Taking kids out of school to go to Disney. Horribly irresponsible or acceptable in some situations?

[LaDonna]

We are highly considering taking our then to be 7th grader out for 4 days Labor day week......i dont really want to, i have no problem in elementary but i know middle is tougher.....hes an average student but not too good in math.....but our family of 5 our youngest turns 3 middle of September so if we try and plan it during actual school weeks they have out this coming school year we would be paying another $2,000! Basically because we get priced out of the one room value

 

[Summer2018]

We are highly considering taking our then to be 7th grader out for 4 days Labor day week......i dont really want to, i have no problem in elementary but i know middle is tougher.....hes an average student but not too good in math.....but our family of 5 our youngest turns 3 middle of September so if we try and plan it during actual school weeks they have out this coming school year we would be paying another $2,000! Basically because we get priced out of the one room value

In my school district, that’s the beginning of school. We have orientation and begin laying down routines, but instruction is mainly review from last year. That might actually be a not so terrible week to take your kids out of school if you have no other choice.

 

[a742246]

We are highly considering taking our then to be 7th grader out for 4 days Labor day week......i dont really want to, i have no problem in elementary but i know middle is tougher.....hes an average student but not too good in math.....but our family of 5 our youngest turns 3 middle of September so if we try and plan it during actual school weeks they have out this coming school year we would be paying another $2,000! Basically because we get priced out of the one room value

You know your kid better then anybody. if you think he can handle it then go for it! It may be the last time you are able to do this for a very long time. Just take plenty of pictures and preserve your memories.

 

[LaDonna]

In my school district, that’s the beginning of school. We have orientation and begin laying down routines, but instruction is mainly review from last year. That might actually be a not so terrible week to take your kids out of school if you have no other choice.

actually ours go back August 1
and another unfortunate thing is they’re also out the last week of September for a fall break! Which I have absolutely no problem making him do a school work that whole week..... With our school district though they aren’t even necessarily given that opportunity though, it just says they don’t get any credit, which I find a little confusing it doesn’t say they get zeros for all the work it just says it doesn’t count as any credit...... Before when they had a day or two unexcused because maybe I forgot to write the note or most of the time because my son forgot to turn the note in, the teachers always let them make up the work......... So I’m not sure if I should give the teachers advance notice or send note in afterwards...... I thought about just sending a note into the homeroom teacher at the very start of the year

 

[Summer2018]

actually ours go back August 1
and another unfortunate thing is they’re also out the last week of September for a fall break! Which I have absolutely no problem making him do a school work that whole week..... With our school district though they aren’t even necessarily given that opportunity though, it just says they don’t get any credit, which I find a little confusing it doesn’t say they get zeros for all the work it just says it doesn’t count as any credit...... Before when they had a day or two unexcused because maybe I forgot to write the note or most of the time because my son forgot to turn the note in, the teachers always let them make up the work......... So I’m not sure if I should give the teachers advance notice or send note in afterwards...... I thought about just sending a note into the homeroom teacher at the very start of the year

Communication would most likely be appreciated.

 

[Van@Disney]

My daughter is in grade 5 this year and we have taken her out of school to go away. It’s the only time we can afford it. Also, I can’t handle peak crowds. I’m shocked to see postings saying that schools don’t allow kids to leave school for vacation. Request, recommend yes, but I don’t see how a school has any legal right to tell you what you can and can’t do regarding your child.
As I said I can’t tolerate the larger crowds and the reason we decided to take our daughter out is due to my chronic illness. I don’t know how much time I will have to make memories with her and getting away from the day to day to enjoy our time together has become a priority for our family.
Everyone has their own reasons for their choices and parents know what their children can and cannot handle. Of course communication with the teacher beforehand to request work to take with us is helpful, and we make sure our daughter knows she still has to meet the expectations of her teacher.

 

[mjkacmom]

My daughter is in grade 5 this year and we have taken her out of school to go away. It’s the only time we can afford it. Also, I can’t handle peak crowds. I’m shocked to see postings saying that schools don’t allow kids to leave school for vacation. Request, recommend yes, but I don’t see how a school has any legal right to tell you what you can and can’t do regarding your child.
As I said I can’t tolerate the larger crowds and the reason we decided to take our daughter out is due to my chronic illness. I don’t know how much time I will have to make memories with her and getting away from the day to day to enjoy our time together has become a priority for our family.
Everyone has their own reasons for their choices and parents know what their children can and cannot handle. Of course communication with the teacher beforehand to request work to take with us is helpful, and we make sure our daughter knows she still has to meet the expectations of her teacher.

They can’t prevent parents from taking kids out of school, but they can make the absences unexcused and work not able to be made up.

 

[unigirlmouse]

We do it every year with our kids and I don’t feel guilty at all. We just got back from Disney and took the week off before Xmas break

 

[Summer2018]

I just had an annoying incident as a teacher. We were considering an after Christmas vacation trip extending into January since I have January 6th off for 3 Kings Day. We only had school on January 2nd & 3rd, so if I took two personal days, I would have 17 days off. My principal approved my personal days in the fall.

We ended up changing our trip to June right after school gets out. Because I sprained my shoulder on December 1st, I decided to keep those personal days in order to have more time out of the classroom to heal. On the 2nd, I had a doctor’s appointment and therapy. Today, I have a 3 hour 15,000 mile scheduled maintenance on my Escape. These are a good use for personal days, right? Either way, I should be able to use these “personal” days however I please. They were approved by my boss.

Well, downtown thought differently. My principal texted me yesterday that I must provide doctor’s notes for both days since they follow Christmas break. I could tell that she felt awkward asking for these notes, but I am expected to provide proper documentation upon my return next week.

Meanwhile, my assistant takes the three days before Thanksgiving off every year to go on vacation to the Dominican Republic with no need to provide documentation and she suffers zero consequences. Another paraprofessional took those same days off to go to South Carolina. This is so unfair. I’m so angry right now.

Thank God we changed our plans. I really don’t know what I would do if I
was in Disney World right now like we originally planned.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

We used to take my son out for Disney vacation every year. I only had 1 teacher give me a hard time about it. (He was in honors classes). After that year, we stopped. He was not allowed to make up his work by this one teacher. I always checked at the beginning of the year and I had not received any negative feedback. One year we were on a Disney trip when a mom on the bus we were riding on got a call from her husband to tell her that she had been issued a court summons for taking her kids out of school. I believe she was either from Pennsylvania or Massachusetts..
We have taken our granddaughters out but we take advantage of school work days. Last time, they missed October 31 and Nov. 1, (Wednesday, Thursday) with a Friday through Monday teacher work day/holiday. Best trick or treat ever at MNSSHP though. No issues as they were Kindergarten and 2nd Grade. They now get a whole week for Thanksgiving and they've set their Spring Break as opposed to going by Easter, so that will help, but not this year (1st full week of April). As of now they don't go back until after Labor Day, so the last week of August (although hotter than Hades) is also an option. I would much rather use the teacher work days as opposed to holidays because other school systems are less likely to be out at the same time.

 

[Beer Me]

We took our kids out of elementary school for vacation once. It’s not a typical thing for us.

We cleared it with the principal and their teachers and everyone seemed fine. We even asked if the kids should do some kind of assignment based on the trip but we were told that wouldn’t be necessary.

After we returned we received a letter from the county threatening legal action, fines penalties etc. When we asked the principal about this she shrugged it off as nothing. We ended up having to meet with a truant officer to review the case and eventually common sense prevailed and it was dropped and no penalties or punishments were doled out.

So just be prepared. These policies are in place and are probably needed in many cases but they may not make exceptions up front just because your kid is a good student. We had to go through the same process as someone neglecting their kids.

I’m not upset with the policies as much as I was with the school principal who should have explained what might happen. I also think it could have been avoided if they had taken our offer to make it an educational trip and create some assignments so that the absences would be considered excused.

 

[Alli1988]

Our daughter has missed 5-10 days in each K and 1st specifically for Disney. We visited and Irma hit and we were gone almost two weeks. I gave the teacher and school heads up at the beginning of the school year in both instances, and had an after school touchpoint with the teach 1-2 weeks before each trip to collect work. She completed the work (in both cases in a matter of half a Saturday) before each trip and we sent it back in. My daughter is in the highest level reading group in her class (about top 10%) and in "enriched" sections of other subjects. In these early years the kids spend more time getting in line, getting materials out, moving from classroom to outdoors, packing their bookbag, etc. than actually learning math or reading lines in a book. I don't think I would care if my kid was given a 0 on something they weren't there for in elementary school.

I refuse to go to Disney outside of the top 3 "slowest" weeks and therefore missing school will always be required. We will move away from this shall her extra curricular activities have required attendance or her little sister doesn't perform as well once she starts K.

I would talk to the school. The policy may be there based on family situations that are different than what you are proposing. When I was little we had kids not attending school because it was easier for mom to turn on the TV and hand them a bag of chips for the day, versus dress and drive them to school.

 

[siren0119]

I’m shocked to see postings saying that schools don’t allow kids to leave school for vacation. Request, recommend yes, but I don’t see how a school has any legal right to tell you what you can and can’t do regarding your child.

The school receives public funding based partially on attendance. If a student is truant (whatever the district determines is the max number of unexcused absences - including tardies - before action is taken/whatever the state requirements may be) then the school can be penalized if they don't take swift action. Usually if it's a student who's not consistently missing or late for school that comes in the form of a sternly worded letter and a meeting request with the principal that can usually be avoided with a quick phone call. But they are legally obligated to take some kind of action, and for a student who may have accumulated a lot of tardies or missed school that may mean a call to social services or a truant officer. Kids are legally obligated to be in school if they are registered at the public school, and the school's funding is impacted when they aren't. When you register your kiddo for public school, your legal obligation is to make sure they're there when they should be (barring excused absences of course).

In the long run those rules are there to protect the kids as much as the schools - you'd be surprised at how many young kids are put in a position of missing school to help with family situations, but once the parents find out they can get in ACTUAL trouble for keeping their kids out of school they stop putting those responsibilities on their older kids.

 

[Sandi12404]

We have to get permission from the school superintendent. We always go at the beginning of the school year so the kids don't miss too much. They both have good grades so we don't have a problem getting it approved. The next trip my son will be in 3rd grade and my daughter in 11th.

 

[xipotec]

No court os going to do anything to a parent who takes their kid out of school for a single week a year for vacation.
The laws are written for the numerous parents who basically stop caring if their kids go to school at all....end up on the streets getting arrested for actual crimes. Its an add on charge.
“Hey Mac .....whatcha in the poke for?”

“Went to Disneyworld with my kids”

“ woah dude you are an arch criminal”

 

[mkb3]

Good thread. I am of the belief if the kid is doing well in school, one week isn't going to hurt.

 

[MudQueen22]

My daughter is in grade 5 this year and we have taken her out of school to go away. It’s the only time we can afford it. Also, I can’t handle peak crowds. I’m shocked to see postings saying that schools don’t allow kids to leave school for vacation. Request, recommend yes, but I don’t see how a school has any legal right to tell you what you can and can’t do regarding your child.

If you homeschool, then they do not. The issue comes in when you enroll in public school, then the public school becomes accountable for their education.
It isn't so much their right, but their responsibility. If they do not file truancy, then they get questioned as to why they aren't making every step they can to insure a student is attending school.
Since you're using the public school, you're on their timetable. (Another way around this is to ask to be on your district's calendar committee and recommend a non-traditional schedule. Our district has this, and both parents and teachers are very happy with it overall.)
If it's important to keep your child on an alternative schedule (and your local school district is unable or unwilling to create a non-traditional calendar), I would recommend home school.

 

[Darcy03231]

Just make sure you know your school's policy regarding unexcused absences. Not an issue for me anymore, but when my kids were in school it was up to the teacher if they wanted to give/accept make-up work. If they didn't your child got zeros on everything missed.

I have a good friend who is a middle school teacher. Her policy is to give the work out after the child returns and they have as many days as they were out to get it back to her. She's available on her regular night after school for help. It's amazing how many parents try to get her to stay late every night to help with make-up work or change her night to fit their schedule, or try to get more time because "_____" is just so busy with after school activities.

 

[dez1978]

We just had our kids out for a week at the end of January. The conversation went something like this:

me: Hey, at the end of the month A will be gone for a week to go to Disney. If you have any work you'd like to send home for him while we are gone, we'll make sure he gets it done"

Teacher: cool, I'll let the office know he'll be gone.

That was it. He's in 3rd. Went pretty much the same for my kindergartener, and for my nephew in 5th grade.

 

[OffToDWD]

A bit different but I took my kids on a 6 month trip to travel throughout Asia and Europe (so they missed the first half of the school year). When I talked to the principal about it... he said - kindergarten is not required and he'll learn more on this trip than he would sitting in a classroom. For my 5th grader, the principal was also very supportive because my son is very advanced in his studies. After we returned, they tested the kids and both still improved compared to prior testing and still ahead of their grade levels. So I think it really depends on the schools and how well the kids are doing in school.