Standing note to let kid leave school early

[Anonymous]

My son (rising senior) wants to join a team that is a little far away from school and won’t easily make it to practice on time. Other kids also arrive late due to the start time being shortly after school is over, but if he is frequently late then he will miss out of a significant portion of the instruction, which would defeat the purpose of joining the better team.

He’s a pretty responsible kid and will have a car this year. I want him to be able to join this team because he really wants to and I know it will be good for him. He will play this sport at D3 in college. He needs and wants a more challenging team and the option close to our house just wasn’t cutting it.

An idea I have is giving him a bit every day that would let him leave school 15 minutes early, and let him use his discretion when to leave early vs. when he needs to stay to complete a test or important assignment. Could this work? Or would we inevitably run afoul of having annoyed teachers who give him a bad grade? We are in FCPS with block scheduling which is good and bad.

[Anonymous]

Have you asked if his last class can be a study hall or less important class? We were able to do this, classes didn’t rotator which is what made it possible.

[Anonymous]

He can do a "flex" period and have that period off. No way they will let you have a standing note to leave early.

[Anonymous]

Ita too bad because with the block scheduling, SO much "instructional time" is just "sit and do homework" time.

[Anonymous]

Just the opposite: why can't he be 15 min late to practice? School is a pretty good excuse, no?

Is this a seasonal thing? All year?

[Anonymous]

FCPS will not mark this as "excused" (it's not even a school sanctioned sport) and it'll reflect on the transcript.

[Anonymous]

He needs to schedule that as a free period. My DD got away with it in 3rd and 4th grade but then we changed teams specifically to avoid early release going into middle school and beyond. 3rd grade is mostly a throwaway year when it comes to the last 15 minutes but it’s a bad idea to play this game senior year.

[Anonymous]

Can he avoid this by committing to a college team sooner rather than later? Does he have a pre-read?

[Anonymous]

He has 2 electives. Could he just drop those? He has extra HS credits he got while in middle so it wouldn’t cause him to come up short on that end and he has everything else needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can he avoid this by committing to a college team sooner rather than later? Does he have a pre-read?

I wish! He’s aiming too high at the moment. Will hopefully get some answers soon that will nudge him towards a better match.

[Anonymous]

Can he take another class through virtual VA the year to get a free period at end of the day? That is what my kids friend does to make it to practice on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can he take another class through virtual VA the year to get a free period at end of the day? That is what my kids friend does to make it to practice on time.

Be careful with this. It woukd be every other day and not every day for starters so Op's kid woukd still have to find out a way to leave early on the other days.

But more importantly, your free period isn't guaranteed to be at the end of the day and with Op's kid being a rising senior, those soecific senior/AP classes aren't offered as frequently throughout the day as, for example, Spanish 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can he avoid this by committing to a college team sooner rather than later? Does he have a pre-read?

I wish! He’s aiming too high at the moment. Will hopefully get some answers soon that will nudge him towards a better match.

I hate to be harsh, but he needs to realize that if he isn’t being selected right now for D3, leaving early for his sport senior year isn’t going to fix that. Sorry, this is a tough situation and sometimes boys can be more unrealistic about these things than girls so you may have an uphill battle to channel his energy in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can he avoid this by committing to a college team sooner rather than later? Does he have a pre-read?

I wish! He’s aiming too high at the moment. Will hopefully get some answers soon that will nudge him towards a better match.

I hate to be harsh, but he needs to realize that if he isn’t being selected right now for D3, leaving early for his sport senior year isn’t going to fix that. Sorry, this is a tough situation and sometimes boys can be more unrealistic about these things than girls so you may have an uphill battle to channel his energy in the right direction.

If the sport is men’s soccer, it’s not too late for D3. I have a 26 currently being recruited and many of the coaches told him to expect an offer in the fall. As far as leaving school early every single day, that would be a no go for my rising senior. The exception would be if the school agreed to an abbreviated schedule leaving the last period free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can he avoid this by committing to a college team sooner rather than later? Does he have a pre-read?

I wish! He’s aiming too high at the moment. Will hopefully get some answers soon that will nudge him towards a better match.

I hate to be harsh, but he needs to realize that if he isn’t being selected right now for D3, leaving early for his sport senior year isn’t going to fix that. Sorry, this is a tough situation and sometimes boys can be more unrealistic about these things than girls so you may have an uphill battle to channel his energy in the right direction.

If the sport is men’s soccer, it’s not too late for D3. I have a 26 currently being recruited and many of the coaches told him to expect an offer in the fall. As far as leaving school early every single day, that would be a no go for my rising senior. The exception would be if the school agreed to an abbreviated schedule leaving the last period free.

It sounds like OP’s DS is not getting the same feedback from coaches as your DS, though. That’s a different scenario.