Please help me with school excuse letter!

[quirty30]

With all due respect, if I were a teacher reading this, I would roll my eyes and be far less likely to want to accommodate your child by providing them with their missed work or allowing them to make up tests. It just seems entirely too phony to me. All teachers know what Disney World/Disneyland/DCL is... if they want the child to learn on vacation, they will provide them with the work that the rest of the class is doing.

I totally agree with this.

 

[DisneyFan907]

I believe this is being way overcomplicated. Just tell then you are going on vacation, ask for any missed work and go have fun. If they are younger sometimes the teacher will assign a special assignment in leu of other homework like a paper about what they learned in each place or a physical fitness log for a gym class, it is better that they know. Why would you lie? They aren't going to be like, "Sorry seeing you are going to have a family vacation I will not accommodate your request." Any teacher that cares about their students will give you the work in advance, or help when they get back if needed. I'm confused with all the evasiveness and nervousness about this issue!

 

[cruisecrasher]

Evasiveness and nervousness is brought on because here in Texas, I know of more than one set of parents that got charged with truancy (complete with court dates, paperwork and fines of up to $500/child and a case manager to drop in on your child at school) for vacations that the child's teacher and principal approved but the district turned in to the state.
All over money.
Withdrawing and re enrolling is simple and free, especially in comparison.

 

[CeCeGarrett]

If you are in Texas, I would ask if it would be better from the perspective of their attendance numbers and your child's attendance requirements if you withdrew the child and "homeschooled" while on vacation.

Thankfully, I homeschool and do not have to worry, but, I do know that Texas views home schools as a private school. Could be a win win for both your family and the school district.

 

[Summerl30]

We have told 2 out of the 3 teachers that we have a short family vacation planned and explained it was either that or September (which would be a worse time to take them out). My husband has exactly a week plus weekends that he can take in July and its the only good time to go camping. End of August too, but I need that to get ready for school. Between my hubby's work schedule and the kids' school schedule, its impossible to find a good time for family vacation. I even tried to capitalize on the "kids sail free" and dh said he couldn't take that much time off work in January.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cruisecrasher

School Excuse Sample Letter

DATE:

TO: [school official]

FROM:

RE: [students name and vacation dates]

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

The reason for [student]'s absence is that our family will be out of the state during this week. While we are gone, we will be visiting Walt Disney World. We believe that [student] will be learning many things during this trip and that his education will continue in his absence from school.

Some things [student] will learn about :

* Different cultures of the world, including architecture, language, diet, and dress, by visiting the different countries in the Epcot World Showcase (Japan, China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Canada, France, etc.) [student] will have the chance to explore the exhibits for each country and speak with natives from each country who work as cast members.

* American history by viewing the Hall of Presidents presentation in the Magic Kingdom and the American Adventure show in Epcot.

* Nature and conservation at Animal Kingdom.

* Science by exploring the Mission:Space ride in Epcot where he will have a chance to see and feel what it would be like to travel by rocket to Mars and by experiencing the Universe of Energy exhibit which teaches about fossil fuels, energy, and conservation.

* Economics by managing his own spending money and making budget decisions on how to spend his money.

[student] will also be learning about map reading by navigating in and to the different theme parks, as well as the resorts and water parks via the Disney bus system, sociological aspects of crowds including patterns and behavior, physics of the different rides, breakthroughs in technology at the Innoventions computer lab in Epcot, art and animation and the history of film, and mathematics.

We believe this will be a wonderful and educational experience for [student] and hope you agree not to charge him with unexcused absences as a result. If it is possible for [student] to take any assignments with him to be turned in when we return or to turn in before we leave any work that will be due while he is gone, please let us know as soon as possible.

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 Signature]


With all due respect, if I were a teacher reading this, I would roll my eyes and be far less likely to want to accommodate your child by providing them with their missed work or allowing them to make up tests. It just seems entirely too phony to me. All teachers know what Disney World/Disneyland/DCL is... if they want the child to learn on vacation, they will provide them with the work that the rest of the class is doing.

Most of Life's teachable moments happen outside of a classroom. And look at the comparable places they choose to take kids for field trips...places like the ZOO which is ummm similar to parts of Animal Kingdom! Only some would argue and say AK is better with conservation station. Or a field trip to a corn maze. I'd rather my child experience living with the land than a corn maze!! So I clearly disagree that there aren't learning opportunities in WDW! It's where my kids where first given the independence to travel a transportation system on their own to get from one place to the other by themselves. That's Not something I would have felt comfortable within a city. It is about the opportunities there and what YOU choose to make of them!! I have teacher friends who see GREAT learning values outside of the classroom in WDW and elsewhere too! They see the world as an opportunity to learn because of what you (general you) put into it!
I traveled the U.S. as a youngster with my family and I to this day remember a few teachers in middle school giving me a very hard time in geography class when I declared I had seen so many of the sights they were showing pictures of...Grand Canyon, Mt Rushmore, Niagara Falls, Old Faithful, Yosemite Nat'l Park, Garden of the Gods, California redwoods and I'm sure there's other stuff I've forgotten.... the teachers basically called me a liar saying I'd never seen all of that stuff when I know I had! I told them to call my parents if they didn't believe me!!! My parents felt it was very important for us to see our OWN country so I have been to about 41 or 42 states. I now realize as an adult, there were probably issues of jealousy on the part of the teachers, that this young student had seen so much more than they had ever had or probably would (and since geography/history is their passion...jmo) but maybe I'm wrong.
My point is my parents gave me experiences that no teacher did or ever could in a classroom and they took me to WDW too!!


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[MakiraMarlena]

Depending on the school district I don't see anything wrong with simply stating "Johnny will not be in school on these dates. Please let us know if any makeup work is necessary."

If the school requires a further justification, be honest about this being the only time your husband is available to take a family vacation.

Are there a lot of school systems that would require a full narrative of where you're going?

 

[pjacobi]

I pay about $60.00 per day to send me daughter to a private high school. That’s about 8X my college tuition!

Because of the high tuition, I can’t afford to let my daughter skip any classes.

The only flexibility that I will allow her is to skip the end-of-day study period on Friday before the start of Spring Break. That give us some extra time to catch our evening flight.

I love Disney and Disney cruise, but my daughter’s education comes first!


-Paul

 

[DisSarahK]

I pay about $60.00 per day to send me daughter to a private high school. That’s about 8X my college tuition!

Because of the high tuition, I can’t afford to let my daughter skip any classes.

The only flexibility that I will allow her is to skip the end-of-day study period on Friday before the start of Spring Break. That give us some extra time to catch our evening flight.

I love Disney and Disney cruise, but my daughter’s education comes first!


-Paul

I hear what you are saying, but your post doesn't help answer the original poster's question--the poster is asking for help writing a school excuse letter.

Personally I would start with a very basic letter and only elaborate if the school requests it. There is no need to give more information than required.

 

[jjje]

I never hesitate to pull my kids out of school for a vacation, Disney or otherwise. I write a note to the teachers but I try to keep them short and sweet. I always ask for any school work that can be given in advance. I also acknowledge that this is not always possible (I have friends who are teachers and they have told me this is not always a realistic request.) and tell them that any work the kids miss will be made up after we return. We're very lucky that we have never run into any problems pulling our kids out of school for a trip.

 

[disney1990]

Unfortunately, pulling children out of school does not work where I live. Teachers are not allowed to give makeup work. In addition, the student receives a "zero" for any assignment, quiz or test that is due or taken while the child is not in school.

 

[Im_A_Princess]

Unfortunately, pulling children out of school does not work where I live. Teachers are not allowed to give makeup work. In addition, the student receives a "zero" for any assignment, quiz or test that is due or taken while the child is not in school.

Don't you just love MD?
Our 4 girls missed the first 3 days of school when we went on the 2008 DCL Panama Canal Cruise. They were counted as unexcused for those days the entire year. As I recall 2 of their teachers were thrilled about the Panama Canal experience (one was the Spanish teacher who had never been) and asked them lots of questions because they thought it was so educational.

 

[disney1990]

Don't you just love MD?
Our 4 girls missed the first 3 days of school when we went on the 2008 DCL Panama Canal Cruise. They were counted as unexcused for those days the entire year. As I recall 2 of their teachers were thrilled about the Panama Canal experience (one was the Spanish teacher who had never been) and asked them lots of questions because they thought it was so educational.

-- yes, Maryland.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I am sure your girls learned a lot.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Unfortunately, pulling children out of school does not work where I live. Teachers are not allowed to give makeup work. In addition, the student receives a "zero" for any assignment, quiz or test that is due or taken while the child is not in school.

Wow!! Interesting! What county are you in if you don't mind me asking?
I just pulled DD17 for 4 days for our DCL/WDW vacation. We are in Harford County and are alllowed to miss five days for a family vacation with 10 days prior written notice. Anything over that can be submitted to the appropriate director for an excused approval. I did not know there was such a huge difference in policy within the State. Wow!!
And before I get flamed for pulling DD from HS, she is a member of NHS and her grades wereunffected. To each his/her own, it works for our family. That's fine if it does or doesn't work for your high schooler.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Don't you just love MD? Our 4 girls missed the first 3 days of school when we went on the 2008 DCL Panama Canal Cruise. They were counted as unexcused for those days the entire year. As I recall 2 of their teachers were thrilled about the Panama Canal experience (one was the Spanish teacher who had never been) and asked them lots of questions because they thought it was so educational.

What MD county are you in? Harford allows five days excused...more if you want to apply to the appropriate director (elementary/secondary). I once had 7 days approved years ago but the director has since changed. So I'm not sure how difficult it is to get longer time frames approved now. Just surprised to hear such desparity in policy in the state!