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Which school systems are -- or aren't -- flexible with taking kids out for cruises?


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Please, I'm hoping this thread does not turn into a debate about the relative merits of taking kids out of school for a cruise. Instead, I'm addressing those who have already done it. I'm curious as to which school systems are flexible about it, and willing to work with you (or at least not make it difficult), and which ones are real hard-noses about it.

 

I've read accounts from some people who have had all sorts of obstacles thrown in their path, even to the point of being threatened with being hauled into truancy court; while others have reported that their school sent them off with nary a second thought. Is this something that is decided on a state-by-state basis? Or is it truly district by district, or even school by school? (No offense to the Texans here, but a lot of the horror stories I've heard have come out of your state.)

 

For us, we took our son out of kindergarten for a week, and it was no trouble at all. All we had to do was write a short letter to the principal, copying the teacher, stating the dates we would be absent, and the reason. (I told the truth, that we were going on a cruise.) They approved the absences. The teacher gave us the homework for the week ahead of time, and we made sure that our son completed it and turned it in the day he got back.

 

I'm curious as to what other people's experiences have been, and if there is any kind of correlation as to which states (or districts) are more flexible than others. (We're in Howard County, Maryland.) Thanks!

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Here in Nebraska I've never heard of anyone being given a hard time when taking kids out of school, or in Montana, where some of my grandchildren are. I do think this is area-specific and also depends on how much other school they have missed. I know some states/school districts are much stricter.

 

We have taken 7 grandchildren on a cruise, and just notified the schools when they would be gone. Some teachers gave them homework ahead of time, some had them make up work when they got back and one had a child do a project with pictures and writing on their experiences.

 

As the oldest kids are now in 8th grade, it will get more difficult in high school as a couple of them will be involved in sports, but still doable as we would work around the sport schedules.

 

As a former teacher, IMO travel is a decision that should be left up to the parents, in most circumstances, and definitely can be very educational and broadening--my grandchildren still talk a lot about their experiences on the last cruise. I'd like to take them again this year, before they all start hitting high school and 15, if we possibly can.

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They are YOUR kids....no school system should give you a hard time about taking your kids out of school for a family vacation!

 

Certainly, it's much easier when the kids are in elementary school.....the older they get, the more they miss...but no school system should hassle you for trying to have "family" time.

 

Of course, this is all based on kids that don't routinely miss school! A student in good standing (and their family) should have no issues at all.

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Los Angeles/LAUSD has zero official flexibility but there's a possibility of independent study. Last year I took my twins out for 3 days to visit Washington DC where they met with a lobbyist to learn meeting strategies and then they actually had meetings with Congressional staff to talk about an issue - activities I would think qualify as educational, but because it didn't fall into the death/illness category, they could only avoid truancy if their teachers allowed independent study. One did, one didn't. We went anyway, so one of my kids had a record of perfect attendance for last year and one has a truancy on her record (and I received a letter threatening further action if it happens again). I grew up in the same school system and there used to be flexibility, but it's all about $$ now. The private schools allow full flexibility, so it's not a matter of how important it is to be at your desk each day - it's about the public school needing the cash for attendance. I agree with CB that it should be my decision, but legally it's not.

 

Best,

Mia

Edited by Kerry's Girls
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They are YOUR kids....no school system should give you a hard time about taking your kids out of school for a family vacation!

 

Certainly, it's much easier when the kids are in elementary school.....the older they get, the more they miss...but no school system should hassle you for trying to have "family" time.

 

Of course, this is all based on kids that don't routinely miss school! A student in good standing (and their family) should have no issues at all.

 

I agree but many states have statutes governing how many hours a child must be in class, etc. I think the only way to get around this is to live in a state that doesn't dictate this (probably not too many), home school, or send the kids to private school. The state does have "jurisdiction" over our children in term of educational requirements once they reach a certain age (some states it's five, some it's six, and so on).

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My district is very flexible and has to be. We loose a lot of kids whose parents take extended stay in Mexico over the breaks. We have Independent Study, wich allows us to pull study for at least 5 days and complete all the work that MUST be provided by the teacher. We offer Saturday school for kids to make up unexcused absenses and missed work.

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We are close to you in Fairfax County. Here, kids can miss up to 15 days of school without much problem. The official statement is that if they are absent more than 15 days they will be removed from the school and you would have to re-register them when you return. Whether that actually happens seems to depend on the principal of the school.

We have not taken the kids out for more than a week.. We are taking a cruise the week of Thanksgiving (they will miss a day and a half that week) and the entire following week.

I will send the teachers a note this week to give them a heads up and ask them to prepare a package of work for them. My kids are in 4th and 2nd grade.

 

Every school system is different, I think it depends on how they get their funding. I have a friend in CA that had a hard time pulling his son out of school for a few days..

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We are in the UK. The Government have recently introduced legislation that means that headteachers are no longer allowed to authorise absences during term time. In addition to this you will be fined (per child, per parent) and there is a chance of losing your school place but whether these are actually enforced I don't know. However there is a loophole, which we are taking advantage of this year, which is that a child doesn't legally have to be at school until the term after they turn 5.

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As a former teacher, IMO travel is a decision that should be left up to the parents, in most circumstances, and definitely can be very educational and broadening--my grandchildren still talk a lot about their experiences on the last cruise. I'd like to take them again this year, before they all start hitting high school and 15, if we possibly can.

AMEN!

 

When my child is school age we still plan to take vacations. No way will a teacher convince me doing worksheets in class is better than lifetime family memories.

Once he enters middle and high school the decision will probably rest with him. Since missing classes and sports practices can be a detriment to future success.

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Our school district in Missouri can turn you in for truancy if you miss a certain number of days. At the magic number of 10 missed days for any reason, you receive a letter with a bunch of warnings and admonishments about how important school is for your child. The school's social worker also calls for an explanation of why your child has missed school. They will help you make a plan to get your kid in school. This is strictly about $, schools get $ for every child in school on an hourly basis. So missed school means losing funding. Even tardies and doctor appointments can cause the school to loose funding. We are lucky that our district is funded so well that they are very lenient with the absences. I think you will find that other states and/or districts are more stringent based on how well they are funded and how the state distributes funds. So you can see how some schools would be very strict about absences.

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My parents have never taken me out of school for a cruise or a long vacation since the 3rd grade. But, we have done trips that require 2-3 days off school over a weekend, which there is no problem getting off. You just speak to your teachers ahead of time to get the work (if you're smart, most teachers appreciate the "heads up") and then go on your way. All you have to do then is phone the school office and leave a message saying what day(s) you'll be away from classes so the student is not marked as a skip, but rather an excused absence.

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I am curious - are private schools subjected to the same scrutiny?

 

No. The issue seems to be that public schools are paid x amount per student per day. If a student is not at school, the school (or district) doesn't get paid. If 10-15% of students are not present on any given day, because of illness, hooky, vacations, doctors appointments etc., the school gets paid 10-15% less. This can play havoc with budgets.

 

Private schools get paid no matter whether the student attends or not. In addition, they don't want to offend their "customers" by insisting on excellent attendance.

 

I live in Canada (now, I used to be a private school teacher in the US). We have no problem taking our kids out for vacation. That having been said, I'm planning to take 3 kids out for an additional 7 school days around the Christmas break for our upcoming cruise. Two of them are in high school. I'm planning to be very apologetic when I email the teachers. :)

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No. The issue seems to be that public schools are paid x amount per student per day. If a student is not at school, the school (or district) doesn't get paid. If 10-15% of students are not present on any given day, because of illness, hooky, vacations, doctors appointments etc., the school gets paid 10-15% less. This can play havoc with budgets.

 

Private schools get paid no matter whether the student attends or not. In addition, they don't want to offend their "customers" by insisting on excellent attendance.

 

I live in Canada (now, I used to be a private school teacher in the US). We have no problem taking our kids out for vacation. That having been said, I'm planning to take 3 kids out for an additional 7 school days around the Christmas break for our upcoming cruise. Two of them are in high school. I'm planning to be very apologetic when I email the teachers. :)

 

OK. Our son is only 4, so this has not been an issue for us, but I know my wife is looking at sending him to private schools so was wondering if this would be a problem or not. It would be nice to have options to pull him out of school, if needed for a vacation.

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Our son went to private school and was subjected to the same state mandatory attendance law as public school students. For those thinking private schools don't care about such things because "they are getting paid", it was not the case with our son's schools. They absolutely did not tolerate truancy. Taking a child from school for a vacation was simply unthinkable if we wanted our child to keep his slot in those schools. Actually, the handbooks given out at the beginning of the school year informed parents that students could be dismissed for any or no reason. I personally saw children kicked out for behavioral problems.

 

Also, those who think these private schools don't want to offend the paying customer and won't say anything about attendance or anything else are very wrong. I guess it depends on where you live, but the private schools here have long waiting lists of prospective students who are desperate to get into these schools. They are definitely not hurting for money.

 

This is just anecdotal, but one rule at my child's schools was that parents were not allowed to bring forgotten items to the school. That included homework, projects, books, coats, lunch...anything. Our son was on the running tab lunch program which we paid for monthly, but not all kids were. Some were on the daily pay or brought their lunches. If they forgot their lunch or money for lunch they received a single peanut butter sandwich (no jelly) and a milk, gratis.

 

I really want to emphasize to those who think private school students are living on easy street that they are so wrong.

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Our son went to private school (where???) and was subjected to the same state mandatory attendance law as public school students. For those thinking private schools don't care about such things because "they are getting paid", it was not the case with our son's schools (which one???) . They absolutely did not tolerate truancy. Taking a child from school for a vacation was simply unthinkable if we wanted our child to keep his slot in those schools (where and which one). Actually, the handbooks given out at the beginning of the school year informed parents that students could be dismissed for any or no reason. I personally saw children kicked out for behavioral problems. (what kind)

 

Also, those who think these private schools don't want to offend the paying customer and won't say anything about attendance or anything else are very wrong. I guess it depends on where you live, (where do you live?)but the private schools here (where??) have long waiting lists of prospective students who are desperate to get into these schools. They are definitely not hurting for money.

 

This is just anecdotal, but one rule at my child's schools (where??) was that parents were not allowed to bring forgotten items to the school. That included homework, projects, books, coats, lunch...anything. Our son was on the running tab lunch program which we paid for monthly, but not all kids were. Some were on the daily pay or brought their lunches. If they forgot their lunch or money for lunch they received a single peanut butter sandwich (no jelly) and a milk, gratis.

 

I really want to emphasize to those who think private school students are living on easy street that they are so wrong. - you are living on paid street, EXPENSIVE

 

Clap, Clap, Clap

 

I think the OP was trying to get a sense of what each personal school district policy or specific school system. What STATE/COUNTY and what school district did you child attend school?

 

In Riverside County CA, and several other counties, kids can miss 15 sick days without a doctors note. Family emergencies used to be excused but now only funerals. Yes, some kids grandparents pass away monthly.

 

Question - do you need a doctors note for absences and after how many?. My kids are almost never out sick but on the rare occasion a call to the attendance office was all it took.

Edited by Blk_Amish
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We are in Wisconsin. For now there is not a state-wide policy on taking your kids out of school, each district has its own policy.

 

When our DD was in elementary school, at her school we just had to talk to her teacher. In Middle school, she had a form that she needed to bring to each teacher to sign off on. They recorded the work that she would be required to do. Form had to be completed two weeks prior to vacation. Similar form in high school. No big deal.

 

Have to avoid test periods. That's about it.

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Clap, Clap, Clap

 

I think the OP was trying to get a sense of what each personal school district policy or specific school system. What STATE/COUNTY and what school district did you child attend school?

 

In Riverside County CA, and several other counties, kids can miss 15 sick days without a doctors note. Family emergencies used to be excused but now only funerals. Yes, some kids grandparents pass away monthly.

 

Question - do you need a doctors note for absences and after how many?. My kids are almost never out sick but on the rare occasion a call to the attendance office was all it took.

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm not big on giving out much personal info such as my location, but I will say Houston. We now live outside of Houston and I wouldn't send my dogs to school in the Houston Independent School District. That's why our son went to private school. Even after we moved out to a bedroom community, we kept him in his private school. I will say that we live in an excellent school district (not Houston) and most of our son's friends are from the local public schools. Also, the rules, laws and regulations regarding schooling here are not based on individual school districts or counties. These rules are state wide for every school. My son's schools required a phone call reporting an absence. In the public schools, a phone call to the student's parents is likely after a couple of absences in a row. Better have a doctor's note. Fifteen sick days without a note is extremely generous.

 

 

I don't want to go on too much about it because I'm sure I'll offend someone, but I seriously doubt that the Houston public schools care if kids show up or not. I'm talking about a district that provides free breakfast, lunch and now dinner. On top of that, they are now sending kids home with backpacks filled with food for the weekends. The district also serves breakfast and lunch during the summer break at parks throughout the city. My BIL is in the Houston Fire Dept. and once or twice a year, firefighters will go and canvass neighborhoods with a list of names and addresses of drop outs. They are offered incentives if they pledge to return to school. My BIL tells us that in his entire nearly thirty year career that he has never had even one kid make the commitment. What does that tell you.

 

 

We don't live in Houston proper anymore but our child went to St. Anne and St. Thomas.....both in Houston.

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Please, I'm hoping this thread does not turn into a debate about the relative merits of taking kids out of school for a cruise. Instead, I'm addressing those who have already done it. I'm curious as to which school systems are flexible about it, and willing to work with you (or at least not make it difficult), and which ones are real hard-noses about it.

 

I've read accounts from some people who have had all sorts of obstacles thrown in their path, even to the point of being threatened with being hauled into truancy court; while others have reported that their school sent them off with nary a second thought. Is this something that is decided on a state-by-state basis? Or is it truly district by district, or even school by school? (No offense to the Texans here, but a lot of the horror stories I've heard have come out of your state.)

 

For us, we took our son out of kindergarten for a week, and it was no trouble at all. All we had to do was write a short letter to the principal, copying the teacher, stating the dates we would be absent, and the reason. (I told the truth, that we were going on a cruise.) They approved the absences. The teacher gave us the homework for the week ahead of time, and we made sure that our son completed it and turned it in the day he got back.

 

I'm curious as to what other people's experiences have been, and if there is any kind of correlation as to which states (or districts) are more flexible than others. (We're in Howard County, Maryland.) Thanks!

 

Our children are now young adults.

 

Our experience was that in Kindergarten, it was not an issue to take the child out and even the early years of elementary school where we once did and our older child was given some school work to do and also did a trip report. However, in the upper grades this was not supported and the guidelines did not allow students to be out of school greater than two days without a doctors note. This was true in two areas that we lived in Northern California and in Northern Texas.

 

Keith

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We used to patronize a private school in Southern California that had no problems with our being the decision makers for our children (vacation days or otherwise) . Now we are in the "homeschool district" and have still have no issues. Our local public school is comparable to some of the more controlling ones mentioned above. On a local level it really is all about the funding. On a higher level it is a bit different..

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I'm a teacher in California. The official rules ( whether enforced or not) is three days or more a doctors note is required. You can request an independent study, but this is not always allowed. For instance I am a special education teacher and there is no option for independent study for special education students. Once you hit the magic number of absences ( usually around 10) they will start the SARB process which could get you fined and if excessive even jailed( though I have never seen that actually happen. If it gets to that point usually the home life is so bad CPS is involved and the kids are taken before that-actually had a case like that unfortunately.)

 

Kindergarten is different. It is not mandated in California so they might send threatening notes etc, but legally they can't do anything. In California the schools are paid partially by student attendance so if you don't show up we don't get paid. I always tell my parents just send them for an hour then take them to the doctor/ dentist or bring them after the appointment.

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I am in Pennsylvania. I believe we are district by district. I took my child out when he was in third grade for a week but just told the teacher. They will not give homework ahead of time...they have one day for every absent day to make up work. This year I am taking my kids out in December ..one is in 3rd, so no biggie, but my older one is now in 7th. I am a little worried about that. I have not approached the school yet, but it says in the handbook that "vacations during school are strongly discouraged." They cannot be taken out during our state exams, but they publish them well in advance.

 

As for absent days from school, in our elementary center if they are out 3 consecutive days they need a doctors note. In the middle school that is also true, but when the absent days hit 10 (total, not consecutive) , every absent day after that requires a doctors note. The son in 7th has asthma, so if he gets sick he gets hit hard. I hope we don't have a problem since he will already have 5 of those 10 gone with vacation!

 

I am having anxiety about taking them out, but with my job and my husband's job, it is hard to get prime time vacation. I get 4 weeks, he gets 5, but only one week can be taken during the summer and it is based on seniority.

 

sent from my Samsung galaxy s3

Edited by tammy531
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In Broward County (Ft Lauderdale area), FL you can miss 10 days (excused although not sure about consecutive). After 3 days they may require a doctors note. I've actually never been asked for one. But as for unexcused (vacations are unexcused whether educationally based or not) at 5 consecutive days the computer generates a letter to the states attorney's office and there is no way to bypass it. Now yes you could call in everyday from the ship and say they are sick to stop it. But being the parent of a kindergartner (situation was 2 years ago) you've probably not learned the system yet and so yes we got the truancy threat and hired an attorney. Now the other issue in my case was that he ended up sick on that cruise with a bad cold and wouldn't have been at school that week anyway so had I called in it would have been the truth.

 

I've got my son on a wait list for a Charter School in Palm Beach County and brought up the situation and there I was told oh that isn't an issue, taking our kids on vacation is a great experience that they need.

 

The issue between the two situations seems to be one uses and automatic computer system with no human brain and the other uses common sense.

 

Understand that my son is autistic and in an ESE cluster program so holiday vacations are a hardship not just because they are more expensive but also because of the heavier crowds and/or the increase in the number of children present (rendering the kids program on a cruise, for example, inaccessible). I'm a bit nervous about our cruise in Dec but it's something he really wanted.

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Another Wisconsin here -- I also believe it is a district level policy. Our uber academic public high school allows 10 personal days. Parents just have to confirm that they are aware the student is absent. The school is very thorough about following up on absences. Students get as many days to make up the homework (teachers may be asked, but are not obligated to give out homework in advance) as the student was absent. Lower grades are similar. Several years ago the Principals of the middle and elementary schools encouraged us to take the kids out of school for a 3 week Asian cruise (which never happened).

 

Of course the high school students are threatened that they will never get into college or amount to anything if they miss one second of high school, so there is a big difference between what the district actually permits and what the kids think is OK.

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