For all the teachers out there...

A question for the teachers...my son is in grade one and we are planning a trip for the end of January. When should I tell the teacher he is going to be away? Do you think sooner is better ( I could email her today) or does she not need to know until a week or 2 ahead of time?
 
not in canada, but our school district policy is that vacation during the school year is an unexcused absense, and 5 consecutive days and they will call the truancy officer.

I would say not worth it - plan vaca for when they are out of school
 
A question for the teachers...my son is in grade one and we are planning a trip for the end of January. When should I tell the teacher he is going to be away? Do you think sooner is better ( I could email her today) or does she not need to know until a week or 2 ahead of time?

I normally give about 2 weeks notice to school and daycare. Although he often knows and is talking about it much sooner so the teachers have a heads up :)

I've never had the teachers send homework or ask for anything other than him to keep a journal and bring some pictures to show the class. He's in grade 4 this year and because of my vacation schedule (I get a limited number of days and he does not wanting to do camps over March Break so I need to take my vacation then) we'll be most likely going in March. If I had more vacation days, we'd be going at another time I think. It's stressing me out how much flights are! More than the cruise I'm looking at... crazy.
 
not in canada, but our school district policy is that vacation during the school year is an unexcused absense, and 5 consecutive days and they will call the truancy officer.

I would say not worth it - plan vaca for when they are out of school

We don't have that type of law in Canada, or perhaps I should only speak for my own city/school board, so it's not quite the same thing. I've only heard of such a thing in the US.
 


not in canada, but our school district policy is that vacation during the school year is an unexcused absense, and 5 consecutive days and they will call the truancy officer.

I would say not worth it - plan vaca for when they are out of school

I am in Canada and our school district policy is a lot more lenient. We have taken our son out of school in grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5 and twice in grade 6.

Each time we have spoken with the school in advance and at no point in time has anyone said that it would be an issue. DS has managed to catch up each time and we have never had a visit from the truancy officer! The school he is at right now (Gr 6-8) said that as long as the student is struggling academically then they do not discourage family trips.

DS is in grade 8 this year and since he starts high school next year, we will likely stop pulling him out for trips.
 
not in canada, but our school district policy is that vacation during the school year is an unexcused absense, and 5 consecutive days and they will call the truancy officer.

I would say not worth it - plan vaca for when they are out of school

Fortunately no truancy officers in Canada.
Parents do not have to ask for excused absences ,therefore we have no such thing as unexcused absences.
Our absences are recorded by office personnel more as a safe arrival program (did the student make it to school safely).
Regards
Mel
 
It's crazy to hear how strict they are down in the states. I'm definitely feeling a lot more fortunate that the Canadian school system has more flexibility. Until my children get older (currently only grade 1), I would rather spend a lot less going on vacation outside of school holidays. I can't imagine getting a call from a "truancy officer".
 


My oldest has performance anxiety so I never take my kids out of school more than a day or two before or after a school break (e.g. Holidays or Spring break). Otherwise she would freak out the whole time and would not enjoy her vacation. Academically she would be fine but her anxiety would be thru the roof!
 
Fortunately no truancy officers in Canada.
Parents do not have to ask for excused absences ,therefore we have no such thing as unexcused absences.
Our absences are recorded by office personnel more as a safe arrival program (did the student make it to school safely).
Regards
Mel
Wow! I'm so jealous.
 
I think the difference in these types of policies between the US and Canada is because I believe funding for schools in the US is based on student attendance. So if attendance drops, so does the money!

In terms of the original question we had no problem taking our daughter out in elementary school but now that she is in high school (grade 10) we limit pulling her out to a day or two before thanksgiving or March break!
 
I guess all districts are different. In BC there are no special forms, just a verbal, emailed or written note is all that is needed. I was in the office (high school) and the one who did attendance on My Ed data base for school.

When my kids were in elementary school I took them out for vacations in Sept. in their school the first week they weren’t even in their classroom. They went back to the last years class until classes/sizes were finalized. So many families would just turn up for reg. the first day of school and they would have to juggle classes and move people around. The students in elementary found it upsetting, parents coming in to ask for child to be put back in orig class, etc, so to avoid problems they didn’t release assignments till final.
So I had no problem taking the first week off with them. We’d go over to the Island or Okanagan and hotel prices drop in half right after Labour Day. They never missed anything except some review.
In Middle School and High School I didn’t take them out.
 
The worst part was that no one at the school sent us a note, email or even called. What they did instead was make snide remarks to my child.
We're going anyway - I just want to know how to prepare and deal with any eventual fallout.

Thanks everyone!
:disrocks:
That’s extremely unprofessional behaviour and no excuse for that. As long as school was notified by note or email and are aware of the absence, even if they weren’t informed, staff shouldn’t be making snide comments to the student. They should be speaking to you.
 
I can tell that you are new. There are threads and threads about this.

From a teacher's point of view, in my school, vacations are not excused absences. Two unexcused absences require a call to the parent. Parent needs to send in note explaining the reason for absence, i.e., illness (doctor's note preferred), funeral, other emergency. Our district only allows up to 9 days of parent notes, after that, all absences require a doctor's note. We have quite an intensive protocol including phones calls, notes, truancy officer visits, and finally the call to the Department of Children and Families, my favorite.

All of these unexcused absences take a lot of time to make contact with the parent and document on Power Teacher. All notes and documentation are considered legal documents and can be used in court, so we need to keep our ducks in a row. I find most of this to be a colossal waste of my time, but just like I'm a mandated reporter, I have no choice. Parents get mad and push back. It can get very ugly.

The simple solution is for the child to only be absent when they are actually ill. I chose to use the school vacations to travel, and we have many choices: Christmas break, February break, April break, and the most flexible of them all, summer.

I have students who have only been out two days with stomach viruses already, and I have spent quite a bit of time on documentation, because none of them had doctor's notes. I understand. I didn't go to the doctor in August when I got a stomach bug.

So, there you have it. If teachers are a bit crabby, it is because extra work has been created for them due to your child's unexcused absence. If you asked for a work packet filled with assignments to complete so that your child wouldn't fall behind, that only adds to the bad mood. By the way, every day that a child misses class, they are missing a lot just by not being present and experiencing learning first-hand in person. No amount of worksheets can make up for being taught by the teacher in that moment.
We don't have "unexcused" absences" at school in Canada (at least not in BC). You are just absent. I have taken DD9 out of school for a 2-4 days for trips usually just adding onto a long weekend or Pro D day. She is a very good student and has no issues keeping up. DH and I have to work around our work schedules too, which don't always align with school holidays. We don't get a break in February, or April, just 2 weeks a Christmas and March, then the summer. I let the teacher know ahead of time, and ask if there is anything we can work on while she is gone. Usually the response from her teacher is just do some reading (French), math problems and HAVE FUN!
 
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I'm an attendance counsellor in Ontario. Our title has been changed from truancy officer. In Ontario we do have unexcused days and if you miss 15 days in a row unexcused you will be referred to us. Each province does have legislation that allows us to charge students and parents for truancy, but each district has a different approach - some charge a ton, others not at all (research shows over and over that punitive measurements do not work to reduce chronic absenteeism).

School funding is based on attendance, after 15 days you are removed from the register unless referred to an AC, because the government doesn't want to pay for students that don't attend. We submit numbers to the Ministry for funding twice a year and are subject to random audits in which they go over everything with a fine tooth comb and will claw back money if we screwed up our documentation.

Family vacations are allowed. The ministry requirement is that you submit a letter to the principal requesting permission to be excused from school with a date of leaving and date of return. The principal must provide a program of study for your child (up to the discretion of the principal, can be a simple present to your class about your vacation).

Once I was on a leave of absence and I most certainly pulled my kids from school the first 2 weeks in December for Disney. I'll be on another one next year to complete my master's and I'll be doing the same thing then. I look at the overall picture of attendance with families. A two week vacation and normal attendance patterns the rest of the year is a-okay with me.
 
I'm an attendance counsellor in Ontario. Our title has been changed from truancy officer. In Ontario we do have unexcused days and if you miss 15 days in a row unexcused you will be referred to us. Each province does have legislation that allows us to charge students and parents for truancy, but each district has a different approach - some charge a ton, others not at all (research shows over and over that punitive measurements do not work to reduce chronic absenteeism).

School funding is based on attendance, after 15 days you are removed from the register unless referred to an AC, because the government doesn't want to pay for students that don't attend. We submit numbers to the Ministry for funding twice a year and are subject to random audits in which they go over everything with a fine tooth comb and will claw back money if we screwed up our documentation.

Family vacations are allowed. The ministry requirement is that you submit a letter to the principal requesting permission to be excused from school with a date of leaving and date of return. The principal must provide a program of study for your child (up to the discretion of the principal, can be a simple present to your class about your vacation).

Once I was on a leave of absence and I most certainly pulled my kids from school the first 2 weeks in December for Disney. I'll be on another one next year to complete my master's and I'll be doing the same thing then. I look at the overall picture of attendance with families. A two week vacation and normal attendance patterns the rest of the year is a-okay with me.
Chronic non attendance in class (AKA skipping) is different from me sending a note to my daughter's teacher to inform them we will be taking her out of school for a few days. Apparently in the US, me taking MY child out of school for a few days for vacation can be reason to be referred to a truancy officer. Thankfully this is NOT the case in Canada.
 
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Chronic non attendance in class (AKA skipping) is different from me sending a note to my daughter's teacher to inform them we will be taking her out of school for a few days. Apparently in the US, me taking MY child out of school for a few days for vacation can be reason to be referred to a truancy officer. Thankfully this is NOT the case in Canada.

To be fair, chronic non-attendance isn't necessarily "skipping". It is typically a result of complex socio-economic factors. Which is also different from you going on vacation for a few days.
 
Our children missed a week of class one week after the Christmas break EVERY year. They were good students and I made it clear to them that they had to stay caught up or get caught up upon their return. They brought their books with them and kept in touch with classmates regarding what was covered. They did what they could on vacation and caught up quickly upon their return. They didn’t miss much in one week. One is now a teacher and the other is in med school.

One year, during that particular week when everyone was back at school, I took them shopping to a Target store. The cashier started questioning their ages and why they weren’t in school. I answered that I gave them permission to miss for an extended vacation. She said that she could report me for truency. I told her it was ok because we were from Canada. She responded with, “Where’s that?” Perhaps she should have taken a bit of time off school and travelled a bit!!!
 
We have taken our son out at least once, sometimes twice, a year since he was in grade 2. He will miss anywhere from 6 to 12 days of school. We try for early fall (September) and spring (April/May/June). Once he entered grade 7, we limited it to 1 trip and he had to prove he could keep up with his work for us to book a trip during the school year in grade 8. He did fantastic. He went to all his teachers beforehand, got all the work he would miss, and completed it during recesses before we left. So this year, he missed the first 4 days of school and he will miss 7 days in May for his "graduation" trip to WDW/DCL. High school will be different. We will only go one week per school year, and we'll have to see when that will fit best with his schedule, but we will always take him out to enjoy family time. Also to add... he has a learning disability and really struggles with school. Going to WDW gives him a break, and something to look forward to and work towards. He works extra hard to keep up when we go away, but has proven that this is something that is important to him and he's willing to do the extra work for.
 
I am a HS teacher on sabbatical in Feb and I am pulling my kids for a week. I just let the teachers know, help them get caught up and make sure its not during any important times like standardized testing, exams, etc. I have students who go on vacation all the time and some upwards of 3+ weeks, some over exams which I shake my head at but I dont think the school can say no.
 

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