School flexibility for sports in Arlington

[Anonymous]

I'm sure this has been asked here before but I can't find a post about it. Does Arlington county allow elementary-age students to leave school early to participate in a sport? I know they do in high school but I can't find anything about elementary school. My daughter is a figure skater and is begging me to homeschool her so she can practice during the day, but I don't think have the organization skills to homeschool, and my mental health is much better if I get a break from my kids. Plus she generally loves school, especially the social aspect. And I definitely can't afford figure skating *and* private school. It seems ideal to have her leave a couple of hours early a few times a week. I know Fairfax county doesn't allow this but I'm not sure if it's a state thing or a county thing.

TIA

[Anonymous]

LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL.

OP here. This is a super annoying comment, but very helpful.

Might it depend at all on the school? Do they have the option to provide flexibility? My kids' school is borderline hippy (no homework policy, teachers aren't allowed to deny kids recess) and I can imagine the powers that be deciding it's in the best interest of the child.

I will talk to the principal but if anybody happens to know I'd love to hear it.

[Anonymous]

It may depend on the school, and also which subjects are in the afternoon slots. If your child is on an Olympic track, they might work with you.

But generally, no they won’t, nor should they. The school day is short enough as it is, and they have to provide your child with a full education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may depend on the school, and also which subjects are in the afternoon slots. If your child is on an Olympic track, they might work with you.

But generally, no they won’t, nor should they. The school day is short enough as it is, and they have to provide your child with a full education.

This, OP.

Unless she is involved in serious, high-level competition already at her young age, or is clearly being professionally trained for that because she's a prodigy, the school won't work with you. I think you're smart to recognize both that YOU need her to go to school and that she needs the social aspect. Stick with what your gut is telling you. She loves skating now and may still love it forever but I think you already know not to give in on this.

If she keeps skating, much later look into something called "time release" scheduling in which a student gets special dispensation to leave school -- it gets used sometimes for students who are in intensive pre-professional dance programs and I would think it could apply to skaters with serious competitive training. But I have never heard of its being used for any student below high school level. And I am not saying FCPS specifically does time release for athletes or dancers etc.; I'm just aware that it's done in some school systems.

[Anonymous]

OP- I can give you my perspective because I was a competitive figure skater myself (many years ago). I didn't go that far in singles, but I was on a national championship synchronized skating team in college. I went to public schools in the imdwest. My parents told me they could afford private high school, or figure skating but not both. We never considered home-schooling because I frankly wasn't talented enough to need complete freedom from school hours it at that point.

I think it's ridiculous that public schools are so inflexible for highly competitive students. For example my public high school in the late 1990's would not waive or moderate the 1 year PE requirement for me although I was doing competitive figure skating daily for multiple hours, along with weights, dance etc. I was an IB Honors student as well. There should be some middle ground to incoroporate high-level sports, outside of complete home-schooling. Some districts in the country allow for half-day or some online classes, but not sure about this area or Arlington County. A number of competitive figure skaters nationwide do full-time "online school" which you might want to look into. This is different from home-schooling because you have remote teachers online. I believe the most competitive skaters in Colorado Springs, for example, do this.

I would say to first talk to any families at your rink who are in Arlington County schools to see what they know. Then talk to your principal if there is a reason for specific absences, IE, can we leave 20 minutes early so she can get to a private lesson with her coach (which is not available at a later time)- but be prepared to explain, why he/she could miss something without an academic impact. (This becomes easier in middle/high school when you have potentially open/free-floating periods). Elementary is trickier. By high school I was able to arrive late and leave early (30-40 minutes on both sides) for practices, without any negative impact to my honors classes, requirements etc. It helped that I had an ally in the front office who also had a daughter who skated. But to work around high school hours, even arriving late, I would have to do 5-7am morning sessions, get to school by 8am or so. Then leave school at 1:30 (instead of 2:20) to make a 2pm start for afternoon sessions.

Big picture on figure skating- I would be careful about pushing your daughter/son at this age. I saw so many kids burn out by early high school after spending most of their childhood skating. In my opinion, keeping it light/loose in elementary is better and they can ramp up as they get to be 11/12 assuming it is their own motivation, and not yours. Now obviously there are some prodigies who are truly excelling in elementary, but it's sort of the exception. The two groups of kids I saw in skating, were 1) kids who spent elementary and middle school in skating and burned out in early high school, or 2) those who started later in elementary and early middle school who continued strong through high school and even college. Just keep in mind that staying in for the long-run is kind of rare.

[Anonymous]

I think the short answer is no. They will not allow your child an excused absence for figure skating practice multiple times per week. Schedule her practice after school hours.

[Anonymous]

I think the short answer is no. They will not allow your child an excused absence for figure skating practice multiple times per week. Schedule her practice after school hours.

(former skater again): The thing non-skaters don't understand is it's not that easy. Figure skating practices are often scheduled at rinks for when hockey teams don't want the ice (middle of the day). You have to get in practice nearly daily, and with private coaches 3+ times a week during these times. Elite coaches often don't have slots later in the day or ice time is not available. The few sessions that occur outside of school are tough because everyone wants them. So it's a tough position for this sport in particular, because you can only do it at an ice rink, which you have to drive to, and you are subjected to the times available to figure skating clubs (which are subservient to hockey).

If schools had skating teams (not saying they should), they would see the reailty of why this sport is slightly different from a scheduling perspective, than say swimming, tennis, softball or even gymnastics.

So bottom line, figure skaters do have a different set of circumstances than other sports, and it can be harder to work out schedules than other sports. One could argue "tough luck, go to private or homeschool", but do you really want the sport to only be filled with wealthy kids with stay at home parents? That would be unfortunate since the sport is already somewhat cost prohibitive...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- I can give you my perspective because I was a competitive figure skater myself (many years ago). I didn't go that far in singles, but I was on a national championship synchronized skating team in college. I went to public schools in the imdwest. My parents told me they could afford private high school, or figure skating but not both. We never considered home-schooling because I frankly wasn't talented enough to need complete freedom from school hours it at that point.

I think it's ridiculous that public schools are so inflexible for highly competitive students. For example my public high school in the late 1990's would not waive or moderate the 1 year PE requirement for me although I was doing competitive figure skating daily for multiple hours, along with weights, dance etc. I was an IB Honors student as well. There should be some middle ground to incoroporate high-level sports, outside of complete home-schooling. Some districts in the country allow for half-day or some online classes, but not sure about this area or Arlington County. A number of competitive figure skaters nationwide do full-time "online school" which you might want to look into. This is different from home-schooling because you have remote teachers online. I believe the most competitive skaters in Colorado Springs, for example, do this.

I would say to first talk to any families at your rink who are in Arlington County schools to see what they know. Then talk to your principal if there is a reason for specific absences, IE, can we leave 20 minutes early so she can get to a private lesson with her coach (which is not available at a later time)- but be prepared to explain, why he/she could miss something without an academic impact. (This becomes easier in middle/high school when you have potentially open/free-floating periods). Elementary is trickier. By high school I was able to arrive late and leave early (30-40 minutes on both sides) for practices, without any negative impact to my honors classes, requirements etc. It helped that I had an ally in the front office who also had a daughter who skated. But to work around high school hours, even arriving late, I would have to do 5-7am morning sessions, get to school by 8am or so. Then leave school at 1:30 (instead of 2:20) to make a 2pm start for afternoon sessions.

Big picture on figure skating- I would be careful about pushing your daughter/son at this age. I saw so many kids burn out by early high school after spending most of their childhood skating. In my opinion, keeping it light/loose in elementary is better and they can ramp up as they get to be 11/12 assuming it is their own motivation, and not yours. Now obviously there are some prodigies who are truly excelling in elementary, but it's sort of the exception. The two groups of kids I saw in skating, were 1) kids who spent elementary and middle school in skating and burned out in early high school, or 2) those who started later in elementary and early middle school who continued strong through high school and even college. Just keep in mind that staying in for the long-run is kind of rare.

Thank you. Good ideas. I will keep my expectations low. It is upsetting how much schools focus on a s acomódate football and soccer but remain inflexible on sports outside of school. But oh well. 5 AM practice it is.

For what it’s worth, I would never push my daughter to skate. She is absurdly stubborn and it’s a fight to push her to do chores. I couldn’t imagine pushing her to do wake up at 5 to skate. It’s just what she wants to do. I can’t believe how much dedication figure skaters have to have. You guys are very impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the short answer is no. They will not allow your child an excused absence for figure skating practice multiple times per week. Schedule her practice after school hours.

If only! Our rink doesn’t have after-school hours.

[Anonymous]

And early mornings are crowded and, you know, early.

[Anonymous]

On a related topic, our kid is on a SuperY soccer team that got invited to play in a national tournament Florida in December. They would miss some school. Is that an excused absence in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

School is mandatory... Why should they accommodate her missing school several times a week of an extracurricular at the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL level?

[Anonymous]

Missing school for a non-school sporting event is an unexcused absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School is mandatory... Why should they accommodate her missing school several times a week of an extracurricular at the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL level?

Why shouldn’t they? Rigorous physical exercise is good for kids and sitting in a classroom hours upon hours is not. If it were some burden for the school, okay. But as far as I know it’s not.