<p>Wondering if anyone is feeling resistance from HS faculty with regard to missing school for auditions. My D is in all honors/AP but does not come from a HS with a lot of performing arts focus. Her school in general does not allow absences for college "visits" and while her guidance counselor is aware and supportive, some of her teachers have not been supportive and I have gotten at least one email about "excessive absences". Mind you she has missed two days for auditions so far (one in Dec and one in Jan) and one due to illness this month. We scheduled on audition over the school break and she has two this weekend that she is leaving for after school, so we are trying to be as minimally disruptive as possible, but it is frustrating with the other pressures that go along with this process that she is not "feeling the love" from her current teachers.</p>
<p>This attitude is a lot different than the one at our high schools. Could you perhaps lobby the school administrators or ask the PTA to help change the policy about visiting days? My children went to two different high schools but each allowed two excused days per year for college visiting days during both junior and senior year (and parents complain that isn’t enough). Our high schools love to brag about all the wonderful colleges their graduates are attending so they do everything they can to encourage the students to apply. </p>
<p>Is there something different about your high school? Do most of the students attend local colleges and don’t need to travel for visits?</p>
<p>Actually, it is a small private that has close to 100% attending college, the vast majority not in our immediate locale. We are in the northeast however, and they strongly encourage visits not interfering with school. The audition process as we all know is vastly different and less flexible than a typical visit/interview/tour which may have lots of options for when it could be scheduled.</p>
<p>I would write a letter to these teachers, copied to the guidance counselor, and perhaps the principal. I would explain that these are not the same as campus visits. The audition is REQUIRED to be admitted. It is not an option. It is not like regular college admissions. Explain that you have done all you can to schedule any auditions that take place on weekends but that some are on weekdays or necessitate travel to get to the audition. I would not seek permission. I would be firm that your child WILL be attending her admissions auditions as she MUST in order to get into college. While my kid was the only one at school doing BFA auditions, that did not matter. She gave her dates in advance to her teachers, secured the work she was missing in advance and handed it all in on time. No questions asked. And if they had been, we would have stood firm. Hampering a kid from doing what is required to be admitted is not OK in my book. Perhaps your school may not be aware of the required auditions on specific audition dates (where you can’t just go on any day like a campus visit) and you need to educate them of the process involved.</p>
<p>I know high school seems so important right now but these auditions are for something much bigger than high school. In my d’s case she was told she’d be taken out of musical numbers of the show she was in if she missed any more rehearsals for auditions. This decision was the choreographers and even though the head of the department couldn’t overrule the decision he told her to go to the auditions and quit the show if she had to because at the end of the day her high school show was less important than the college auditions. What are they really threatening to do? Carefully weigh the consequences but I would think they are much less than they appear. It’s the last semester of high school and they’ll still graduate and their grades most likely won’t be affected…they might just disappoint a teacher or two and…who really cares?</p>
<p>I’ve had the exact same problem. It’s not fun, but I told my teacher (in nicer words) to shove it.</p>
<p>I just want to confirm what Soozie said. (In #4) We went through this last year and my daughter’s school was just like yours. We did all the things Soozie has in her post, including sending a copy of our letter to the principal. </p>
<p>Although our school has a policy that you are not allowed to ask for homework in advance for missed days, (yes even for college auditions), some of her teachers were willing to flex the “rule”, (she was not allowed to ask, but they offered.) The only other thing I would add is that if any teachers continue to give resistance, request a meeting with the guidance dept. and the teacher so that you can discuss the process in person.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>I’d try talking to the teachers in question first…(you probably have)…then GC, then principal. Since it’s a small private school they must expect to have plenty of personal contact. That face to face conversation can show so much. If there’s still any problem at all, go with the letters… but it really doesn’t reflect very well on the school. One of any high school’s major tasks is to help its students achieve and succeed. And since this is a private school, you’re paying for this help. You’re not paying to have them put arbitrary stumbling blocks in your daughter’s way.</p>
<p>I wonder if those same teachers who are giving your D a hard time are much more lenient to those kids who miss class to compete on sports teams for their HS?</p>
<p>At the beginning of last year, my mom sent out an email to all my teachers explaining the college audition situation. Almost all were supportive except for my science teacher (also coincidentally the varsity boys volleyball coach) who grumbled a bit. When we very politely pointed out that the sports teams asked for other teachers cooperation when their players missed school and that there was a similarity between the two, he became very supportive. In the end, it was mostly unnecessary because I was accepted at my ED school and only had to audition once.</p>
<p>If you are as a parent telling to the school about the situation and the attendance office clears the absent, then don’t the teachers have to accept that and give the student the makeup work? That’s how it worked at my high school, but I went to a public school.</p>