Are those absentee letters a big deal? - Page 2

[Flor]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

Here, you FAIL....no exceptions, for more rhan 10 abscenses per year...that is actually the same policy in..oh, about the last 3-4 schools I attended personally (way back in the 90's, LOL!!!) and the ones i am currently familiar with through my stepsons and brother and several other school age people.....i honestl thought it was the law everywhere??? (i'm talking about dfifferent school districts in different states even!)

Basically, the schools here do not build in a very large margin for abseces...according to the law, you HAVE to be in schoo a certain number of days for the year to count....and they only have school 10 additional days beyond that minimum number...SO, if you miss more than 10 days, for ANY reason, you do not get credit for the school year PERIOD.
The only possible exceptions are for hospitalization (of the student) and *possibly* the death of the students primary parent. NOTHING ELSE.

VACATIONS? REALLY? a public school lets you get away with that? OMG..there is a special section in our attendance that family vacations are absolutely non-excusable and the truant officer will be called IMMEDIATELY (regardless of previous number of absences) if you try to get away with taking a kid out of school for a vacation.....IN FACT, they deliberately schedule finals and papers and other important stuff on the days immediately before and ofter scheduled school vacation (like Xmas break), such that if you were to miss one of those days...basically, you';d fail the class anyway by missing the work from that day.

My middle school did not fail a single student for any reason last year, so no, they don't fail here for missing 10 days. Kids just don't fail around here. They are held back only with parent permission.

We can take vacations if it is arranged ahead of time. You are given an independent study contract and work must be returned within three days of you coming back. You have to give 2 weeks notice to process the paperwork and get prinicipal approval. My school has a high population of students from Mexico and many students leave for Mexico mid-December and return mid-January. Failing such a large popluation just wouldn't work!

[oceanbaby]

My parents were very, um, fluid about my attendance in first and second grade. (I didn't go to K.) We lived in a small town in Canada at the time, and we used to come to California every winter. My dad recently found my old school records, and I apparently was absent 89 days in first grade. Oops!

Fast forward to elementary school here in the States. Again, my parents were of the opinion that we would learn just as much at home as in school, and pretty much trusted us to determine when we felt like going. (We were good kids with good grades, so there was nothing to really worry about.) My mom got a call from the school and was asked why I was absent so much. My mom told her that I was sick, just kind of blowing her off, and the lady pretty much insinuated that if I was sick so much then there must be a problem at home that CPS should look into.

I'm glad you have found a solution by withdrawing her from school. Attendance policies are only one of the reasons we decided to homeschool, but even if your child is in school I think parents should really stand up for their parental rights. I really don't like the "Big Brother" aspect of school these days. You are still the parent, not them. I read a thread on here within the last year about their child's school implementing a sick policy that basically stated that a parent had to send their child to school and then the school would determine if they were sick enough to go back home. Uh, I don't think so!

[momma,mia]

We live in a small community so I am sure this is different than some of the more strict stories I am hearing. It is probably b/c we all know each other and usually all have a good relationship with the principal and teachers (it is a very small school).

Being tardy isjust when the child shows up to school late, regardless of the excuse. After 3 of these, they are counted as an absence. When I was teaching, I was the one who kept up with this. I wouldn't even count most tardies unless it became a problem.

Absences- I think ours was 10 too. It didn't matter if there was an excuse or not and if they didn't have an excuse (parent or dr. written) then teachers don't have to let the students make up their work. I ALWAYS let the kids make up their work. It wasn't their fault (first graders). Sometimes the kids would even tell me that they weren't sick, they just got up late and mom said they didn't have to come, haha.

Coming from a teacher, it is hard to catch a child up when you are trying to teach 20 other kids. Sometimes your only time to work with them is during recess and that is no fun for anyone. Teachers need that time to make copies, run errands, and yes, go pee!

I also think at the school where I worked and where my daughter goes now, would not refer us to the truant officer if we talked to her personally and told her that my daughter was sick. I think just letting them know may help, but in bigger schools where there isn't as much interaction b/t the principal and parents, this might be difficult.

Oh, one more thing. We did have a parent whose daughter and son would miss up to 20 days a year. For some reason if the parent said it was a FAMILY EMERGENCY, then the child had to be allowed to miss. I don't understand exactly how that works, but that is what I was told

[mata]

just chiming in to say we got one of these letters earlier in the year and I was FURIOUS! They spit them out at intervals of five and ten absences, then after 15 you have to appear in front of a board. The thing that infuriated me most was our school not providing any info in writing about their absentee policy, yet they sent out these incredibly hostile letters throwing around harsh words like truant, etc. in spite of my having provided dr's notes for 4 out of 6 of dd's absences! I was very offended and I blasted the principal in an email-saying things like perhaps their attendance would improve if they spent more time focusing on hygiene by not allowing food sharing and making sure the bathrooms have soap! (three times I've been in the first grade girls' room the soap dispenser has been completely empty!) And that they should inform the parents what the absentee policy is before they send out nastygrams! After my email the principal put together a newsletter about the school absentee policy and it irked me even further-saying crap like "it's like my father always used to say-you can feel sick at home, or at school-at school you'll be learning something." Sorry lady-not the way we think in our house-we value ourselves enough to take time off when we're sick! And more often than not, when dd is home she's reading about sharks, Egypt, pirates, etc.

oh, and vacations are permissable-provided you make arrangements with the teacher to take work along. Give me a break! My parents also kept me out of school a lot to travel-you learn a heck of a lot more from that than from some workbook exercise.

[moondiapers]

Originally Posted by mattemma04

Well I called my dd off again today due to her flu.I got a call from the principal letting me know that he would be sending out a warning letter due to the 8 days she has missed since September.At 15 days we get sent to juvie court.He said I could remove some of the more recent days if I fax in a letter from a doctor,but I am not going to spend the money and expose dd to other sick people to get a note to prove she is sick. I will probably remove her from ps during break if I can get dh to agree.

Call the principal and tell him you'd be more than happy to take your dd to the doctor if he pays for it. Or you can play the religion card.

[momma,mia]

Well, I am glad he responded by sending out a note. At least he read the email but man, does he Or she even care about establishing rapport with parents??

That sucks that he is being so insensitive about kids being sick. As a teacher, I would rather the kids that are sick stay home and get better. Also by them staying home there is a better chance that the rest of the class won't get sick either!