Unexcused Absenses- UPDATE 3/4/12

[sharon]

Haha - advanced abnormal psychology. He'll be way ahead of his classmates.

[bunsy]

I think it gets hard for kids in jr and sr high. Elementary school was never a problem for making up the work. The last time we went to Disney, the kids missed 3 days of school and ds1 was in 7th grade. He was really annoyed at doing the make-up work.

[charliesmom05]

Jan 2, 2012 21:05:18 GMT -6 sharon said:

Haha - advanced abnormal psychology. He'll be way ahead of his classmates.

You are too funny Sharon... I had to look that up. You just might be right :-)

[bumblebee23]

I don't see why it would be a big deal. However, talk to the teachers before you go and ask if there is any school work they would need to get done the week you are gone. It will help your child stay on top of everything while you are on vacation!

[charliesmom05]

yeah, I will talk with the teacher ahead of time. when we took ds out last month I emailed her a couple weeks ahead and she put together a few things but said the kids would actually be learning about other countries and filling out their passport which ds wouldn't be able to make up. I just went online and found out small facts about the countries they learned about and went over them with him, and when his "passport" came home we went over the blanks. No problem with that.

[aprilandy]

Schools have gotten a lot tougher on this. In lower grades it is generally less of an issue if you work with the teacher, etc. In many High Schools it is an issue. In our District it ten days will result in having to repeat the class in the summer, etc. My son has many doctor visits and I had to get special permission so they would not be counted as unexcused. Basically excused is only for school release time by the school.

"Chaska High School recognizes that daily attendance is critical to academic achievement and
therefore expects every student to attend school and class on time, every day. Chaska High
School has set, as a minimum standard, 95% attendance. This means that a student would not miss more than four days of school in a semester. Students with 7 full or partial days of
unauthorized cumulative absences from school are in violation of state compulsory education
law and are considered truant."

Types of Absences:
AUTHORIZED ABSENCES
Note: These count toward maximum 9-absence policy
„h Illness - undocumented
„h Illness in student‟s family
„h Professional appointments that cannot be scheduled outside
of the school day
„h College visits/college fair
„h Car trouble
„h Family matters necessitating absence from school with
advance notice
„h Absences outside of the student‟s control
UNAUTHORIZED ABSENCES
Note: These count toward maximum 9-absence policy
„h Running late (to class or to school)
„h Missing ride/bus
„h Truancy/skipping school
„h Oversleeping/sleeping in
„h Senior skip day
„h Unverified by parent/guardian
„h Other illegitimate excuses
SCHOOL EXCUSED ABSENCES
Note: These DO NOT count toward maximum 9-absence
policy, nor truancy
„h School sponsored curriculum and co curricular activities
„h Special talent/club activities-prior approval by Counselor
required
„h Suspension
„h Authorized appointments with school personnel
„h Death in student‟s immediate family or of a close relative or
friend
„h Illness ¡V original documentation required by medical
personnel
„h Illness ¡V H1N1 and influenza-like symptoms
„h Illness in student‟s immediate family ¡V original
documentation required from medical personnel
„h Legal/court appearances ¡V original documentation required
from court system
„h Religious instruction (up to 3 hours/week)
„h Religious holidays
„h Physical emergency conditions such as fire, flood, or storm
Maximum Absence Policy
The maximum absence policy is enforced if a student exceeds 9 absences from a class in one
semester. An absence from the authorized and unauthorized absences tables shown above
(the first 2 tables) count towards the maximum absence policy. Students will not receive
credit for a class in which absences exceed 9 in a semester under the authorized and
unauthorized categories.

It is a different world now....

[ReneeW]

I think my DD's school has the same policy -- 5 days are allowed for excused absences and after that they're considered "unexcused." But ... I kind of figure, that's OK if a few aren't considered "excused" as long as you don't have weeks of them. With weekends thrown in, you could do a couple of four-day weekends on non-holiday weeks. If you don't rack up too many "unexcused" absences I think you'll be fine, especially if you're communicating with the teacher and making sure that schoolwork gets done.

[deannemdm]

You could really use epcot to to the passport thing with him yourself-- half of it is a world tour--areas from each country with food, traditions, dance, etc native to the area

[dara1012]

Jan 2, 2012 21:10:16 GMT -6 bunsy said:

I think it gets hard for kids in jr and sr high. Elementary school was never a problem for making up the work. The last time we went to Disney, the kids missed 3 days of school and ds1 was in 7th grade. He was really annoyed at doing the make-up work.

It does get really hard in H.S. One of my brother's teachers didn't believe him that he needed a week off when our Grammy died. She lived in Boston and we were driving to the funeral, it takes 2 days to drive there and 2 days back and then the visitation and funeral. So yes, he needed a whole week away. They gave my mom a hard time about how long he was gone (so did my other brother's chemistry professor - but he was in college).

[charliesmom05]

I added an update last night to my main post. I guess my post doesn't get noticed unless I add a new reply, so here it is. I will come back after I go to school this morning and tell what happened

[bunsy]

Yikes! I'm glad my kids are done with school. I know there needs to be rules but there should be some flexibility based on situation as well. I would have been PO'd if I had to take my kids to doctor for some run of the mill virus just so they could go back to school.

I will count my blessings. I have no advice.

[cakemakermom]

That's bull. You are the parent. You are in charge of his health. You are the one who can choose to keep him home for a variety of reasons. Really the most they should be able to do is report it to child protective services, who would come out to your house and see there is nothing wrong in your household. It's idiotic that you would be facing jail time for making sure your child is healthy when he goes to school.

Sounds like some of the stupid, you can only be sick 5 days a year, policies many employers have.

[charliesmom05]

Cake, I hope we can't be facing jail time, I just read something online where a mom did go to jail bc she was fined and refused to pay... I was joking about the jail time, I hope.... but gotta go see what they do to me :-( Fingers crossed

[sharon]

I wonder if it's some weird thing that is automatically triggered in their database or something. I would call the principal, or whoever your administrative contact is, and just find out what exactly they want from you, given the situation.

[supermommy]

I think it is crap too.... I say if grades and participation while in school are not suffering then no big deal. When they are super young then I feel it matters even less as long as your reasons are valid. I think it should always be a case by case thing as each student is different.

When I was 13 I missed 45 days straight...in my defense I was technically dying but I kept up with homework and still got straight As many argued I should repeat the grade but in the end I didn't have to. My senior year I was almost never there I skipped all the time or left early all the time but again I had a 4.6 gap so they weren't really going to do anything about it. Haha