Texans think twice about taking your kids out of school for WDW..

[CapHook]

It is all about the money.

Schools in Texas get their money based on their Average Daily Attendance. It is putting the cart before the horse because what they should be paid for is how well they teach your kid.

After reading this I called my school district. I got the feeling they would probably do the look the other way thing if you go talk to the principal before hand. I am planning to talking to the principal soon because We plan to go the WDW about three weeks before school gets out in May.

 

[DreamingofDisney]

CapHook,
From what I have learned it may be hard for the school to "look the other way" because the letter will come directly from the state based on the school's data. I was told that a Dr. note would be required beyond 3 days so that excuse would be hard to use. I too am planning on talking to the principal before we go.

To show how silly this is we went to Curriculum Night last night for my kindergarten, the teacher informed us that she was going to be put into an advanced reading group with 3 other kids because those are the only 4 kids truly reading at this point and they don't want to hold them back. The are going to be working on sorting & counting for math, my daughter knows her addition and subtaction math facts. I'm not trying to brag, it is just really silly. She is a child who will learn so much from this kind of a trip/cruise. It will make her curious and strengthen her desire to learn. As I said before, follow the money.

I'd be curious to know just how they might "look the other way."
Thanks for responding!!!

 

[Carl]

if no doctor's note is required, it is easy to "look the other way." Just accept the "lie" that the child was sick. My opposition to the original law make many years ago was that it did exactly that - make liars out of everyone. It did not only apply to Disney trips. Since the number of "unexcused" absences allowed was very limited, everyone was encouraged to state that ALL absences were for sickness.

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

I am completely disgusted by our state's legal stance on school absences. Totally ridiculous to imply that you cannot take a child our for more than 2 days without facing possible prosecution. I am definitely getting closer and closer to considering homeschooling or private school for our dd when the time comes.

Unfortunately, the attendance guidelines along with the new mandatory late-August starting times have really put school calendars to the test. School districts must now start school on August 21 or later (verus early August which has been the norm here for a while). But, with many districts having scheduled graduation exercises YEARS in advance (due to limited availability of venues for these large events, the dates must be reserved well ahead of time), they must figure out how to get school finished by the same times as in years previous. So, even though school is starting several weeks later it must end at the same time (right before Memorial Day for many schools). This means VERY FEW days off during the year (only 1 or 2 3-day weekends and only for teacher workday committments), 1 week off at Christmas, no fall or presiden'ts day breaks etc. That means that scheduling any type of vacation during the school year (except for Thanksgiving or Spring break which defeats the purpose) is just not feasible without missing 3 days or more of school.

I think this stinks. I would rather see year-round school or some set policy for allowing 5 days of family vacation in 1 year etc. Some flexibility needs to be provided. All families cannot vacation during the summer and to limit them to expensive/crowded times seems very unfair.

I hope Texas gets smarter and does something about these arcane regulations or they are sure to lose more and more attendance money to homeschoolers and private school students.

 

[Planogirl]

I agree with you Rhonda. The later start date may change schedules for many people. However, our district in Plano is mulling over asking for an exception. That is allowed from what I understand but Plano would have to come up with a compelling reason. The district warned that we would lose our Fall Break if we went to an August 21 start date.

I have mixed feelings about this. I felt like it was way too hot to go back to school on August 2. I know that we all have AC but DS' school is being remodeled and there was no way for them to finish the work during such a short summer. There has been a lot of construction noise, shuffling kids around and some AC interruptions.

I would love to take a vacation with DS during the winter. But Plano is about as rigid as a district can be so I see no way to fight this. That is, not without causing DS some problems. I suggested home schooling to DH but he is strongly opposed mainly because we need my income right now. Sigh...

 

[DreamingofDisney]

I didn't realize that the later start date would change the rest of the school year & vacations. I just made the assumption that if we start late, we'd end late. I guess I was mistaken. I'll make another call to our district to check out their plans. But, if they change vacations times, family holidays are going to be harder to come by. I believe that family time is more important than 4-5 days of school!

 

[The shadow knows]

o that is so not right.

 

[AKASnowWhite]

It seems to me that all of these rules and regulations have gotten WAY out of control. What perhaps was started to curb truancy has turned into militant school districts attempting to dictate what parents can and can't do with their own families! I must agree, that if my child were struggling in school I probably wouldn't take them out for a Disney vacation....but sometimes these kids work SO HARD that they deserve a break! I feel very fortunate that our school district doesn't have any of these policies in place until high school. Good luck to all of you thinking about taking your kids out of classes. I know it's a hard choice sometimes.

 

[supercarrie]

I think they have gotten out of control too! As for high school, I understand about not missing that because I am a high schooler in honors and AP classes, and if you miss one day, you could *potentially* miss a lot. What bugs me though, is for example, the water polo team missed two days of school last week, a lot of these team members just barely meeting eligibility to play, which is a minimum 2.0 GPA. I don't think it is fair for them to miss it, excused and with teacher's blessings, when I am a 4.0 student, but cannot miss even one day for something else. I understand it is for a sporting event, but still. I am so happy my parents understand that sometimes I do get REALLY stressed out and exhausted and just need a day off. Not that they let me do it a lot, maybe one day a year if that, and I normally do not miss any other school (I am pretty healthy lol.) We do keep our vacations out of the school year though, because they are considered unexcused, and then I am not allowed to make up ANYTHING, not even tests, and in some classes get points deducted for each unexcused absence.

 

[DreamingofDisney]

Carrie,

Thanks for your response. I too have wondered about the "extracurricular" trips taken by high school students. Somehow that's justified!!

Thanks for everyone's responses. I wouldn't be surprised to see these kinds of things popping up more and more across the states. Money talks!

 

[AKASnowWhite]

you make a good point about the sports teams, Supercarrie...doesn't seem to make much sense. Unfortunately, whether we agree with them or not, we have to live by the rules that our elected officials set forth for us....

 

[Angeluk]

As a UK visitor this had made fascinating reading!
I can't believe how tough your school laws are in the US! My DD is nearly 14 and at a 'grammer' high school,(she is an 'A' student) we have taken her out of school every year for a fortnight to holiday, as the costs were too high and heat too much for all of us in the summer. We have spent 5 of those trips at WDW and while we loved every minute can't really say it was overly educational

While the schools here don't openly encourage it they have never refused permission and I would be horrified if they talked about legal action !!!! I know that not all school authorities over here are the same but don't think they act that harshly yet, thank goodness!

 

[Planogirl]

Hi Angleluk. As one who has European relatives, I have seen that much of Europe is MUCH more easy-going about taking time off from school or work than the US. That's unfortunate for us.

 

[Angeluk]

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like I was 'crowing'...just seems really tough on families

 

[KAB13]

Half our school board members take their kids out for vacation. And my son's school had a day off so they could move into the school's new addition (which made me veeeerrryyy unhappy.).

 

[Planogirl]

Angeluk, you don't sound at all like you're crowing. I think it's wonderful in fact! My post is confusing though because I said US when I meant U.S. and that could be read different ways. Oops, sorry about that.

Anyway, maybe the U.S. will lighten up about time off someday too. I think that corporations here should.

Enjoy.

 

[Swan]

I just read this board and am very unhappy. I am taking my kids out of school 12/1-12/7
for our trip. I have been worried about telling the truth or lying. Now I know that it does not matter. I am making phone calls to friends who work at the school and see what I can find out. I guess it does not matter what I found out, because I am taking my kids out at that time.

 

[LisaTxUsa]

I'm in a Texas school district and my son received zeros last year for the week I took him out of school. He was in 5th grade. Get this ... the principal told me I should have said that he was ill ... now you tell me .. when my kiddo gets back to school mid-December after our trip to Disney with a nice tan .. how is that going to look? Not only that .. WHAT kind of example is that setting for my son??

I found this in our district policy under absences :

TEMPORARY ABSENCES
A child required to attend school may be excused for temporary absence resulting from any cause acceptable to the teacher, principal, or Superintendent of the school in which the child is enrolled. Education Code 25.087; 19 TAC 129.22


I guess this means "if you can get the principal to agree to overlook it" ..

Bottom line .. they don't care that my son misses school .. they only care that they're missing the head count.

Pitiful ...

PS. I am pulling him out of school for a week this year, too for the 7 day cruise!

 

[jillhou]

Well - I think the OP is from my school district and there were many reasons they did away with year round schools. We had little ones at the time, but did have one in school. We did use the weird breaks to go to WDW and DL. It was great. But year round did not really work for high school or the schools that were overcrowded. It did not help the district do what it needed to do - avoid building more schools!

I would think most principals would be flexible about this - esp in elementary grades. Lying about this is a terrible example for your child - and it isn't too good for you either!

One option I have considered - esp in Texas - explain it all to the principal and see what he or she says - how receptive is she or he. If it is not going well, simply say you will be withdrawing your child for that week - try homeschooling for a week. The problem with this is that when you 're-enroll' your child may not get same teachers. Actually - I am just kidding about this option, but we are the parents. They are our children and our responsibility.

And if this is coming from the state - not sure we can say it is about money. The state really doesn't care if each school district gets the most amount of money it can. Districts make rules like this so they can reap the money. It is more likely about the statewide testing that goes on. The state of Texas is really motivated by the Taas (and the new test coming) and getting those outcomes to be the best for the state. I t hink that is where this new law is coming from. They do not want kids missing days when they could be getting trained to take this test.

I think testing is important - I do not necessarily agree with the way the statewide test is administered and taught - it is a start - but we need some improvement.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would definitely side with the parents if the school suddenly cancelled vacation weeks because of snow or teachers strikes.

The $500. fine may well be less than forfeiting the airplane tickets, and there is a good chance the judge won't impose the maximum $500.

Also if you are meticulous about perfect attendance for years past and the rest of the year, the principal might sign it off as an excused absence or the judge may go easy.

A child with a tummyache generally should not stay home from school. He should however have skipped breakfast, should not have lunch money or lunch, and should not accept snacks from friends.

More health tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/health.htm

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