Schools urge parents not to take kids to work

[The Straight Story]

Schools urge parents not to take kids to work

CHICAGO – Many U.S. school districts urged parents to keep their kids in class and not take them to work Thursday for an annual event they say disrupts learning at an increasingly critical time of year.

From Arizona to Illinois to Texas, educators alerted parents that between high-stakes standardized testing in some areas and the H1N1 virus that kept thousands of children home earlier in the school year, the timing of "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" doesn't make sense.

"This year, of all years, to have a student miss a day for something like this that could be done anytime — it just seems the focus should be on students and their learning here," said Guy Schumacher, the superintendent of Libertyville Elementary School District 70 in suburban Chicago.

In many districts, some of which sent strongly worded letters or e-mails to parents explaining that taking part was putting their children's education at risk, officials reported that teachers were not finding rows of empty seats in classrooms Thursday.

"We had only six out today (and) that's actually less than usual," said Darrell Propst, principal of Taylor Road Elementary School in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, one of those who asked parents not to pull their kids out of school for the day. "Our attendance was very, very good today."

http://tinyurl.com/3ytuggy (yahoo news)

[HereSince1628]

1. Or was it interrupting the cram sessions for NCLB testing?

Worried about a lower school score that would hurt the teachers and the school more than any one day of lost school could possibly hurt the kid.

[Greyskye]

4. They've finished the testing here...

...now they're cramming to get back on track from the disruption that the testing caused. :eyes:

[HereSince1628]

5. That sounds right... n/t

[FSogol]

2. My son(an 8th grader) was assigned to go to my office today by the school.

They use it as project on investigating careers and salaries which will lead into a financial lesson. I thought it was a pretty cool project when my older son did it.

[sandnsea]

3. Or do the schools need every penny of funding

And I can't blame them with the budget cutting they're facing.

[Greyskye]

6. This was my first thought.

The school only gets public funds for a child for that day, if the child is actually in school. Many people don't realize this.

[twilo73]

8. Interesting

So if they kid is not present they don't get paid for that kid that day? Interesting

[donco6]

11. delete

delete - I was wrong.

[MicaelS]

14. Yes, it is ALL about the money, period.

Don't let them fool you with that "One day off disrupts the learning process" crap.

And this shit has been going on for OVER 40 years. I remember during 7th-12th grades (1969-1975) in Texas, that every single day the school PA would have constant announcements for the first hour of the day "Teachers, PLEASE get you attendance reports to the office." Every single day. No attendance reports, no $$$$.

As the street says "It's ALL about the Benjamins."

[caty]

7. Why does that day fall on a school day?

Schedule it on a vacation day and everyone is happy. It should never have fallen on a school day in the first place. Common sense.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. We have a winner!

:applause:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. It's sure not like there's any shortage of 'Institute' days, either.

[frazzled]

9. It's because school districts lose money for every absent child

At least that's how it used to be in our district: you got paid a certain amount per pupil per day. This is about money, not learning.

[donco6]

13. I just checked, and they really do count it that way.

How nutty. Just because a kid is gone for a day or two doesn't mean any costs are lowered.

We're funded based on the number of kids enrolled as of a certain day. At least we don't get punished financially for kids who are simply absent.

[sandnsea]

17. That's interesting

Is that a district thing, or how Colorado does it? iirc, you're in Colorado. I didn't know any state had a different funding method as far as students per day went, would be interested in seeing how many states had changed, including my own.

[donco6]

18. It's the whole state.

We have a count day - October 1. The kids have to be enrolled by that date or before. They have to attend at least one day within an eleven-day count window, with Oct 1 being the middle. That's how we're funded. We start out the year with a projection, then they reconcile it in December after the count is finalized.

[Sabriel]

15. A child might miss vital information on that one day

And not knowing that particular fact will affect the child for the rest of the child's life.

Right....

In general, you're not going to miss much, being gone one day.

[RobinA]

16. Yeah, These Schools

need to get over themselves. They pretty much waste the entire month of June, but a kid can't take a day and go to work? When I worked for a corp. they had a great "Take your Kid to Work" day program that the kids loved. They got way more out of it than a random day at school.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

19. This is a school vacation week around here, so that's not an issue.

My kids are too young to take with me to work. Even if they were older, I couldn't take them in where I work because of the tight security in my work place.

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Hell, so much unemployment now I don't see how it's really a problem.

"I'm keeping the kids home to watch me send out resumes."