Skipping school with parent's permission

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Butaperson

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So my mom has planned a family vacation that will take place during the school year and cause me to miss about 4 days of school. I agreed to go initially because I figured it would be some sort of excused absence. It is not. I began to rethink going, but I eventually agreed to go anyways as long as my mom doesn’t lie about where I am (I think she will anyways but I don’t know what I can do about that). I pretty much figured, what are four absences? I probably had four unexcused absences last year just by forgetting to call in sick days. I also figured, truancy aside, this is with complete parental consent so why not?
I literally can’t turn around now because we are leaving tomorrow but I am starting to seriously rethink the morality of this situation. Isn’t this breaking school rules? Isn’t that against something or other? I don’t know. I asked my priest about it when I went to confession today, but he didn’t say anything so…I’m just putting it out here.
 
I’d be very surprised if a family vacation is considered unexcused. These trips are fairly common for families whose vacation time is not flexible. While those days could potentially count toward truancy, if your parent calls you in and excuses you, you should not be penalized with zeroes on your work etc (which is what most often happens when an absence is unexcused or a student “skips” without permission). It would be prudent to contact the school ahead of time (or even tomorrow) to try to determine what work will be missed so you don’t fall behind. I hope this helps!
 
Butaperson said:
So my mom has planned a family vacation that will take place during the school year and cause me to miss about 4 days of school. I agreed to go initially because I figured it would be some sort of excused absence. It is not. I began to rethink going, but I eventually agreed to go anyways as long as my mom doesn’t lie about where I am (I think she will anyways but I don’t know what I can do about that). I pretty much figured, what are four absences? I probably had four unexcused absences last year just by forgetting to call in sick days. I also figured, truancy aside, this is with complete parental consent so why not?
I literally can’t turn around now because we are leaving tomorrow but I am starting to seriously rethink the morality of this situation. Isn’t this breaking school rules? Isn’t that against something or other? I don’t know. I asked my priest about it when I went to confession today, but he didn’t say anything so…I’m just putting it out here.
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If you are a minor, then it is your parents call if you miss these days or not. You will be at a disadvantage when you return, because you will be almost a week behind, so have the teacher or some friends help you catch up.
 
I’m pretty sure parents have the right to excuse absences as long as it doesn’t become chronic or lead to truency. 4 days of vacation isnt a chronic problem.

In my opinion, speak with your teachers about those days, get a run-down of what will be covered, get the homework ahead of schedule and do your reading so you don’t fall behind and you’re made in the shade. Just don’t fall behind - you’re responsible for the missed materialt even if it was illness or emergency.
 
:👍
Rhubarb said:
I’m pretty sure parents have the right to excuse absences as long as it doesn’t become chronic or lead to truency. 4 days of vacation isnt a chronic problem.

In my opinion, speak with your teachers about those days, get a run-down of what will be covered, get the homework ahead of schedule and do your reading so you don’t fall behind and you’re made in the shade. Just don’t fall behind - you’re responsible for the missed materialt even if it was illness or emergency.
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👍

This is the best answer! call the teachers tonight if you must.
 
I can only speak for the school district for which I work, so it may be different in other districts, but in our schools it is the school which determines whether an absence is excused or not. It is never up to the parent to determine whether an absence is to be excused (generally because they would excuse everything!). We have many reasons that are valid excuses (student illness, illness of a family member, death in the family, among several others). Family vacation is not now and never has been an excusable absence.
However, it is also school board policy that a student is to be allowed to request work ahead of time/make up work afterwards, regardless of whether the absence itself is excusable.
In any case, the student has little say in when the family takes vacation, so I would tell the OP to have a good time, and be sure to study extra hours when he returns. If possible, take work with you so you don’t fall too far behind.
 
I know you all mean well but be careful of blanket statements. In many school districts, it is not up to the parents to grant an excused absence and vacations are routinely not allowed to be excused. It’s all tied to the way school funding it linked to attendance.

OP, check your school’s** written** policy - don’t take anyone’s word. In our local schools, make up work is not allowed for unexcused absences. This could put you in the hole, grade wise, at the beginning of the year.
 
Corki said:
I know you all mean well but be careful of blanket statements. In many school districts, it is not up to the parents to grant an excused absence and vacations are routinely not allowed to be excused. It’s all tied to the way school funding it linked to attendance.

OP, check your school’s** written** policy - don’t take anyone’s word. In our local schools, make up work is not allowed for unexcused absences. This could put you in the hole, grade wise, at the beginning of the year.
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that’s the way it is at the local Catholic school.
No advance notice, no make-ups.
 
Butaperson said:
So my mom has planned a family vacation that will take place during the school year and cause me to miss about 4 days of school. I agreed to go initially because I figured it would be some sort of excused absence. It is not. I began to rethink going, but I eventually agreed to go anyways as long as my mom doesn’t lie about where I am (I think she will anyways but I don’t know what I can do about that). I pretty much figured, what are four absences? I probably had four unexcused absences last year just by forgetting to call in sick days. I also figured, truancy aside, this is with complete parental consent so why not?
I literally can’t turn around now because we are leaving tomorrow but I am starting to seriously rethink the morality of this situation. Isn’t this breaking school rules? Isn’t that against something or other? I don’t know. I asked my priest about it when I went to confession today, but he didn’t say anything so…I’m just putting it out here.
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Regardless of your school rules, I would think that because the school’s authority is a subset of your parents’ authority and your school would have no authority over you if your parents did not choose to send you there, that if your parents want to take you out of school, it is moral for you to obey them 🙂

Bon Voyage!
 
Butaperson said:
So my mom has planned a family vacation that will take place during the school year and cause me to miss about 4 days of school. I agreed to go initially because I figured it would be some sort of excused absence. It is not. I began to rethink going, but I eventually agreed to go anyways as long as my mom doesn’t lie about where I am (I think she will anyways but I don’t know what I can do about that). I pretty much figured, what are four absences? I probably had four unexcused absences last year just by forgetting to call in sick days. I also figured, truancy aside, this is with complete parental consent so why not?
I literally can’t turn around now because we are leaving tomorrow but I am starting to seriously rethink the morality of this situation. Isn’t this breaking school rules? Isn’t that against something or other? I don’t know. I asked my priest about it when I went to confession today, but he didn’t say anything so…I’m just putting it out here.
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My god son’s father was scheduled for holidays in October when he was working (he has since retired), so throughout my god son’s school career, he always missed three weeks in October to go on vacation with his Mom and Dad. There was never any issue with it that I’m aware of - I think they sent homework with him, and knowing him, he probably spent the last three days of his holiday scrambling to finish it.

I’m not going to say that that was a particularly good idea, but my god son is a college graduate, married, and running his own business more or less successfully, so it did no permanent damage - I’m sure he got lower grades than he otherwise might have, especially in high school, but he got into a good University anyway. 🙂
 
Butaperson said:
So my mom has planned a family vacation that will take place during the school year and cause me to miss about 4 days of school. I agreed to go initially because I figured it would be some sort of excused absence. It is not. I began to rethink going, but I eventually agreed to go anyways as long as my mom doesn’t lie about where I am (I think she will anyways but I don’t know what I can do about that). I pretty much figured, what are four absences? I probably had four unexcused absences last year just by forgetting to call in sick days. I also figured, truancy aside, this is with complete parental consent so why not?
I literally can’t turn around now because we are leaving tomorrow but I am starting to seriously rethink the morality of this situation. Isn’t this breaking school rules? Isn’t that against something or other? I don’t know. I asked my priest about it when I went to confession today, but he didn’t say anything so…I’m just putting it out here.
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Is school starting now? This is an issue your parents need work out with the school. Lots of people have trips that conflict with the school year but go anyways. Again, let your parents handle this with the school. As more and more schools start earlier in August, the more this is an issue. With school starting, I can’t imagine you will be missing much.
 
jmcrae said:
My god son’s father was scheduled for holidays in October when he was working (he has since retired), so throughout my god son’s school career, he always missed three weeks in October to go on vacation with his Mom and Dad. There was never any issue with it that I’m aware of - I think they sent homework with him, and knowing him, he probably spent the last three days of his holiday scrambling to finish it.

I’m not going to say that that was a particularly good idea, but my god son is a college graduate, married, and running his own business more or less successfully, so it did no permanent damage - I’m sure he got lower grades than he otherwise might have, especially in high school, but he got into a good University anyway. 🙂
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When I was in school one of your parents called the school and told them you would be absent from classes. That was it. The fact that a parent or guardian called the school made it an excused absence.

I caught hell in college for taking a week off school to attend my brother’s wedding in Mexico. They didn’t believe me and demanded evidence. They got a copy of the marriage licence from Mexico
 
In a world where cupcakes in school have become a Federal offense, and where schools seem to have become responsible for students’ nutritional and emotional well-being on and off campus, it’s easy to forget that parents still have authority over their own children.
 
A parent can take their kids out of school for this reason. 🤷 No need to lie. “we are taking a trip” is sufficient.
 
OP, if it helps you, please consider your vacation to be part of your education, not an escape from it.

It doesn’t matter where you go. Obviously a trip to fantastic places like the Grand Canyon or Colonial Williamburg is highly-educational.

But even a trip to spend four days with relatives is educational. You will see different towns and cities, different ways of living, different family customs and practices, different ways of speaking, etc. Stay alert and learn from all these experiences. Who knows–someday you may use what you learn to write a novel! Or you may become a psychologist!

You may miss a few days of group Math and Science lessons, but you will still learn lots on your “vacation.”

If you are so inclined, write a journal during the vacation. This will give you practice in writing skills, but also in organizing your experiences and chronicling them. You could also try analyzing and recording your feelings about the whole experience, but this will make it more difficult to share the journal with your parents if things go badly on the trip (big fight in the car, relatives are creepy, etc.).

Have fun! Learn lots!
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
A parent can take their kids out of school for this reason. 🤷 No need to lie. “we are taking a trip” is sufficient.
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In Texas you have to create an excuse if you don’t want to get a warning and possibly a fine. Any more than 2 unexcused days, which a vacation certainly is, results in a warning letter and a 5 day grace period to clear up any discrepancies. You could also possibly get fined under TEC 25.093.

So if you have several children in school and want a convincing excuse to miss 4 days of school either grandma has to die or everybody has to get lice.
 
I suppose it depends on what the school policy is.

My parents pulled my sister and I for 2 planned vacations. We took a family vacation that interfered with the first two days of school when I was in 3rd grade. Mom called the school, cleared it with them and I was fine…I didn’t have any make up work or anything else to worry about.

There was another family trip I took the week before spring break. I missed 4 days of school in my junior year in high school.
My attendance record was good and my grades were good. None of my teachers blinked an eye about it when I mentioned it. They basically gave me makeup work to complete and said “have a good time.”
I remember being slightly terrified to tell my English Lit teacher I was going to be out for a few days on vacation. She was a tough teacher and a strict one. She smiled and handed me a pile of makeup work saying “that will keep you busy on the plane…tell Mickey I said hi!” (we were headed to Florida).

Anyway, it was all easily taken care of by a few phone calls and some makeup work. My attendance and grades were not effected at all.
 
I don’t know about school policy, but I will say my experiences with this as a teacher were almost universally negative - mostly because students never bothered to do the makeup work (or asked for it - they’d just disappear for a week and I’d have no idea why, and neither would the school.)

When I was growing up (and this was in the 90s and aughts, not that long ago) we never went on vacation during the school year. Personally I would view it as discourteous and not in line with putting a high value on education at home. Then again, everywhere I attended had lengthy (at least a week) breaks several times during the year. Where I live now it seems like they cram all the school days as close together as possible so there can be a longer summer. 🤷
 
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