Posted on 04/29/2015 10:01:35 AM PDT by QT3.14
When Mike Rossi qualified to run in the Boston Marathon, he made it clear to everyone at his children's school that he planned to bring the entire family with him on his "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. Last week, he did just that, cheered on by his 9-year-old twins as he crossed the finish line.
So that's why the Pennsylvania dad was stunned to get a letter from the school principal upon his return, calling his brief vacation into question. Days missed "due to a family trip are not considered excused absences," she wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.com ...
The crap that makes the news
She's right. Everyone knows that. Now. Whether or not this is right or wrong, that's another issue. But skipping school to go on vacation is unexcused.
Well, it’s pretty easy to dump on the school for this, but did the dad submit an alternative lesson plan for the trip? Most schools would have allowed that.
A trip to Boston for the Marathon could qualify for credits in:
Current events
Physical education
Studies about terrorism
Law and order
Also, if tours of local monuments and landmarks are included:
History
Political science
“Rossi said his wife formally notified their school of the kids’ absence by email shortly before they left.”
Even when I went to school 50 years ago, if a parent wanted to take a child out for a few days they made advance agreements concerning how to make-up missed classes.
Not enough detail here but sounds like he just notified them and took off.
The real sin was that the kids missed part of the PSSA tests, which he referenced in his letter to the principal and went on for 10 days throughout Pennsylvania. The schools sent out all kinds of notes and letters asking parents to make sure their kids get plenty of rest and to avoid absences at all cost.
You know, it is easy to pick apart the public skrewls for their incompetence. But sometimes, you get idiot parents who want to play by their rules and give the finger - as it were - to the schools.
Fine. Their right to do so. But first, take your kids out and homeschool ‘em.
Dad should pay a visit to the Principle for a “talking to”....
Smashing his windshield in the parking lot MIGHT be overkill..
Public schools own the students....sorry....where I am in my life, I could care less what a school administrator says, especially if I were a reasonably well adjusted, hard working parent.....too bad about the tests...I’m sure there are make up days.
I do not think there are any excused absences. When I taught (university level) I did not allow any. After two absences it affected your grade. If you are not there, you are missing the material covered. The students said the primary reason they go to school is to get a job. If you are absent from your job you miss pay, opportunity, lose a customer, in other words there are consequences, especially if you are an entrepreneur. You may decide those consequences are worth the absence, but that is up to you.
Recently there was a piece here about a student missing the majority of the school year because of illness. Sad, though it is, you cannot pass anyone who has not attended.
My children were with me when they were out of school. Period. No reason, no excuse - I’m their parent, they were with me, so it’s EXCUSED.
so its an unexcused absence because the kids went to a special event with their family, because this never ever happens in America
what now? jail?
This is an important life lesson for the kids.
The lesson is that government schools, and pretty much government everything, is a blunt instrument of coercion, intimidation, and gross stupidity that will be wielded against the people, “just because”.
They need to get used to “government of, by, and for the government”, because that’s exactly what we now have.
In my day kids would have done their math homework while absent and turned it in when they got back, and written an essay about their experience during the trip
and the sun would still rise in the east and set in the west
principal sounds like “she who must be obeyed”
My two cents: this dad is an attention-seeking person. So what he gets a grouchy letter from the principal? Ignore it and move on. His decision to take a family trip during the school years is fine. But, like anything in life, it has its consequences. In this case, three days of unexcused absence at school. Who cares?!?!?!
It must be a public school mentality, because my three went to private school and it was always OUR decision if they went to school or stayed home. They missed a few days when Syracuse went to the Final Four in New Orleans because we went as a family. We made no secret of it— they were in 8th, 5th and 3d grade at the time and there was nothing earth-shattering that was going to be missed. We also let our oldest stay home from HS on DIVERSITY day, bc that was pure and total BS, and to participate in the March for Life {it was Catholic school so it was an excused absence, though not mandated that they march}.
We often took our kids out of school for a few days at a time for a family trip. We always made arrangements with the teacher and she provided work for them to complete while they were gone and the kids kept a travel diary which described what they saw and did every day. We added pictures and postcards, plus any brochures we picked up at different locations along the way. The school still got their funding and we paid less for trips as they weren’t during peak time. I still have all the kids’ diaries and love reading them now and then.
Well, it was a vacation.
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