Texas Schools Attendance & Taking kids out for vacation (Bowie: homes, public school)

[WilGar]

Originally Posted by smuboy86

It's called In loco parentis. Which means that schools can in fact act as parents as long as it doesn't break civil liberties. Which is why public schools can have dress codes, locker searches, drug tests ect...

I know this is what they call it or their excuse. The reality is something called ADA, Average Daily Attendance where the federal government returns taxpayers' money back to the local district based on attendance, no child in class, no money that day.

All I see from all this tightening of attendance rules is every year a higher dropout rate and those that graduate and go to college are less and less prepared for college work.

I never hesitated to take my children out for mini vacations or a "mental health day".

I will not crow of my children's achievements either academically or professionally, but all are successes in their respective fields and show no ill effects of the missed days. In fact, all can remember their days' off and our adventures rather than anything missed during class.

With this said, I never remember a teacher or administrator who did not encourage these sabbaticals from the classroom.

[JuneOf48]

Originally Posted by LindaGrace

It's a matter of opinion and personal preference. I wouldn't take my kids out of school for vacation. My parents didn't take me out of school for vacation. In fact, I didn't know anyone who took their kids out of school for vacation until I was well into my 30s. I was sort of shocked to find out that people actually did that.

I agree 100%. My parents NEVER let me miss a day of school unless it was for a medical or family emergency. I teach at the college level here, and I never let students out of their in-class responsibilities unless it is a medical or family emergency (or religious occasion). If students miss, and if they don't have a documented reason, they cannot make up tests or assignments.

I thought that this was standard everywhere in the country. To hear that it's not (at least in grade school and high school) is helpful, as I'll be extra careful explaining my policy to my students. So far, no one has complained, although a few have tried to get out with flimsy excuses. A family vacation would not be a valid excuse at the college level.

Make-up work creates extra responsibilities for the teacher, and there's no way to compensate for losing the full in-class experience. It's best not to let your children miss unless absolutely necessary. Just my two cents. . . .

[amybeccaz]

This last year was our first year in a Texas school, and we too were shocked at the treatment of kids missing school. A death in the family happened, and our kids' absence was marked as unexcused... even though I brought a program in, etc.. it was still unexcused in the school's eyes. ::rolling eyes:: My oldest child also has asthma & coughs her head off when it flares up. I had to keep her home here & there b/c of it.. and I get a letter "warning" me. ::rolling eyes::

My parents took my brother & I out in the fall to go on church conventions, and the schools had no choice but to work with us b/c it was a religious thing. However, as my kids get older, I wouldn't pull them out during school, but would wait until the vacation time, just b/c of how much they would miss.

[WilGar]

Originally Posted by JuneOf48

I agree 100%. My parents NEVER let me miss a day of school unless it was for a medical or family emergency. I teach at the college level here, and I never let students out of their in-class responsibilities unless it is a medical or family emergency (or religious occasion). If students miss, and if they don't have a documented reason, they cannot make up tests or assignments.

I thought that this was standard everywhere in the country. To hear that it's not (at least in grade school and high school) is helpful, as I'll be extra careful explaining my policy to my students. So far, no one has complained, although a few have tried to get out with flimsy excuses. A family vacation would not be a valid excuse at the college level.

Make-up work creates extra responsibilities for the teacher, and there's no way to compensate for losing the full in-class experience. It's best not to let your children miss unless absolutely necessary. Just my two cents. . . .

I agree college is different. It is a time to transition to adulthood and learn responsibility. However, grade school and high school are times to be kids.

Even with my prior post, we were selective in missing. With one, never during football season; with another, never during tennis season.

[mamatotex97]

We went to Disney during Spring Break and never again. Lol. With that said I would not pull my child out of school for it. Just plan a week over Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you look at the school calendar the students have a break of some sort EVERY MONTH!!! That should allow plenty of time for various getaways.

The principals hands are tied and has a responsibility to the state. It wont be an issue with a child in kindergarten but say in middle school they are only allowed a certain number of days to make up any missed work.

Yes, the schools have to turn in a count to the state. How else would the state know how much to alot for ? Its called being accountable and it's a fact of life like it or not.
When you have to teach a lesson twice because Johnny went on vacation and missed out, Diferentiation takes on a whole new meaning.

[FarNorthDallas]

Schools in Texas are rated based on TAKS scores, attendance and drop out rate. If a school has too many kids out for too many days, then its rating can be impacted.

We've been in private school and one of the reasons some of those kids are there is because they travel a lot with their families. Since private schools aren't rated, aren't taking TAKS, they don't go crazy about attendance.

You will also find that the schools take attendance for the day at a certain time - say 10:00am - and they ask that no doctor's appts are scheduled during that time, or perhaps a kid sent to the school nurse at 9:30 might not call a parent to pick up until after 10, so that child can be counted present.

I know plenty of families that still take their kids out of public schools for off season vacations and they don't care what kind of grief they get from the schools. Sometimes they encounter a teacher who thinks travel is more important that sitting in a classroom (which is what our private school thought as well) but it's not the official school district attitude.

[pobre]

Link to NEISD attendance regulations: http://www.neisd.net/pupil/documents/AttendanceRegulation.pdf (broken link)

Absences without a note are unexcused. (students have 2 days after they return to provide a note) Absences with a note are excused, but may not be counted towards the minimum attendance if they are medical, religious, etc., with proper documentation. As an example, I take my son out of state on occasion for medical care. The day of the appointment is excused-does not count towards minimum attendance. The travel days are extenuating circumstances, and, depending on how the attendance clerk codes them, also do not count.

Teachers are generally happy to provide the work in advance if it is ready, but are not required to do so. Students have the number of days that they were absent to turn in the work.

A child must be in school at the time attendance is being taken. If they arrive and then leave (before that time, which varies from elementary to middle to high school), they are absent.

[marucardona]

I do not know if you finnally took your vacation, but I did have my case this year. My family tood a vacation that kept my son out of school for 5 days on the second week of school. All the teachers were notified and they gave my 15 year old son the assignments to be done during the trip, some reading and asked him to prepare for some tests as well. But guess what, I just received a citation from the court. The school charged my son and my husband with truancy. When I visited with the principal to inform him of the hall situation he said that no one mentioned anything about our vacation. At that point he had not even read my excuse note (the one my son gave them the day he came back) none of the teachers where asked and not even a phone call was made to us to inform us of the situation. This is happening at East Texas.

[abner463]

Originally Posted by vzwkelly

Have you ever tried to take a vacation during school breaks? Some of the most popular vacation spots where you would take your children are overcrowded and expensive beyond words. Airfares are doubled, car rental rates are doubled, hotel pricing is doubled.

During our 22 years in the military, money was tight. We always enjoyed our family time when we could go somewhere and not have crowds. Be it the national parks, Disney, cruises etc. We also had to plan according to my husband's schedule. Whether he was deployed or not. So one year we went to Hawaii before he got sent to Korea for a year. We took the kids out of school and went in May. Thank goodness the Hale Koa is there for military families to vacation at a reasonable price.

We worked with what we had available to us. And for some people 5 days out of school is worth it to save the money and have those experiences with their family.

I'm totally w/ you on this. This year they are really putting out the word that there are fewer excused absences allowed. I have some friends in other cities that have a Fall break (a week off in October) or a Winter break (February) that lets families take vacations w/o all of the crowds and high costs. If they would implement such a thing here, perhaps we all wouldn't be trying to figure out when we can pull the kids out of school for a week!

As a kid, my parents never took me out for a family vacation. However, we never went anywhere except for visiting our family member's house in another state. What I would have done to take an airplane vacation to a hotel! LOL! I vote for families being able to take vacations together. I have taken my older daughter out for a few vacations since she started public school 3 years ago. When it comes down to the time to leave, I feel kind of funny about it, but don't regret it at all later. We save a lot of time and money, also frustration w/o having to deal w/ large crowds. Best of luck!

[TXtrkgrl]

I often wonder about the boys from McAllister park that were playing baseball that first week of school.