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Unexcused Absence for a field trip - Can the school do this?


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What would you do?

 

One of my daughters has a field trip coming up.  She's not interested in going, and I have no problem keeping her home for the day.  I've already emailed the teacher and told her why my daughter isn't interested in going (and, yes, the reasons are very legitimate).  The teacher emailed me back to tell me that if my daughter does not go on the field trip, and does not go to school (and follow another grade for the day) on that day, and even if I call in to let the school know that she will not be there that day, that it will be an unexcused absence!!!  WHAT???  I'm the parent, calling in to tell the school that my child will not be there that day, how is that unexcused?

 

Does anyone know the law in regards to this? 

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Unexcused doesn't have anything to do with whether the parent allowed it.  The school handbook will lay out what kinds of absence are excused vs. unexcused.  Usually excused is for doctor visits, grandma's funeral, school-supported extracurricular.  "Mom says I can stay home" doesn't cut it.

 

It's not a big deal to have an unexcused absence is it?  It would only matter if she has a bunch of them, and even then, it's usually discretionary whether they enforce those rules.

 

At least if it's a field trip she's missing, she probably won't have make-up work to do.  :)

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That was typical when I was growing up as well. The field trip is considered a school activity, so the student missing school and the activity just for lack of interest doesn't pass the basic criteria for an excused absence, no matter how much mama authorizes it.

 

This is one of those things that has been in place a long time to help truancy cases along, but one or two of them is no big deal.

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Unexcused doesn't have anything to do with whether the parent allowed it.  The school handbook will lay out what kinds of absence are excused vs. unexcused.  Usually excused is for doctor visits, grandma's funeral, school-supported extracurricular.  "Mom says I can stay home" doesn't cut it.

 

It's not a big deal to have an unexcused absence is it?  It would only matter if she has a bunch of them, and even then, it's usually discretionary whether they enforce those rules.

 

At least if it's a field trip she's missing, she probably won't have make-up work to do.  :)

 

Agreed. My kids got unexcused absences for being gone 3 days last year for their AUnt's wedding. I told them about it ahead of time, my 3rd grader took homework with him. No one was upset. But they were unexcused absences.

 

ETA: We are in Texas.

Edited by vonfirmath
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It's fine unless you do it a lot... some school districts have a rule that you can have X number of unexcused absences because they EXPECT you to have at least some.  I've never known ANYONE (even people with 20+ unexcused) to get in trouble in our school district, I think it's more of something that draws attention to you if there are other red flags too (unexcused absences are more like slightly yellow flags...).

Edited by tm919
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:grouphug:

 

I realize this is frustrating and you feel like you should be the one to make the call here.  You are the parent, after all.  However,  the school will not see it that way.  They have policies in place for what they consider excused and what is not excused.  Agree with the others, this is normal.  It is irrelevant that you excused it.  Your personal policies are not what they are referring to.  They are referring to the school policy, not your personal preferences.  From the school's perspective your child is not participating in a school event that is supposed to be taking the place of class time.  The absence is not due to one of their authorized excused absences (as should be listed in the school policies).  Therefore, regardless of whether you approve it or not, it is an unexcused absence for the school.  No biggie.  Just make sure you know how many of those you are allowed to have and keep under that number to avoid trouble.

 

ETA:  Think about it this way, if a teacher has 25 students in the classroom and is trying to get through a lot of material in a timely fashion for all their students and parents randomly choose to pull their kids out quite often for personal reasons it makes it much harder to maintain any consistency.  Conceivably half the class could be gone at any one time.  That would be nightmarishly hard to work with.  Therefore, they usually have policies in place to limit (not exclude) unexcused absences.

Edited by OneStepAtATime
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What would you do?

 

One of my daughters has a field trip coming up.  She's not interested in going, and I have no problem keeping her home for the day.  I've already emailed the teacher and told her why my daughter isn't interested in going (and, yes, the reasons are very legitimate).  The teacher emailed me back to tell me that if my daughter does not go on the field trip, and does not go to school (and follow another grade for the day) on that day, and even if I call in to let the school know that she will not be there that day, that it will be an unexcused absence!!!  WHAT???  I'm the parent, calling in to tell the school that my child will not be there that day, how is that unexcused?

 

Does anyone know the law in regards to this? 

 

It is "unexcused" because you're letting your daughter stay home just because she doesn't feel like doing what the rest of the class is doing. I'm sure there is a list of what constitutes an excused absence. School rules trump parent rules in situations like this. I agree with the school.

 

So, what would I have done? I would have told my daughter to suck it up and go on the field trip. Alternatively, I would know how many unexcused absences can occur without repercussions and kept her home anyway.

 

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In California:

Excused absence- illness, medical appt,, court subpoena, religious holiday, attending a funeral of immediate family member. Even though these are excused absences the school gets no money from the state because the student wasn't in school. So essentially the school loses around 35 dollars a day each day a student is absent.

Unexcused absence- everything else regardless of whether or not a parent calls and explains. Theses reasons include - family vacation, car breaking down , family illness, and missing school to persue some great other educational opportunities.

 

Does your child need to visit a dentist, get a flu shot, get her eyes checked? That would be a perfect day to do it and then the absence will be excused.

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