All-Star How Many Days Out Of School......

[Gemma]

Just curious how many days you or your child miss from school due to competitions? I think mine will miss 7 days total this year, possibly a few more---which seems like a lot to me---but they should be spread out ok. In the past I've just called her and her sis in sick because their school won't excuse the absence otherwise! How do your schools react and do you call them in sick or out of town? Man I would have loved to miss all that school when I was younger and get to go on little trips! I think it's time for this mom to have a "when I was your age" convo with them later.

 

[BlockHead]

I always tell them that it is for "personal reasons." Unless she is truly sick, I don't feel that it is their business. She has never missed due to cheer. She will probably miss one day this year, since we have a competition in Chicago on a Sunday and that is hours away from St. Louis.

 

[dawgshow]

This year, she'll only miss two. I'm up front and tell them that it's for a national sport competition (thank you bazillion nationals!) and they're fine with it. She gets her work ahead of time and it's all due the day she gets back. Last year she missed 6 for cheer and it was still fine.


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[Gemma]

I always tell them that it is for "personal reasons." Unless she is truly sick, I don't feel that it is their business. She has never missed due to cheer. She will probably miss one day this year, since we have a competition in Chicago on a Sunday and that is hours away from St. Louis.

Oh, I like that--I will use personal reasons going forward.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

I tell them the truth. Last year when I brought in a note saying she had to miss 2 Fridays in a row to perform for Irish dance for St Patricks Day, all her principal said was, "Oh how exciting!!!" So now I just tell them she has a competition in another state and they count it as excused.

I know other districts have stricter rules on what's "excused" but for CPS as long as they have a note it's ok.

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[Gemma]

I tell them the truth. Last year when I brought in a note saying she had to miss 2 Fridays in a row to perform for Irish dance for St Patricks Day, all her principal said was, "Oh how exciting!!!" So now I just tell them she has a competition in another state and they count it as excused.

I know other districts have stricter rules on what's "excused" but for CPS as long as they have a note it's ok.

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That's nice! Yep, it's probably her school...if as a percentage the kids miss a certain number of days they don't get all of their alloted funding--so they are very strict on absences to where they could get kicked out if too many unexcused absences. I think I'll at least talk to them and see their reaction on it and if it will be an issue I'll use the "personal reasons" approach. In the past it was only 2 days from cheer she missed, so it's a big jump up this year.

 

[SoAena]

I don't know how attendance works in the US, but if an athletic competition isn't considered a valid excuse by the school, I'm not sure they'd let the "personal reasons" thing slide without at least asking for a clarification.

Part of my job (in a junior high school in France) is monitoring attendance. And as long as it doesn't hinder the kid's school work and it only happens a few days here and there, sports camps and competitions are valid excuses to miss school. I find it weird that some schools frown upon that (and I'm actually quite strict when it comes to rules). What are kids supposed to do, not do anything else outside of school and stay home all the time ? If their committing to their sport doesn't hurt their school work, what the problem ?

However, "personal reasons" isn't a good enough reason here, so to speak. A couple years ago, the government made it official that personal reasons were not enough of an explanation. They probably ruled it out of the "automatically excusable" reasons because a few kids were absent three days a week for personal reasons... It worked ! They don't do it anymore, but now we have kids who have a headache three days a week . If the reason for the absence is indeed very private, there are several school people who are bound to secrecy and will excuse the kid without telling anything else to anyone without the parents' consent.

I just don't understand why they would be picky about a commitment to a sport, and not about the personal stuff .

 

[cheermuse]

In the past 5 days average for cheer. This season only will be 3. Last year of middle school. HS is a lot stricter so well facing that drama in Sept.

Elementary & middle school as long as i sent a note, they were cool. Im.sure they knew when she returned with glitter remnants lol

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[cheerKT]

Wow. You guys are incredibly lucky. How old are your CPs? We had no excused absences in high school (when I cheered) sick or not. We had 8 absences for each year long course and 4 for every semester course. If you went over those 8 you had to sit in (and pay for) NovaNet at the end of the year, where you would sit in a lab for the exact number of hours you missed and do computer work in that subject.

We weren't excused for illness so we certainly weren't excused for competitions. If you were sick enough to miss more than your 8 classes you had to go on intermittent homebound instruction. You could get a doctors note but all that really did was cover your butt if the district tried to come at you for truancy.

Lots early mornings for me after getting back crazy late. Also going to school very sick since I knew I needed to save that absence.

 

[cheernerd5678]

My mom always just tells them I'm sick, which makes it a parent-excused absence. I'm not sure if they'd excuse me otherwise, she's never tried. But I don't miss for cheer often, perks of being 2 hours from either of the major cities where comps are held in my state!
My mom works at a private school and some of our cheerleaders/siblings go there, on the attendance record after our first comp it actually said "was attending sister's cheer competition." I thought that was so funny our school doesn't take that detailed notes on 2000 students, it's just truant or excused!


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[Keep_Believing]

In Texas you are allowed 10 absences for the school year. After 10 they have the option to turn you in for truancy. We only miss one a year for cheer. I turn it in as a personal absence. Since we don't go over 10 , it is never an issue.

 

[12mowerd]

In my school there was never really a set number, I never missed more than five days a year though. There were some kids in my grade who'd miss close to fifty days and then they'd get threatened to lose credits. One of my friends literally came to school late every day to miss first period because he knew he was going to fail anyway, they didn't.really care that much.. it is kind of weird now that I think about it.

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[hihocheerio]

Our HS only allows 5 unexcused absences per semester. Sports events and vacations are not excused so any of our away comps almost always use up some of those days. This year I'm pretty sure all 5 will be used for cheer. Praying for no flu...


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[Dixie]

I tell them the truth. Last year when I brought in a note saying she had to miss 2 Fridays in a row to perform for Irish dance for St Patricks Day, all her principal said was, "Oh how exciting!!!" So now I just tell them she has a competition in another state and they count it as excused.

I know other districts have stricter rules on what's "excused" but for CPS as long as they have a note it's ok.

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I'm making the same face as your avatar! Mine missed 2 days just for The Majors last year and her school counted it as unexcused. Fine - it wasn't academic related so I got that.
Her cheer sponsor however, gave her 2 demerits for 'cutting'school and another 2 for missing a basketball game she was supposed to cheer for while she was in Indy. Really? 2 demerits for cheering at The Majors instead of a basketball game? And they wonder why so many left cheer after last year.

 

[MissCongeniality]

Way too many days missed for cheer comps here. We call her in sick, otherwise it is unexcused and we get a big bad warning from the district. We pretty much have to travel to every comp. Last year ---12 days for cheer comp/travel (I'm not counting the half days missed when she left school mid-day to catch a flight).