when you take kids out of school for vacation

Is it always recorded as an unexcused absence? And what does that actually mean? Just looking at some schools for DD1. One of them seems to have stronger wording about not taking kids out for vacation, that it will be recorded as an illegal absence, while another says to get assignments from a classmate. Maybe I should ask the school, but it would probably make a bad impression, lol.

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

I only did it once for one day (they were off on Monday for Columbus Day, I pulled her out Tuesday, and they were off on Wed for Yom Kippur)

I told the teacher ahead of time she'd be out that Tuesday.

That was it.

I noticed on her report card that it said absence - 1
and it had a U next to it- Unexcused.

But that was it- I never heard boo about it.

It really means nothing. Unless they have a TON of unexcused absences I would imagine

a few shouldn't make a difference

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

Unless your child has 14 unexcused absences, not being sick, but leaving for vacation, then it should be OK for the child to go to the next grade. In my district, the principal sent out a letter that some children were arriving to school consistently late. They were doing it so often that they have now changed the rules so that if your DC is late consistently it will start to count as a part day absence.

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

Our school... to my knowledge does not make a distinction between types of absences. If longer than 5 days, you "need" a doctor note.

We take our kids out of school for vacation for 3-5 days a year. The kids rarely miss school due to illness. I've always been upfront with the teacher (we can't get matching vacations, so took this week because it was shorter, etc). They have always been genuinely fine with it.

when you take kids out of school for vacation

From what someone told me, they don't care that the kid is missing education time. What they care about is missing state funding. Apparently, they get state funding based on how many students are in the school each day. I assume that for an excused absence (sick, family emergency, etc.) they would get the aid anyway. But, for an unexcused absence, they wouldn't get the money.

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

When I took DS out for 4 days for vacation, they told me to bring a note when he returned and that they would be unexcused absences. The school "rule" book discusses children should attend every day unless they are sick and you have to sign something to that effect, but really, not much they can do.
His 1st grade teacher did not care. She gave him a small packet of work and said have fun.

when you take kids out of school for vacation

There isn't much they can do to you in public school, I know I work in one and it's a lost cause lol So they can "word" things however they want.

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

Just unexcused is recorded in our school. It doesn't mean much to me, our work schedules do not coincide with the school schedule. All teachers have been good about us pulling the kids.

when you take kids out of school for vacation

DS is in kindergarten. He just missed a week of school because we were in Korea, as part of the process to adopt our new son! I sent a letter to the principal/office explaining why he would be out... and i noticed that they were marked as unexcused absences.
whatever- we had no choice. we don't have anybody that could stay with him while DH and i went, plus we wanted him to be involved in the whole process. He'll probably miss another week when we go back to actually bring our new son home....
his teacher gave made him a "plane packet" with some make-up work, a pencil/ pencil sharpener/ eraser and was very excited for us to go.

Re: when you take kids out of school for vacation

Posted by ml110

DS is in kindergarten. He just missed a week of school because we were in Korea, as part of the process to adopt our new son! I sent a letter to the principal/office explaining why he would be out... and i noticed that they were marked as unexcused absences.
whatever- we had no choice. we don't have anybody that could stay with him while DH and i went, plus we wanted him to be involved in the whole process. He'll probably miss another week when we go back to actually bring our new son home....
his teacher gave made him a "plane packet" with some make-up work, a pencil/ pencil sharpener/ eraser and was very excited for us to go.

when you take kids out of school for vacation

In the district where I worked, you needed 28 unexcused absences in a year to lose credit for a course. I imagine most consider vacation unexcused unless you show it is an educational trip but unless it is extremely excessive it doesn't really matter. I'm sure all districts have an attendance policy they follow.