will differ in what they feel is common sense. Some people will think that ten days absence is excessive, others will feel it's acceptable. That's why it's important for the school system to come up with a policy and enforce it for everyone. That's also why it's important for those who feel the policy is too restrictive to try to get the school system to change the policy.
I hesitate to jump in here, so I'm just going to give information, rather than opinions...My ds attends the oldest public school in the United States (375 years old!), and if he misses more than 3 days a semester he automatically fails that grade. Just to put it in perspective...we chose this school and worked diligently as a family to have him qualify for entry. We knew the rules, and we will live by them. My ds had been in private school until this year, and we also knew the rules at his previous school, and lived by them as well. He could have missed more days and not failed there, but he would not have access to the caliber of education he has at his new, public school.
I should add that this is not the policy for the entire school district, my son is in a school with a rigorous curriculum and very competitive entrance standards. Everything about this school is more intensive, so I suppose the attendance standards also fall under that category.
Maria
Yes, It would be nice to be able to make decisions based on individual circumstances, but what are we supposed to do when we are court mandated to use blanket attendance ploicies. Based on lawsiut judgments it has ben legislated that if we are to be able to police the attendance of ANY student we must set a numerical cutoff for absences for ALL students and there can be no exceptions. We really are backed into a legal corner here. To make decisions based on individual circumstances would be breaking the law. We are required to hold ALL students to the same, quantified standard for attendance.Honestly I don't even want to touch this oneI hear you but no, I'm not goin' there. Yes schools most certainly CAN start judging situations on a case by case basis but the truth is to do so would require too much time, energy and effort. Just too time consuming period. Much much easier to just make these ridiculous blanket policies. In my opinion that's the problem with society in general today. We are creating generations of people who don't even know how to think for themselves. Don't even understand the meaning of common sense. Defend it if you want. Not me. We are headed into scary unchartered territory with this way of thinking.
And I've never suggested that a school should excuse one child's absence while not excusing another's. I'm simply suggesting we should be letting the child's performance determine his fate. If a kid can go on a vacation and still keep up he should pass. If not he should fail. Seems pretty simple to me. Teachers can allow for make-up without any real increase in effort on their part. That's making a decision and accepting full responsibility for the consequences. Just failing a child because his family took him out for a vacation.................regardless of whether he knows the material or not...................that's just wrong.
I do my darndest to teach my students to think for themselves.I consider it my primary goal, over and above teaching content. EVERY good teacher shgould be. If yours are not, I would consider changing schools, becuase the good ones are focusing on critical thinking and reasoning. Yes, anyone can read from a book and, given enough study, learn to parrot what it says, but that doesn't mean they have a true understanding of the subject matter and can apply it to new and different situations. That is where the role of the teacher comes in.OMG are we kidding? Does anyone really think that schools teach children to think for themselves?????? (someone pick me up off the floor
No disrespect intended but that is just scary.
And as far as all your questions re: the supposed books........I'm sorry but you clearly misunderstood what you read in my previous post. There was no suggestion that society should do away with formal education and rely solely on books for knowledge
