Doctor's note

[Anonymous]

OP said it’s a mental health professional. That’s none of the school’s business. I would tell the principal it’s inappropriate to require it. Or take the unexcused absence. I take my kids out for doctor appointments often and our MCPS school doesn’t require this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the school puts the doctor’s name in Google it’s going to find out what the doctor’s specialty is. Don’t trust them with that information.

A PEDIATRICIAN!!! I think they have better things to do..

Fine if it’s a pediatrician. If it’s a specialist it reveals information and it’s a mental health specialist they will gossip about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the school puts the doctor’s name in Google it’s going to find out what the doctor’s specialty is. Don’t trust them with that information.

A PEDIATRICIAN!!! I think they have better things to do..

Fine if it’s a pediatrician. If it’s a specialist it reveals information and it’s a mental health specialist they will gossip about it.

I’m all for privacy but give the attendence secretary a little credit. She’s not going to gossip about a student’s therapy appointment. Also, this type of mindset is exactly why there is a stigma around mental health. Talking about mental health and normalizing caring for it is the best way to fight stigma and get more teens (and adults) into treatment. My child recognizes that he is not alone in his struggles. He has many friends who also see therapists and they discuss it with one another without shame or embarrassment. And these are all kids you would neber know struggle because they are honors/AP students, well behaved, and many are successful athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here- I told her I would send her the appointment reminder because I didn't have a note. It felt uncomfortable because the appointment was for a mental health professional

Is this at a school that starts with B? She's notoriously unreasonable and she will refuse to excuse the appointment.

NP
If you’re talking about Blair that woman is over the top. She called to verify a note we sent to excuse my son 15 minutes early for an appointment. Fifteen minutes before the end of school! She’s like the attendance Gestapo.

She calls to verify all parent notes. I assume enough kids are forging notes to make her effort worthwhile…

That's not true. She only calls about suspicious ones.

Too funny—she calls every time. My handwriting must look child like!

This is so interesting! My kid is at Blair and the attendance secretary has always been super friendly and understanding. We email for absences and early dismissals. I have never gotten a call in the last few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a single partial-day absence? Nope.

Then the absences are unexcused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a single partial-day absence? Nope.

Then the absences are unexcused.

No, I would email the attendance secretary beforehand, and they were excused. Never been asked for a note from the doctor in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here- I told her I would send her the appointment reminder because I didn't have a note. It felt uncomfortable because the appointment was for a mental health professional

Is this at a school that starts with B? She's notoriously unreasonable and she will refuse to excuse the appointment.

NP
If you’re talking about Blair that woman is over the top. She called to verify a note we sent to excuse my son 15 minutes early for an appointment. Fifteen minutes before the end of school! She’s like the attendance Gestapo.

She calls to verify all parent notes. I assume enough kids are forging notes to make her effort worthwhile…

I haven’t found her that bad. DS has a weekly appt that she called to verify the first time. We told her it was weekly and she never called again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a single partial-day absence? Nope.

Then the absences are unexcused.

No, I would email the attendance secretary beforehand, and they were excused. Never been asked for a note from the doctor in that situation.

If your kid stays home, the parent excuses.

If your child arrives late and you say appointment, you’re supposed to provide the note. This isn’t new. I’m on my second set of kids in HS and the first set graduated in 2011.

[Anonymous]

Does it *matter* that the kid's absence is unexcused? Serious question.

I do my best to write a note (not doctor's note) when the kid returns to school after illness. Sometimes I've forgotten (we have three days and then they say it's too late). I don't see any implication at all. I think the color of the notation is different in parentvue. But nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it *matter* that the kid's absence is unexcused? Serious question.

I do my best to write a note (not doctor's note) when the kid returns to school after illness. Sometimes I've forgotten (we have three days and then they say it's too late). I don't see any implication at all. I think the color of the notation is different in parentvue. But nothing else.

There was a time when teachers did not have to accept work for a student who had an unexcused absence. But in looking at the current language, it says "Allowing makeup work, regardless of the reason for the student’s absence."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the school puts the doctor’s name in Google it’s going to find out what the doctor’s specialty is. Don’t trust them with that information.

A PEDIATRICIAN!!! I think they have better things to do..

Fine if it’s a pediatrician. If it’s a specialist it reveals information and it’s a mental health specialist they will gossip about it.

You all are nuts. I work at a school. No one gossips about these sorts of things. We may gossip about a hallway fight to try to figure out who was involved and what happened. Half the kids in schools these days have mental health issues. Seeing a mental health professional has become almost as routine as seeing the dentist or pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it *matter* that the kid's absence is unexcused? Serious question.

I do my best to write a note (not doctor's note) when the kid returns to school after illness. Sometimes I've forgotten (we have three days and then they say it's too late). I don't see any implication at all. I think the color of the notation is different in parentvue. But nothing else.

This is how it was 30 years ago when I was in HS, but for my kids, I've always sent emails or used the online form. Never occurred to me to send a handwritten note.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here- I told her I would send her the appointment reminder because I didn't have a note. It felt uncomfortable because the appointment was for a mental health professional

Is this at a school that starts with B? She's notoriously unreasonable and she will refuse to excuse the appointment.

NP
If you’re talking about Blair that woman is over the top. She called to verify a note we sent to excuse my son 15 minutes early for an appointment. Fifteen minutes before the end of school! She’s like the attendance Gestapo.

She calls to verify all parent notes. I assume enough kids are forging notes to make her effort worthwhile…

That's not true. She only calls about suspicious ones.

Too funny—she calls every time. My handwriting must look child like!

This is so interesting! My kid is at Blair and the attendance secretary has always been super friendly and understanding. We email for absences and early dismissals. I have never gotten a call in the last few years.

Pp who said the attendance secretary call every time. She’s super nice about it! I just assumed she did this as a matter of course. My kid has complicated medical situation so has a lot of doctors appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most schools are requiring notes from the office because there are plenty of parents who lie. It was amazing to me the other day when I had 4 kids miss my 1st period test, all with variations of doctor/dentist/ortho appt/appt run late. 🙄 yeah, right.

Dear Teacher, I appreciate you and the inconvenience of doing make-ups for kids who have a huge variety of excuses. But, these ortho/doctor/dentist offices require that we make appointments up to 6 months in advance, and we parents aren't able to guess when tests might be, or reschedule the appointments at the last minute. I know it is a hassle, but we aren't all liars. I will admit to having lied when my kid had 4 or 5 tests on a single day.

We all aren't liars...but I've lied when it benefited my child! The problem with this mindset is that if every student did this, the teacher would lose a lot of time trying to give retakes, but only the entitled fee benefit instead.

Eh, YMMV, but for my child 4 or 5 tests is a mental health issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the school puts the doctor’s name in Google it’s going to find out what the doctor’s specialty is. Don’t trust them with that information.

A PEDIATRICIAN!!! I think they have better things to do..

Fine if it’s a pediatrician. If it’s a specialist it reveals information and it’s a mental health specialist they will gossip about it.

I’m all for privacy but give the attendence secretary a little credit. She’s not going to gossip about a student’s therapy appointment. Also, this type of mindset is exactly why there is a stigma around mental health. Talking about mental health and normalizing caring for it is the best way to fight stigma and get more teens (and adults) into treatment. My child recognizes that he is not alone in his struggles. He has many friends who also see therapists and they discuss it with one another without shame or embarrassment. And these are all kids you would neber know struggle because they are honors/AP students, well behaved, and many are successful athletes.

I’ve been around MCPS too long to give the attendance secretary any credit or the benefit of the doubt. Don’t trust MCPS with your kids’ private medical information.