"dejablues" wrote in message
...

"Vicki" wrote in message
news
Today we received a warning letter for truancy for our 2nd grader. The
principal said she was concerned about dd's absences. I am not
concerned
about dd's absences--she is bright, she knows the material [she's missed
five days this month, but received 100 on her test for materials
covered.]
I don't think the teacher is concerned. But the principal said dd is
only
allowed 5 excused absences per semester.

I'm not happy about the possibility of legal sanctions for keeping dd
home
(she was sick this month, but I wouldn't hesitate to take her out of
school
for other things we feel are important.)

You are teaching your daughter that it is OK to skip out on things that
she
*has* to do in order to do things she (or you ) *wants* to do.


sigh
My daughter's school doesn't even blink if a kid misses a day for something
the parent thinks is important. If kids need to leave early for a music
lesson, they bend over backward to make it easy. They're being taught to
balance priorities in their lives, and it just so happens that for most of
the kids, they love school and school is a high priority and they don't want
to miss it for anything. Some kids miss occasionally for the start of an SCA
event, for example, or a major family trip, or whatnot. But you know, in
real life, people GET to make special plans to rearrange their lives around
the occasional special event or opportunity.

If my daughter was doing such a **** poor job of educating her that it
didn't feel like a missed day would even matter, I wouldn't mind pulling her
now and then either. As it is, she loves school, hates missing a day, and
we have to browbeat her into missing once in a while for things where it
just doesn't "work" for us to send her to school that day (i.e. when we go
to a special once-a-year event for the weekend and must leave Friday.) But
the school and her teachers don't mind.

Funny thing... I found a job myself where the day they hired me they said,
"We know you're a parent and we want you to know that your family comes
first."

I can miss a day "just because" and not lose my job--they know I'll meet my
deadlines and they know that flexibility is one of the reasons I stay there.
I can show up late or leave early. I insisted on finding a job where my
family COULD come first.

My daughter's school succeeded in making going to school "the reward"... so
that they don't HAVE to punish people outrageously for missing. Most people
just don't want to miss!

Jenrose