All-Star Proactive Or Reactive With School Missed For Cheer?

[Alexx]

If your child has an exam or test while they are out, make arrangements for that.

It always surprises me when people take a trip to Disney the week that a high school senior has an AP Calc exam, a Stats midterm and 2 papers due.

I don't know about other districts, but we never knew far enough in advance when tests and papers were going to be to avoid having vacation during them. Most of the time you would find out about a week and a half to two weeks in advance for tests and about the same for papers depending on the length.


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[cheerKT]

I don't know about other districts, but we never knew far enough in advance when tests and papers were going to be to avoid having vacation during them. Most of the time you would find out about a week and a half to two weeks in advance for tests and about the same for papers depending on the length.


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AP exam dates are set well in advance so that could definitely be avoided. Midterms and finals you can somewhat avoid, just don't book stuff in the middle or end of the semester. But for other tests and papers I can definitely see what you're saying. That's why I loved the syllabus when I got to college.

 

[shootingstarsfan]

Be proactive. That said, as a teacher, I really hate when kids come in and say something to the effect of "I'm gone for the next x days. Can you tell me what we're doing and give me work to do??" I can't, cos 1. I don't plan that far in advance and 2. it never gets done anyway.

Let the teacher know, but don't expect them to have work ready to go. She'll probably have to make it up after. Also, this depends a lot on the kid. Some, I have no issues with them missing classes cos I know they'll make up the work and stay caught up. Others, usually the ones who take the most days off need to be there.

What does happen if CP misses over the allotted days?? There's really nothing that can be done here.

I never thought of it that way. My mom used to write a note to all of my teachers a week before I would leave for a trip, and ask them to give me work. I never had a teacher not give me any. It was my responsibility to do it on the plane on the way there and home, and had to pass it in the day I got back to school.

 

[cheermomforever]

CP is starting middle school next year and I know their attendance policies are tighter than for elementary. We don't have our comp schedule yet but there a good chance we'll go over the maximum number of days allowed for absences.

In the past, have you met with the principal and/or teachers at the beginning of the school year and explained the situation. OR, do you wait for the dreaded "nastygrams" to start coming in then address it? If you met ahead of time, were the teachers/principal receptive? Were they willing to provide work to your cp?

I know responses will vary by school, just curious what others have experienced. I'm a total rule follower so when the school rules clash with the cheer "rules" (expectations) it drives me crazy.

When we were in Fl for 11 days for cheer the school said she can only miss 8 days a quarter and that was 7 she missed. So she had to go to school on "Sr skip day" and she was unable to leave early for Sr. prom. But that was the trade off for her. I did not tell them until the week of comp.

 

[mommadonna]

Last year was my CP'S first year of middle school. It was a little hairy keeping her under the absence limit. At her school they're allowed 10 absences for the year. She was out exactly 10 days. We drove all night a couple of times to get her to school on Monday morning.

 

[Alexx]

AP exam dates are set well in advance so that could definitely be avoided. Midterms and finals you can somewhat avoid, just don't book stuff in the middle or end of the semester. But for other tests and papers I can definitely see what you're saying. That's why I loved the syllabus when I got to college.

My high school didnt do official midterms, but there always seemed to be tests around the middle of the semester. And our finals were always the two days before winter break and announced at the beginning of the school year everyone knew ahead of time. But seriously having a syllabus for college is the greatest thing ever.

 

[MOPSMommy1]

When you live on the west coast and have to fly to FL for UCA and then again for The Summit those days that you are gone add up very quickly. I have made my opinion known on this subject many times do I won't ramble on, but if I am flying all the way to FL for cheer I'm going to tack on a couple days of vacation and I don't really care what the school district has to say about it. I am lucky that my daughter is very responsible and has always gotten a 3.9 or 4.0 every quarter for as long as she has been given letter grades. We made it through middle school, and hopefully we will make it through high school without too much trouble. Fingers crossed!

 

[acheer]

Education is for life.
Cheerleading isn't.

 

[Boughetto]

Education is for life.
Cheerleading isn't.

This post was starting to scare me with how everyone seems OK with missing a week or two of school! Thank goodness for your quote!!!
In the end it's your child and your decision. If cheer is more important than being at school...who are we to judge?? :deadhorse:

 

[WinstonsGirl]

I never thought of it that way. My mom used to write a note to all of my teachers a week before I would leave for a trip, and ask them to give me work. I never had a teacher not give me any. It was my responsibility to do it on the plane on the way there and home, and had to pass it in the day I got back to school.

For a day here or there, it's not a big deal, but I consistently have kids coming in telling me that they're going to India for 2-3 months to visits family, and can I give them work for the next 3 months?? Umm, yeah, no. Not going to happen. But everything I give them is also posted online when I had it out, so they can access it if they really wanted to. They never do.

 

[Cheerleading Is My Life]

Wow, living in Canada I find it so weird that every school district in the states has a set amount of days you can miss per semester. We don't have anything like that here. You get whatever grade you earn regardless of how many days of class you missed.

 

[kristenthegreat]

Wow, living in Canada I find it so weird that every school district in the states has a set amount of days you can miss per semester. We don't have anything like that here. You get whatever grade you earn regardless of how many days of class you missed.

That was the funny thing about Ireland too- at least when I was at UCC.

American colleges (at least the one I went to/ones I've heard people talk about) have a certain number of absences per class for the semester (set up by each teacher). If you go over, either you automatically fail/incomplete OR you drop a letter grade, and then that's where you start from going down grade-wise (aka you automatically can't get higher than a B). There's an attendance policy and teachers take attendance. UCC- not a single bit of attendance was ever taken. You had your course, you had your syllabus, you show up or you don't, doesn't matter. If all you do is show up for the final days of review, that's on YOU to cram all that into your head in the month off for studying at the end of the year. (UCC, and I think all Irish schools, do the ENTIRE year's worth of exams at the end of the year. We were given all of April off to study because you could easily have 10-15 exams at once, and it was usually a continuation of the material). It was very big on personal responsibility, and if you don't pass the exam- your own dang fault. I'd DIE to hear an American parent call to get their child's grade changed over there for xyz reason. Hilarious.

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

Missing a lot of days of school does not look good on college applications either - when you have too many missed days, a college may ask you why. Who knows how a college may veiw "I missed 3+ weeks worth of school for competition cheerleading"? I've also heard that employers looking to hire people right out of high school use school attendance records in their decision making - and high school transcripts are forever, who knows what type of job your child may want down the line where they ask to see high school transcripts and then he/she will have to explain it was for competition cheerleading (or they might not give you a chance to explain).

I would not risk my child's future in that way over cheer - especially when it's not necessary - if a gym really wanted to they could structure their comp choices and policies to limit missed school. Someone gave an example of a gym having a rule about being there Friday night - well, if the kids weren't due at the comp until later Saturday for warmups, that rule would be prioritizing cheer above school (and I'd probably look for a new gym the following year if a gym did that to my CP - and if my CP was in high school I probably wouldn't even follow the rule the current year).

 

[cheerisloving]

I actually have no clue what the rule books say about absences from my school district. I believe you can't miss 2 weeks
unexcused. I never really missed school for cheer or anything for that matter. Cheer wise, I almost always made it back to go to school Monday. I remember US Finals were in VA Beach and I was in the last award session that ended at midnight, and we made it back to southern Maryland the same night, and I went to school the next day. I remember we had the PSAT the day after a district competition and I was dog sick but still went to school, and then my mom excused me from the rest of my classes and I sat in her office until she could leave.

Basically, unexcused absences couldn't build up, but if your parent called and excused you, teachers had to give you the work. I used senior skip day as mental health day, but I was able to make up work missed because my mom excused me for being sick.
When we were missing school for cheer or family emergencies, my mom would make sure I told my teachers "I won't be in class, can I make up any work when I get back? Is there anything I can take with me?" That way teachers didn't feel rushed to get assignments that weren't ready. I also would go to each teacher once I was back and arrange time for me to catch up, be it study hall period, lunch or after school.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

School employee here:

I get it, it's sometimes unavoidable to miss 1-2 days during a cheer comp weekend.

I do.

However, you need to be smart about it.

Example: If you are going to a big weekend comp, that is legitimately a two day miss. Maybe a three if you miss your flight. Ok.

However, you can't miss two for NCA, two for Cheersport, two for UCA weekend, then (for example) -

*Decide to stay at Disney for Worlds an extra week for vacation.
*Decide to take a "shopping trip" for two days after Champs League.
*Give her two days off after you get back from NCA because "she's tired."
*Take her out two days early for a pageant two weeks after you get back from Majors weekend.
*Have her miss a day before Homecoming for hair and make up.

...Then complain about your kid being over your district's absence limit.