Day trip to Disneyland, teacher ticked, how to respond? - Page 2

[2GR8KIDS]

Is it a public school? They lose Average Daily Attendance money from the state when kids miss school, so they typically encourage parents to avoid scheduling trips, etc. on school days. If that was truly the teacher's concern, though, she should have raised it with you and not put your son on the spot or tried to drive a wedge between him and his parents! I would probably let it drop unless she mentions it again. Hope you had fun at Disneyland!

[EFmom]

It's none of her business and I wouldn't address it at all. It's your call, not hers.

[SunshineJ]

I really would let it go, and honestly I don't get this as all that much of an issue. You chose to take your child out for a day, notified the teacher in advance and are having your child make up the work. End of story. Teacher made a comment about what you did, well, ok, so she made a comment. The comment to you in itself wasn't really snippy or accusatory, just "I heard you did this". Yeah, you did. So what? As for her comment to your DC, I'd probably have addressed it with something like "she's right in that you shouldn't miss school or work all the time to go to have fun or if you're having a lot of trouble in school, but once in a while for a special day when you're doing well is all right." Kids miss school all the time for things, and teachers anticipate that this will happen. An occasional day isn't going to make or break the educational career of a 3rd grader who is doing well, and as long as it's not habitual then no, you don't owe her an explanation.

K.

[oceanbaby]

I don't think it's any of her business. I really don't appreciate schools overstepping their bounds into the parenting realm. I wouldn't respond at all. If she was challenging me on it, I'd kindly let her know that we have it all under control, thank you.

My grandparents lived in Anaheim, and every year my parents took us out of school for a few days to go visit and go to Disneyland. Didn't seem to do us any harm - I graduated with honors from one of the top Universities in the country.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I wouldn't address it at all. Really, not her business.

I agree.

It may not be an excused absence but as long as you aren't taking your child out weekly to go on fun field trips like this then I don't see where it would be a problem. You are your child's parent and if you want to spend time with them then it is none of the school's business. You put your child there willingly and can remove them at any time.

My children were in a school last year (we HS now) and two kids in my DD's kindergarten class went to Disney World. We live over 9 hrs away from it and they were both out of school for a whole week and so were their older siblings who were in older grades at the same school. They planned for it and told the teachers about it several weeks before going.

[Zach'smom]

I would let the teacher know in a nice way that if there is a problem with me taking my child out of school, please address me, not my child.

We are taking our first grade ds out of school for a week to take him to Disney World. I am going to let the teacher know about it when I go for conferences next week. That way she has a month heads up. We are going to be telling ds about the trip shortly, so I know he will end up talking about it. The school can let ME know if they have a problem with the trip. Not Ds. The school frowns at taking kids out for vacation, but won't hassle you you if you do.

[langyork]

Are you kidding me? Teachers miss more than the students!!!!

[runes]

Originally Posted by langyork

Are you kidding me? Teachers miss more than the students!!!!

: Nice double standard. She can admonish you and your child for taking a day off of school for personal reasons, but she can take personal days and not be accountable to the students or the parents of the students for it. It is none of her business and highly inappropriate that she voiced anything about your family trip to Disney.

By the way, DP grew up in SoCal and has awesome memories of his parents doing this.

[orangewallflower]

You know, it all seems like it went well. You asked DS not to say anything, and he didn't until asked. When asked, he was honest which is the right thing for him to do. The teacher is dedicated, and she let her son know that going to Disneyland doesn't meet her bar for missing school. It was totally your call as a parent, and the teacher understands this. Of course, you feel a little bad because you and the teacher have a minor disagreement about whether a kid should be taken out of school to go to Disneyland, but I seriously doubt she has changed her opinion of you. She was also just being honest. Unless there is something that you'd like to accomplish by communicating further there's really no reason to.

[hellyaellen]

when dd was in school we took here out for a family vacation, planned for the weekend but we were having so much fun we ended up missing monday too.

it was an unexcused abscense and i think the teacher did say something about it being an inappropriate reason to miss school to dd, but i just let it go. i told my dd that we were allowed 5 abcenses a year and if we thought it was important enough we'd take her out when we felt like it.........but didn't say anything to the teacher.........

[kimiij]

It's none of her business. You decide when your kids miss school, not the school. I wouldn't even address it.

[JElaineB]

The school district here has a policy that if a family takes a vacation during the school year it is considered an excused absence as long as the trip "can't be taken at another time". I don't plan to take DS on any extended vacations but I wouldnt' expect any grief for taking one, especially for a one day trip. Hope you enjoyed your day!

[Tanibani]

Thanks for the all the support. I ended up never bringing it up. I was supposed to work in the classroom last Wed, but my 4 yr old got sick, so we stayed home.

So in essence, enough time has passed for it to be "water under the bridge." Over and done with.

Though... now that we have annual passes, I am SO looking forward to taking each of them (solo) on day trips on select weekends. :