Anonymous wrote:OP- This happened to me in another school system. I got a note saying my child had too many unexcused absences with a threat to involve the courts. I called the school and they demanded I get medical notes for the days my child saw a doctor. I think we had 11 unexcused days - one full week for confirmed flu and then strep twice. It was a rough year. Plus I pulled them out when their older brother returned from Afghanistan.

Here's the thing - We have five kids and this was our youngest. School threats don't rattle me like they do a lot of parents. I called the school's bluff. I wasn't about to go through the hassle of finding old medical records. My child was a straight A student in the gifted program. I told the school to escalate it if they felt it was important enough, otherwise I didn't want to hear another word about it.

They dropped it. I feel very strongly that schools overstep their boundaries. If I say my kids are sick, they are sick. If I want to pull them out of school for an overseas trip, I will. I'm not asking permission. Once I made it clear that I wasn't at all concerned, the school backed off. I was polite, but firm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- This happened to me in another school system. I got a note saying my child had too many unexcused absences with a threat to involve the courts. I called the school and they demanded I get medical notes for the days my child saw a doctor. I think we had 11 unexcused days - one full week for confirmed flu and then strep twice. It was a rough year. Plus I pulled them out when their older brother returned from Afghanistan.

Here's the thing - We have five kids and this was our youngest. School threats don't rattle me like they do a lot of parents. I called the school's bluff. I wasn't about to go through the hassle of finding old medical records. My child was a straight A student in the gifted program. I told the school to escalate it if they felt it was important enough, otherwise I didn't want to hear another word about it.

They dropped it. I feel very strongly that schools overstep their boundaries. If I say my kids are sick, they are sick. If I want to pull them out of school for an overseas trip, I will. I'm not asking permission. Once I made it clear that I wasn't at all concerned, the school backed off. I was polite, but firm.

I like your attitude! After years overseas and in private (American) schools, I find the nanny-state aspect of DCPS to be so oppressive. Don't get me wrong, I understand that schools need to play this role in ensuring children are not being neglected or worse, but personally I find it hard to deal with.

Anonymous wrote:20:15, it depends on the school. My former school made us write a note for every absence. The new school prefers you call the front office. Also, enforcement seems to vary per school. Some WOTP elementaries seem to accept the international travel excuse more readily (I suspect you are at the one I'm thinking of), but other elementaries enforce the policy strictly. However, I kind of think that 10 unexcused absences isn't that hard to manage. I could take my kids out for two weeks to go to Spain and not even have a problem. Yes, they'll be absent outside of that, but only with excused illnesses. Not such a big deal. Oh, except for little Larla and her tuba recitals that is.

Anonymous wrote:OP- This happened to me in another school system. I got a note saying my child had too many unexcused absences with a threat to involve the courts. I called the school and they demanded I get medical notes for the days my child saw a doctor. I think we had 11 unexcused days - one full week for confirmed flu and then strep twice. It was a rough year. Plus I pulled them out when their older brother returned from Afghanistan.

Here's the thing - We have five kids and this was our youngest. School threats don't rattle me like they do a lot of parents. I called the school's bluff. I wasn't about to go through the hassle of finding old medical records. My child was a straight A student in the gifted program. I told the school to escalate it if they felt it was important enough, otherwise I didn't want to hear another word about it.

They dropped it. I feel very strongly that schools overstep their boundaries. If I say my kids are sick, they are sick. If I want to pull them out of school for an overseas trip, I will. I'm not asking permission. Once I made it clear that I wasn't at all concerned, the school backed off. I was polite, but firm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like this happened to my friend in DCPS when his kids missed the last two weeks of school before summer to travel to Europe. The family mistakenly sent a note to the classroom teacher instead of the office. These absences pushed the kids over the limit of 10.

The family got calls from Children and Family Services, and the school un-enrolled the kids. All a big hassle. But ultimately no harm done. Children and Family Services made the required phone call (no follow up required because the kids were clearly not at risk - they were in the South of France!), and the kids re-enrolled at the same school for the next school year. This would have been a huge problem, however, had the kids not been attending their IB school.

Wow - the school simply un-enrolled them? This does not sound like a desirable school.