NWR. Vent - Parenting
I just need to vent.
My son is a junior in high school. He has had straight A’s for his entire school career, and his high school GPA is 4.21. As of right this minute, he does not have below a 94% in any of his classes. He is also in band – marching band, pep band, and jazz band, plus he tutors the band kids at the junior high two days a week. He is an Eagle Scout and a cadet officer in Civil Air Patrol. He is a licensed pilot and certified in SCUBA, and frequently does search and rescue operations utilizing these skills. Needless to say, he is BUSY, and scheduling activities with him takes some effort.
We took trips this fall to visit the colleges he’s interested in attending. Going during the summer wasn’t an option due to other activities my son had planned; he was home for exactly five days over the summer break. I worked hard to organize these trips to miss as little school as possible – usually only a Friday or Monday. However, on two of the trips, our flights were delayed or cancelled due to weather, and he missed an extra day of school. I promptly contacted the school to clear his absences, he made up the work, life went on. He then had to miss a portion of three school days leading up to his pilot’s license oral exam/check ride. I informed the school, and he worked with his teachers. He has missed all or a portion of 9 days of school this year.
This morning I got a call from the county probation officer assigned to the school district, informing me my son is a habitual truant and a hearing will be scheduled with the District Attorney’s office where I can explain why I shouldn’t be fined $500 for my son’s truancy. I am beyond upset – I feel like I’ve failed my kid, after all the work he’s put in to school and other activities, and now he’s been labeled a truant just like some kid ditching class to smoke pot behind the McDonald’s. And I’m pissed at the school district – if he had been on the football team, he would have missed the same number of days of school, but it all would have been excused. Because my son’s activities are not organized by the school, the absences are “unexcused” – it’s as if I never called. And I feel like the school MUST have better things to do than police my child. Trust me, nobody does a better job of that than I do.
Ugh.
Re: NWR. Vent - Parenting
I found this on the district website where I grew up:
I saw that and I agree that its hard to get a "feel" for a college over the summer. But, 5 days home over the whole summer? I'm just curious.
I agree. I am going to go so far as to say, OP's kid might have too many activities. 5 free days all summer?? That is crazy. Kids need free time to relax and be kids. And having to take time away from school to participate in those activities is extreme, no matter how high his GPA is.
Honestly, 9 days is a lot to miss. Also, your son was only home for 5 days over the summer. Assuming he was 16 at the time, that seems like a lot to handle.
I think that going forward, maybe if the large amount of extracurricular activities were cut down a bit, it would benefit the whole absence situation. Just a thought.
Man, I'm glad I'm not in school now - I skipped probably 25% of my senior year!
I don't think my parents were even called, because I never got in trouble for it!