<p>Our school gives two days off for seniors, and that's it. It still seems impossible to finish up these visits though...</p>
<p>How are you all doing?</p>
<p>My kids school allowed none. Only days allowed is if a student had a scholarship interview and that had to be documented by letter from college.</p>
<p>Allowed them to leave class to attend an "at high school" info session by a visiting Admissions rep, but no special allowances made for days off for college visits. We did them over his hs spring break and did some in June, even though the colleges were not fully in session. It worked for him.</p>
<p>D's school allowed 2 date specific days with a signed document from the college. I believe she ended up with about 7-8 her senior year, none of which were on the specified days. There are rules and then there are rules. ;)</p>
<p>Most of those days were on required scholarship weekends. She received little to no resistance.</p>
<p>2 days. It's a shame how stupid rules can make your student feel so bad that they suddenly become sick (on Mondays and Fridays).</p>
<p>weenie, I'm confused by what you mean by "allowed" -- if you mean that they are not counted as absences at all, then our school gives none (those are reserved for "school sponsored activities"). </p>
<p>Visists to schools fall under excused absences, like sick absences, so the kids are allowed to make up any missed work. Total absences for the school year (excused and unexcused) cannot be more than 20 days. Four unexcused absences will result in a referral to Teen Court (where my DW is a volunteer supervisor/judge, so you can be sure Son will crawl to school over broken glass before risking being in front of her).</p>
<p>Iderochi:</p>
<p>Yeah, that was my question too. Basically, we've always just taken our kids out of school whenever we need to. It's never been a problem.</p>
<p>Our school technically allows 3, but I don't think there would be any problem if a student needed more provided the school was notified ahead and all work was made up timely.</p>
<p>My son claims he will get detention if he misses more than two days. I would "call him in sick" but then I feel like I'm condoning lying. Oh well, it'll probably come to that.</p>
<p>I think we're looking at one more too-long trip to Purdue, Rose-Hulman, and Ohio Univ. Nothing like a road trip in February! :(</p>
<p>Handbook says: "Planned absenses of up to 10 days per year for such reasons as family trips, vacations or college visits may be excused by the administration ... Students who do not wish to have their college visits count toward minimum attendance may pick up the appropriate form in the main office. Completion of the form, including verification by college personnel, will allow the absense to be exempt from minimum attendance policies."</p>
<p>My daughter hasn't missed a day of school yet for college visits, mainly because our district has so many days off. Two in October for inservice, two in November for parent/teacher conferences, a week in February, two days in March for parent/teacher conferences, and a week in April. We visited schools last year for all of those breaks.</p>
<p>My d's school allows 3 "official" ones, with appropriate forms & signatures. I have no problem calling her in sick if she needs more than that.</p>
<p>Our school system allows for five absences in addition to illness, doctor' appointments, religious observances, etc.</p>
<p>Ours is quite generous: seniors may miss up to 10 days each semester with verification from the admissions office of the college being visited (and the absence has to be registered in advance). Very few students use all of these days, and of course the school encourages using holiday/vacation weeks first. But with so many kids considering colleges on the opposite coast, most kids do miss at least a couple.</p>
<p>My kids' school district "allows" 0 days for campus visits. This is the first time I'd ever heard of a specific school vistitation allowance policy. It's not done here regionally as far as I know.</p>
<p>However, as parents, we can excuse them for pretty much whatever we deem appropriate, as long as the homework gets made up and turned in.</p>
<p>D's high school used college visits as an excused absence as long as student provided proof that the did attend the event. She was very lucky because she was able to coordinate some visits during time when school was not in session during september, october and november.</p>
<p>In some school districts, it is not so much as to how many absences are "allowed" (her school gave 4 but was a little more lienient, when it came to spring admission visits) but the number of days students must be in attendendance a certain number of days in order to be eligible to pass a class for the marking period or in this case, graduate. Even if a student is suspended, they cannot simply stay home but must report to their suspension site where attendance is taken. </p>
<p>In NYC public schools:</p>
<p>Minor ages 6-17 in New York City are required to attend school on a full time basis. 90% attendance is one of the requirements for promotion to the next grade. </p>
<p>Like lderochi mentioned, "excessive absences" will prompt other actions live mandatory intervention policies to get the student back into school, reporting the family to ACS, to having the parent brought in for educational neglect.</p>
<p>I do remember there was a student in my D's class who could not graduate because she did not have the minimum number of days in attendance as mandated by city (was a dancer and spent a lot of days out going on auditions)</p>
<p>In NYC public high school it becomes a big issue because your school operating budget is allocated based on student attendance and schools that have low attendance rates put themselves at risk of being labeled as schools in need of supervision, being placed on corrective action or being listed as SURR schools.</p>
<p>My kids' school used to allow the kids to go for college visits when they could - and it would be an "excused" absence. Unless a kid(s) totally abused it and things looked out of kilter, there was no problem. Groups of kids would go to an "open house" together.</p>
<p>However, this year - new principal, new rules. My D wanted to go with a group of kids (and a few adults) to a state school "Open House." She had my permission - and I didn't give it another thought since I've been through this before with my other 2 kids. However, on the day my D went in to inform the principal (with my note) that she wanted to go to the open house the next day, he totally flipped out. Seems he felt this group of kids (all honors kids who are involved in student government, athletics, etc.) just wanted a day off and my D happened to be the 5th person to come in with a note in a 30-min. span, so she got the brunt of his anger. He told her flat out - NO! Knowing that others had gotten the okay (and the fact that it's always been allowed), she kind of got into a heated debate with him. She ended up with a "Fine, I love going to a school where the principal won't support kids interested in college!" and left his office. He immediately called me (at work, no less) and asked if I knew about this "trip." I said I did - I wouldn't have written the note if I didn't - duh! (Well, I left out the duh.) He said he knew "for a fact" that my D would not be going to a lowly "state" college because he knew that all kinds of colleges were recruiting her, etc., etc. I then asked him (very politely and calmly) how he knew "for a fact." After explaining that as a single parent who will be bearing the full brunt of any college costs - not to mention having another D at a "state" college - just because someone is getting recruited doesn't mean it's a sure thing, nor does it mean that my D would want to continue athletics at a D-I or D-II school and may opt for the D-III state school. I then went on to explain that my D is looking at a lot of different colleges, trying to find the right fit. If it were a lowly "state" college, then so be it. I explained that we had done many college visits over the summer, but her choice of major had changed and other things to make her rethink her choices, thus needing more visits. I also stated that since it has been past practice to allow unlimited college visits (though never a written policy), the school should actually address the issue. </p>
<p>A notice went out the following week that college visits are encouraged but that "written notice" from the parent/guardian must be submitted at least 2 days before the absence to allow it to be excused. So, now they have a "written" policy about it.</p>
<p>S's boarding school specifically requires that families agree to 0 days absent for college visits. He's only a freshman, so negotiation is far in our future. But it seemed odd that we all had to sign a document, prior to admission, that we understood no absences for college visits would be permitted. (I suspect the privilege had been abused in the past and this was the school's response.)</p>
<p>Five days for college visits are allowed during Spring of Junior year through Senior year.</p>
<p>D's school allows "pre-arranged absences" - with a special form completed well ahead of time, signed by administration and all teachers. It is considered unexcused, but work may be done in advance or made-up -- teacher's choice.</p>
<p>The kicker is that a senior who doesn't miss more than 5 days for the year, excused or not, and has a certain (3.0?) average is exempt from end-of-year finals. So if you use all 5 days on college visits, you better not get sick!</p>
<p>Seniors at my son's school may request a maximum of two days to be excused in order to attend colleges and universities during the academic year. The school requires a written request signed by parents/guardians, teachers, and guidance counselor at least 48 hours before the absence. Missing school for family vacations is frowned upon -- these absences are usually not excused for any reason, and students may lose academic credit for missed work. After four unexcused absences, the student will probably face disciplinary action, and after a dozen or so, will most likely be asked to leave the school. Tardies are almost never excused, and can result in detention after three tardies.</p>
<p>I found this hard to get used to with older son -- I thought that if H and I excused a kid, that should be enough. At this point, unexcused absences are just not worth the trouble involved -- we did college visits during summers and breaks from school.</p>