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Poll: How many of you pull your kids out of school so that you can vacation off cycle from the crowds? My DD will start K and the info strongly advises against pulling kids out for vacation. It's too expensive/annoying to go where we want during the regular Feb. vacation, so our choice is either go on vacation end of January or no vacation this winter. WWYD? What's been your experience for those K parents who have BTDT?
70 replies [ Reply | Watch | Options ]Ditto. We go to South America in March and other than writing a letter to explain the absence, no problem in K. We'll see this year
[ Reply | Options ]I'll ditto that. DH family is in S. America. His job prevents him from travelling over Christmas and our district does not have a Feb. break. So, we pull our kids every year to visit family. Oldest dd has quite a bit of work to make up but we don't have too much of a choice - or at least, we don't like our choices.
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We did this for dh's business trip to Hawaii and pulled dc out for over a week. However, cleared with school first and dc was only in 1st grade. Harder as you get older. If you are in a public, 4th grade attendance is seriously considered for admission to middle schools. So only do this in 3rd grade or below. Frankly, as your kids get older, you are stuck with regular vacations just like everyone else. Also, if you are NYC public, there's an April vacation that is usually different from all other schools (coincides with Passover), so you can do it then.
[ Reply | Options ]We're in the same boat at ongoing, and we either find a destination we can afford or stay in town for those vacations. I don't know anyone else in our grades who's done otherwise. Only exception I can think of is a dc who went away for a family reunion, but I know they discussed it with the school first and the admin was 100% supportive.
[ Reply | Options ]K - not a big deal, but as the get older attendance becomes more important and can even count against DC when trying to get into the middle schools or special high schools
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yes, they made that clear. they said they will suspend and even expel. plus it goes in the permanent record for middle school admissions. etc.
[ Reply | Options ]They can't do that. Individual public schools do not get to make their own rules.
[ Reply | Options ]it's within doe guidelines. it's an unexcused absence and it affects a school;s funding and a its school report. that said, schools can't be prevented from dealing with it as they see fit.
[ Reply | Options ]Schools can not suspend or expell for that reason no matter what they tell you. Find me the DOE regs that say different.
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You're setting a bad precedent for your kids. School is school and you're supposed to be there. If your child woke up one day and said, "I don't feel like going to school, I need a vacation day" would you be happy about it? Plus, is it fair to the teachers to have a kid out for a week for a vacation and then they have to deal with the catch up work? I personally don't think it's appropriate.
[ Reply | Options ]I know many parents who let their dc stay home from school once in a while for "mental health days". I
[ Reply | Options ]I totally understand mental health days if dc is feeling off as long it's not more than once or twice a year. Similarly, I don't think adding an extra day to a weekend is a huge deal. However, taking a week off school is too much IMO. Definitely if dc is in third grade and up.
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we'll be in a public k and talked to the principal already. we're pulling dc out for weeks at a time for travel. it's friggin kindergarten. that said, your school has a different opinion and you should probably respect that. unfortunately. if it's public you can sign a form that says you plan to "home school" and the school doesn't lose funding.
[ Reply | Options ]School is school and should be treated as such from day one on. The only time the kid is not going is when he's sick. Everything else has to wait until after school or during school breaks.
[ Reply | Options ]np: even preschool? we missed months of preschool. took off for grammas house, for vacations, stayed home and had playdates instead. plan on missing a bunch of kindergarten too. judge away, my kid is happy, we're happy.
[ Reply | Options ]Why send a kid to preK if you don't have respect for what the teachers do? I am not being snarky, but don't understand why you did not do daycare instead?
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Things were so busy at DH's firm that he couldn't take any real time off this summer. We really want to extend one of the three day holidays into a longer time. In a TT upper school. DD can keep up with work with a little cramming. What are consequences if we keep DD out of school thru the end of the week?
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Does anyone know where Hunter stands on the issue of occasional extra time away?
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