Teachers: Did you go/are you going during the school year?

futuremrscoachj · May 2011

Im getting married in February and was planning on going on my honeymoon the week after the wedding... but I just signed my first year teacher contract and realize that I would miss a weeks worth of school if I did so....
We have 12 1/2 days we're allowed to miss with pay, so missing 5 would be okay as long as I would good the rest of the year...
Me and my fiance both teach and we have the same Spring Break in April... Should we take the 5 days off after the wedding or should we just wait until Spring Break?

Teachers, what did ya do?

teachermegs · May 2011

Congrats on the job. We are both teachers too. Originally we planned our wedding right before spring break, but district changed the calendar. Anyway, we went our HM on spring break, which was a month later. We did take days off before and after the wedding.

Miracle520 · May 2011

I'd wait till your spring break. I purposefully planned my HM so I wouldn't have to miss any school. There's a teacher at our school taking a week and half off for her HM in the next week or so. Even though admin cleared it, a lot of the teachers think it''s kind of tacky. But maybe we're just snarky :-P

kelseyann727 · May 2011

That is frowned upon where I teach. We get 15 sick days and 3 personal days a year and you would not be hired back if you were a first year teacher who did that. Our wedding is the second to last weekend in June of 2012 so we aren't even going to book our honeymoon until March 2012 incase of snow days extending the school year past our wedding date.

If I were you I would go when you have a school vacation- not only will it look better with your admin but it won't create bad opinions amongst your co workers.

graysquirrel · May 2011

I'm a teacher and we picked our date so that it would not interfere with the school year. If possible, I'd avoid missing school if you can. Sub plans are a pain and you would have a major amount of work to do when you got back.

jsquared62009 · May 2011

We're both teachers and are going to go in the summer so we don't have to miss school. I agree with PP that even though you CAN miss days w/o losing pay it's frowned upon...especially if your a first year. I also agree with PP that being a first year and taking a lot of vaca time can decrease your chance of getting rehired so you have to think about how stable the job is. Spring break would be better for sure!

kelseyann727 · May 2011

Also if you haven't taught before you are more likely to be out sick during the first couple of years because you are being exposed to so much....so please don't count on not being out again that year since you might use up more days than you expect.... you don't know what might happen!

I know that my first year I had a cold almost every two weeks and had to go to the drs multiple times that year to get meds for things that I hadn't gotten since I was a little kid like strep etc.

Hope this helps.

Reilly626 · May 2011

We are both teachers also, made sure to marry in August so we could do a honeymoon soon after.

hollykla · May 2011

We planned to have a destination wedding and went for the full two weeks of Spring Break. I ended up missing one day of work because of it. I would wait until Spring Break for your honeymoon.

lisab711 · May 2011

I think it depends on how long you have been teaching. For first year I would wait, but I've been teaching for five years and feel like I should be able to have the wedding I want...which happened to be in the fall. I'm taking unpaid days and it was fine...We have also had 2 first year teachers do it also, but they had booked their honeymoons before getting hired...good luck, it is a tough call

Summer2011Bride · May 2011

I'm getting married in the summer, so we're going on our HM right away but I'm not missing work. We get a lot of sick days but only 3 "personal" days and they aren't supposed to be used for things like vacations. it really would not be possible for me to take a vacation during the school year unless it fell on spring break or Christmas break.

lmg1115 · May 2011

I'm getting married in September, but we're not honeymooning until Christmas break. That way, we can take a full 10 day honeymoon and get out of town when its cold out!

It is definitely frowned upon in my district to use multiple sick days for a vacation - especially since everyone will know youre not sick and youre using those days for a vacation.

b0710 · May 2011

We are both teachers too. We are getting married in July to avoid school altogether. At my school we are only allowed to miss 2 days paid (unless you're actually sick), then the rest would have to be unpaid. Make sure to check into that. Honestly, I would wait until your spring break to go....IMHO it wouldn't be worth the stress. Missing 2 days of school is very difficult to catch up, I can't imagine missing a week!

eviltwin13 · May 2011

I'm getting married in August and taking a few days' mini-honeymoon right after the wedding. Then we're planning a bigger trip over my next spring break. There's no way I'd be allowed to take a whole week off outside our regular vacation time. Many years ago, when I was an assistant, my head teacher asked to take off a week for her honeymoon and it was only allowed because I was there to take the class - and she was not allowed to use vacation time, but was docked for each day that she took.

tecah123 · May 2011

Wait till Spring Break especially since your a new teacher in the school. I would take a day off before and after your wedding but then wait till spring break.

Happy Planning.

Doehling · May 2011

We are getting married in October the weekend before teacher's convention. In Wisconsin, all teachers have off Thursday and Friday of convention as comp days for other duties so you can go if you want or not. We also have "discretionary" days built into our time off - you can only use them for a few specific reasons - one of them being your own wedding. So, I am taking my discretionary days Mon-Wed after the wedding and have off school on Thursday and Friday. I think a lot of it depends on your individual school's contract. Next year will be my second year and our superintendent of HR told me to take the days! I do teach high school, so it may be different for elementary school teachers.

futuremrscoachj · May 2011

Thanks so much yall!

My FI is a high school baseball coach, and they always take a trip to play somewhere during Spring Break, so I realized that was out.

Im thinking about maybe doing a long weekend at the Biltmore House in NC? Do 3 nights in the Grove Park Inn and be up in the mountains. Miss Mon-Wed and be back at school Thursday.

Would that be better?

MaggieandJake · May 2011

i would double check your district policy as well. While I technically get 14 PTO days of PTO per year, only 2 of them are for personal days, 5 are for EMERGENCY sick leave, 2 are for Bereavement, and 5 are for regular sick days. We are not allowed to take scheduled time off beyond our 2 personal days. We are only allowed to take sick days if we are SICK and emergency sick leave can ONLY be used for immediately family emergency-health issues.

Personally, I would wait another schedule break, or the summer. Especially since you'll be a first year teacher. While it may be contractually acceptable, it will mostly likely be frowned upon and a big no-no in the eyes of administrators and co-workers.

BeccaMichelleS · May 2011

I would gage this on your administration. Are they hardcore about you missing school? I work in a school with around 130 teachers, so people are out all of the time. If you have an otherwise reliable attendance rate, I would take maybe the Friday before and the Monday and Tuesday after the wedding off...have a long weekend:) Then do your honeymoon trip on break.
You could always go in and present the issue to your principle, and see how he/she reacts...
I really like the idea of the long weekend and then HM over spring break. No one will question you about taking off two days after your wedding unless the timing is horrendous (like during state exams or the end of a marking period.)

BeccaMichelleS · May 2011

From your earlier post:
Im thinking about maybe doing a long weekend at the Biltmore House in NC? Do 3 nights in the Grove Park Inn and be up in the mountains. Miss Mon-Wed and be back at school Thursday.

I would do that, and then go on a long honeymoon when school gets out!

skelly70 · May 2011

I agree with the comments posted above. I'm finishing up my first year of teaching, and it was amazing how much I was sick this year. Just planning a wedding while teaching has been stressful enough--I wouldn't want to throw the actual wedding in there. Plus, like others said, it is frowned upon to take vacations with your PTO--in my district, probationary teachers would be non-renewed because of that. My fiance (also a teacher) and I scheduled our wedding late enough in the summer so we could always have our anniversary at a time when we could actually celebrate it or go on a trip.

Megaphone2752 · May 2011

As everyone else said, I'd go over a break. Especially when you're new, people watch you, and you'll probably enjoy it more if you're not worried about missing school.

kate3246 · May 2011

We both work at a school as well. We are getting married in July so we have time off, however, that's not your case.

So, I would go somewhere close for your wedding night and maybe another night, then take a big honeymoon over Spring Break.. Good luck!

daisy662 · May 2011

I personally don't think it's right to take a whole week off during the school year. Teachers get sooooo much time off, I would think it would make more sense to go during one of your many vacations. If I was the administration, I would probably be pretty aggravated...

I like your option of a long weekend at the Biltmore (I hear it is incredible) and then doing the actual honeymoon later on. Also if you do that, time is no issue and you could do an incredible honeymoon for a couple weeks to an amazing location! That's what I would do anyway!

Have a great time!

Car&Ry · May 2011

Definitely check into what you're ALLOWED to do first! I am in Canada and my board doesn't allow us to take any time off for vacations -even unpaid. We can get unpaid leave if we are in someone else's wedding, but not for our own, since we have a week off in March, 6 weeks in the summer, and 2 weeks at Christmas plus long weekends.

Also, when you leave you need to plan for ever day you will be gone -lots of work! Hopefully you will come back to a class that is right on track, but maybe not!

nmgazdag · May 2011

I am very much in the minority here. I don't think anyone has any right to tell you when you should plan your wedding/honeymoom simply because you are a teacher. If you are given personal days, you are entitled to use those days how you wish. I don't think anyone except you and your future husband should have a say in this matter. I've been teaching for five years and I plan on taking time off for my honeymoon in October. I wanted a fall wedding, and I also wanted to be able to go on my honeymoon right after my wedding. If there was anything I DID NOT want, it was a summer wedding. And, just because I'm a teacher does not mean I should be forced to have a summer wedding/honeymoon.

If I were in my first year teaching, I might not feel as comfortable being away from my classroom for that length of time. However, I know that the world is not going to stop because I am not there. I also know that this going to happen ONCE in my life and my last concern is someone "frowning" upon it. I've established myself as a dedicated and effective teacher, so that's entirely too bad if someone feels that way. Just my two cents and a little encouragement for teachers contemplating this issue!

Teachers: Did you go/are you going during the school year?

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