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There is something very wrong with this picture. yes and no. Yes, some schools can get obsessive about it. It's a mixed bag. I had a student whose story was not about truancy, but something like this: They are on vacation for the first 13 days of school. The daughter has a hard time leaving mom--scratch another 3 days. Mom and Dad split up. The girls shuffle back and forth between Mom and Dad. Mom goes to Arizona and takes the girls. The girl is gone for another two weeks. The mom gets put in jail on an outstanding warrant for a month. The kids go to live with Grandma. Then Mom comes back. They get evicted from their house. Mom and boyfriend move in together. The girls go back to Dad. Boyfriend gets Mom pregnant. Boyfriend moves out. Mom gets evicted a second time. And it went on from there. The girl was one of my best behaved ones. She missed well over 60 days that year and it was only some miracle of God that year that she got to grade level in everything. There are multiple factors to consider including the school, parents, and the personal responsibility of the student (the last being rare for any person it seems like nowadays). The last factor did not apply in my case. All we could do was send notes and they were ignored. Believe me, I tried my best to make sure she was caught up, making several trips to their house(s) to see what was going on. I actually did like the mom a lot, but the situation about drove me crazy.

I had students miss for vacation, to go to amusement parkds, to go see movies, to go to ballgames, to go visit cousins, to clean the house, etc. last year. I am very tolerant of family situations (though I can only recall twice during my school career of missing for something like that) and don't mind it at all as a teacher. Sometimes you do have to catch kids up when they've been gone a while. Even during testing week, I was informed by parents that 6 were leaving on vacation that Friday. I had to scramble to get them done by Thursday.

I did have another kid one year whose family took at 3 week vacation, then we had a 3-week break, then she came back for 3 days, then was gone for over 2 more weeks. It took the girl (who had been my best worker before) about another month to get back into the swing of things.

I've gotten more flexible over the years and this year, more than any other, kids were taken on vacations. Usually parents did let me know. I do realize that there are some difficult situations. One mom who is having a difficult pregnancy told me point blank that she jsut didn't feel like getting up and getting her kids ready for school. I understand, coming from a large family.

As far as skipping classes, my dad and mom expected me to have my butt in classes and to make sure that I learned something no matter how boring it was. I did have a few BORING teachers, but I WAS there.

I hear you.

But it looks like you were doing most of the worrying moog.

If there'd been less intervention on your part, the example of a few could have been an example for all.

You sound like you love your job.

As far as skipping classes, my dad and mom expected me to have my butt in classes and to make sure that I learned something no matter how boring it was. I did have a few BORING teachers, but I WAS there.

I'll never forget the day (I was a junior in highschool at the time) I had a 103 degree fever and some idiot from my highschool calls up asking my whereabouts. I explained the situation, and the lady said she wanted to talk to one of my parents. I was totally enraged. I told the lady that both of my parents had honest jobs (unlike herself) which required their presence on worksites and that if SHE would like to have a 103 degree fever she could come over and we'd make passionate love, and she'd probably get one. It's only idiots that you have to talk to like that.

I was there, too. I read a book. every day. walked out of the house with a 200-page novel, read it before school was out. every day.

what a waste of time.

That is just ridiculous!

When I was coming up, I was allowed to miss school only if fever or contagion risk were involved. NO exceptions.