Unexcused absences for family travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pulled our kid for a week to go to Europe. Unexcused at a charter. No big deal. DS then missed a few more days unexcused for travel. We hit 10 and just got an email from the school saying we missed this much unexcused days. That’s it. Maybe there might be a meeting if we miss more. Not sure.

But our kid is in elementary, high performing and we asked teachers to give us the work he would have done the week he missed school so he could do it.

It’s not a big deal, and I agree that the school and CPS is more concerned about neglect, abuse, etc..

Travel is a top priority for us and missing some days or week in elementary is not a big deal if your kid is doing fine. I guess I would be more hesitant if my kid was struggling. Once you hit middle and high school, it’s going to be more difficult for your kid to miss school.

This is kind of wild. While you may not think it's a big deal, please acknowledge your kid is sponging up resources and their absense affects other kids. It may look simple to you, but teachers having to gather up work for individual families and more importantly reorient your kid when they return is not "no big deal". They have to makes sure your kid takes whatever tests were given the week before, gets integrated into whatever group work is underway, etc. And so, your high performer is taking away time and energy that might go to kids with greater needs. Not to mention setting a tone for classroom culture that just kind of sucks.

And, the sad part is that you're right..you'll get a free pass while poor parents with real reasons for struggling to get their kids to school will get all the negative attention and phone calls.

I'll also add that extended travel can hurt other kids who are struggling and actually present in school every day. When my kids were in middle school, and one of them was having a tough time in math, it set him back when families would pull their kids out for three weeks of travel. During these absences, no quizzes or other assessments would be graded and returned until that family returned from their trip and the student completed the assessments. It's so unfair to other students, not to mention the teachers.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty obnoxious when well-off families decide that their vacation is more important than school and also teaches some dubious lessons to your kids. Missing a few days due to travel for a family emergency? Sure. Missing a week because you liked the airfare better? That's dumb and yeah, school staff and other families are definitely judging you for it even if they don't say so to your face. It's still truancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pulled our kid for a week to go to Europe. Unexcused at a charter. No big deal. DS then missed a few more days unexcused for travel. We hit 10 and just got an email from the school saying we missed this much unexcused days. That’s it. Maybe there might be a meeting if we miss more. Not sure.

But our kid is in elementary, high performing and we asked teachers to give us the work he would have done the week he missed school so he could do it.

It’s not a big deal, and I agree that the school and CPS is more concerned about neglect, abuse, etc..

Travel is a top priority for us and missing some days or week in elementary is not a big deal if your kid is doing fine. I guess I would be more hesitant if my kid was struggling. Once you hit middle and high school, it’s going to be more difficult for your kid to miss school.

This is kind of wild. While you may not think it's a big deal, please acknowledge your kid is sponging up resources and their absense affects other kids. It may look simple to you, but teachers having to gather up work for individual families and more importantly reorient your kid when they return is not "no big deal". They have to makes sure your kid takes whatever tests were given the week before, gets integrated into whatever group work is underway, etc. And so, your high performer is taking away time and energy that might go to kids with greater needs. Not to mention setting a tone for classroom culture that just kind of sucks.

And, the sad part is that you're right..you'll get a free pass while poor parents with real reasons for struggling to get their kids to school will get all the negative attention and phone calls.

I'll also add that extended travel can hurt other kids who are struggling and actually present in school every day. When my kids were in middle school, and one of them was having a tough time in math, it set him back when families would pull their kids out for three weeks of travel. During these absences, no quizzes or other assessments would be graded and returned until that family returned from their trip and the student completed the assessments. It's so unfair to other students, not to mention the teachers.

That seems like a bad decision on the part of the teacher — why hold up all assignments and quizzes for one family that was traveling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pulled our kid for a week to go to Europe. Unexcused at a charter. No big deal. DS then missed a few more days unexcused for travel. We hit 10 and just got an email from the school saying we missed this much unexcused days. That’s it. Maybe there might be a meeting if we miss more. Not sure.

But our kid is in elementary, high performing and we asked teachers to give us the work he would have done the week he missed school so he could do it.

It’s not a big deal, and I agree that the school and CPS is more concerned about neglect, abuse, etc..

Travel is a top priority for us and missing some days or week in elementary is not a big deal if your kid is doing fine. I guess I would be more hesitant if my kid was struggling. Once you hit middle and high school, it’s going to be more difficult for your kid to miss school.

And I’m sure you thank those teachers for working with your family, right? You say it’s “no big deal”, but the teachers had to spend their time working extra to accommodate you. No, that’s NOT their job. It’s their job to educate the students who are there, not to create work and tutoring opportunities for the kids who aren’t there because of travel.

They may say “sure, no problem” directly to you out of a sense of professionalism. Then they are putting aside their real work (of which there is already too much) to accommodate you.

Maybe this doesn’t bother you. I don’t think it bothers most of the families I have to do this for, and all this extra work / individualized packets / after-school catch up sessions add up ton for me.

The teachers spent 2 minutes giving my kid the packet that they were going to work on that week. That’s it.

You have a reading comprehension issue. My kid is high performing and don’t need any tutoring and there are no tutoring or after school catch up sessions at our school. He would have done fine if he missed that week.

In fact, his one teacher asked if he could do a small presentation when he got back for the class. I sent her some pictures and he did a 5 minute talk about the trip and answered lots of questions from his classmates.

So guess his teachers were more organized then you and made a learning experience from it for my son and his classmates.

So I guess your answer is no, you didn’t bother to thank the teacher. Called it.

The fact you responded with a personal attack (“his teachers were more organized then you”) tells me two things:
1. You really should be in school so you can catch these grammatical errors. Perhaps you should consider fewer vacations and more time/respect shown to education.
2. This post hit a nerve and you’re defensive. You know what you’re doing is against the rules and you know it creates extra work. You’ll do it anyway, but there’s a small part of you that knows the message you’re sending isn’t a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pulled our kid for a week to go to Europe. Unexcused at a charter. No big deal. DS then missed a few more days unexcused for travel. We hit 10 and just got an email from the school saying we missed this much unexcused days. That’s it. Maybe there might be a meeting if we miss more. Not sure.

But our kid is in elementary, high performing and we asked teachers to give us the work he would have done the week he missed school so he could do it.

It’s not a big deal, and I agree that the school and CPS is more concerned about neglect, abuse, etc..

Travel is a top priority for us and missing some days or week in elementary is not a big deal if your kid is doing fine. I guess I would be more hesitant if my kid was struggling. Once you hit middle and high school, it’s going to be more difficult for your kid to miss school.

This is kind of wild. While you may not think it's a big deal, please acknowledge your kid is sponging up resources and their absense affects other kids. It may look simple to you, but teachers having to gather up work for individual families and more importantly reorient your kid when they return is not "no big deal". They have to makes sure your kid takes whatever tests were given the week before, gets integrated into whatever group work is underway, etc. And so, your high performer is taking away time and energy that might go to kids with greater needs. Not to mention setting a tone for classroom culture that just kind of sucks.

And, the sad part is that you're right..you'll get a free pass while poor parents with real reasons for struggling to get their kids to school will get all the negative attention and phone calls.

I'll also add that extended travel can hurt other kids who are struggling and actually present in school every day. When my kids were in middle school, and one of them was having a tough time in math, it set him back when families would pull their kids out for three weeks of travel. During these absences, no quizzes or other assessments would be graded and returned until that family returned from their trip and the student completed the assessments. It's so unfair to other students, not to mention the teachers.

That seems like a bad decision on the part of the teacher — why hold up all assignments and quizzes for one family that was traveling?

Yes, the entire class can take an assessment, but then they can’t be returned until your vacationing kid comes back and takes it. Or the teacher can create an entirely different assessment for your kid. Either way, it’s work and inconvenience for others.

But I’ve never seen that bother the parents who do this.

[Anonymous]

I had multiple kids out last week for early spring break with MoCo rather than DCPS. Two had the audacity today to ask me to excuse them from a week’s worth of assignments. I looked them back and said, you have 24 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had multiple kids out last week for early spring break with MoCo rather than DCPS. Two had the audacity today to ask me to excuse them from a week’s worth of assignments. I looked them back and said, you have 24 hours.

You’re being generous, too! You could have simply said no.

I think parents assume we’ll be extra lenient. After all, it’s the parents who decided to pull the kids; the students didn’t decide to miss class. Still, lines have to be drawn and some families are quite entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had multiple kids out last week for early spring break with MoCo rather than DCPS. Two had the audacity today to ask me to excuse them from a week’s worth of assignments. I looked them back and said, you have 24 hours.

You’re being generous, too! You could have simply said no.

I think parents assume we’ll be extra lenient. After all, it’s the parents who decided to pull the kids; the students didn’t decide to miss class. Still, lines have to be drawn and some families are quite entitled.

+1

I understand some families traveling during school for various reasons. What I really can’t tolerate is the entitlement- can I have what you are doing in class for two weeks while I go skiing? Then I give whatever I can in the form of worksheets and when they return they say ‘I didn’t know how to do any of the work. When can I meet with you to go over it?’ The entitlement to my time is frustrating to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had multiple kids out last week for early spring break with MoCo rather than DCPS. Two had the audacity today to ask me to excuse them from a week’s worth of assignments. I looked them back and said, you have 24 hours.

You’re being generous, too! You could have simply said no.

I think parents assume we’ll be extra lenient. After all, it’s the parents who decided to pull the kids; the students didn’t decide to miss class. Still, lines have to be drawn and some families are quite entitled.

+1

I understand some families traveling during school for various reasons. What I really can’t tolerate is the entitlement- can I have what you are doing in class for two weeks while I go skiing? Then I give whatever I can in the form of worksheets and when they return they say ‘I didn’t know how to do any of the work. When can I meet with you to go over it?’ The entitlement to my time is frustrating to say the least.

Personally, it would never occur to me to just take my kids out of school for more than, say, an hour or two for a vacation. One of my brothers lives in London, and it'd be a lot easier to visit him when his kids are on breaks from school, but those breaks don't typically line up with ours except in the summer and around Christmas -- so I deal with it and don't see him as often as I might like.

The idea that you'd not only pull your kids out of school just because it seems more convenient to you and then ALSO demand the teachers work with you to make it as frictionless as possible is just bonkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had multiple kids out last week for early spring break with MoCo rather than DCPS. Two had the audacity today to ask me to excuse them from a week’s worth of assignments. I looked them back and said, you have 24 hours.

You’re being generous, too! You could have simply said no.

I think parents assume we’ll be extra lenient. After all, it’s the parents who decided to pull the kids; the students didn’t decide to miss class. Still, lines have to be drawn and some families are quite entitled.

And it is extra work on the teacher. It is not like your child is out for a week and the work goes away. Now the teacher needs to re-teach, integrate missed assignments into grading etc.

These same families are going to be frustrated when their kid does not get glowing recommendations for private / application High Schools.
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