CA School District Billing Parents for Children's Missed Schooldays

[Jonathan Randall]

CA School District Billing Parents for Children's Missed Schooldays. $36.00 per kid, per family, per day of school missed for "elective" reasons (not accident or illness related). Parents who take their kids on ski trip return to find a "bill" for several hundred dollars for the revenue the school district lost by their kids absences:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17521763/

Thoughts?

 

[Cryozombie]

I think I'd pull my kid out of school, and homeschool em, and say "eat that revenue school"

I'd also send a back a bill for every teacher who took a day off, and evertime they shuffled some useless filmstrip or other pointless activity off on the kid when they didn't actually teach.

(I recall in HIGHSCHOOL ALGEBRA the teacher showed us "Donald Duck in Mathmagic land" one day. Yeah, the same one they show to first graders)

System has gotta work both ways, In my mind.
​

 

[Cryozombie]

Not to mention, often times parents get their vacation time from work durring times when work says it is appropriate. So if their work says "take your vaction durring this period" and its durring the school year, what do the parents say? "Oh no, I cant have my vacation Mr Boss, Sir, you see the school, it will fine me...."




​

 

[jdinca]

Then I guess every time the student is absent, they're sick. This is silly.

 

[Andrew Green]

In truth, the bills are merely a request; no one is actually required to pay.

Still quite a insultting gesture.

Kids today, nothing but a means to funding. Maybe offer them some revenue sharing for sending your kid there instead of home schooling. 200 or so days in the school year I believe. $36 a day, let's be nice and go with a 25% cut, that's about $1800 / year, sweet

 

[tradrockrat]

I think I'd pull my kid out of school, and homeschool em, and say "eat that revenue school"

I'd also send a back a bill for every teacher who took a day off, and evertime they shuffled some useless filmstrip or other pointless activity off on the kid when they didn't actually teach.

(I recall in HIGHSCHOOL ALGEBRA the teacher showed us "Donald Duck in Mathmagic land" one day. Yeah, the same one they show to first graders)

System has gotta work both ways, In my mind.
​

It does work both ways. We teachers get a few days off a year for sickness just like everybody else. If we take more, we don't get paid - so yeah, we DO pay a bill for taking off.

And don't confuse teachers / poor teaching /the school board - three different animals.

Bad teachers suck - enough said.

I used to work for a non-public school in california and we got docked the same amount for every student everyday they were absent regardless of the reasons - sick or not. Yeah you heard me, we got our budget slashed if the children did not attend school cause some self entitled parents pulled Biff and Scooter out for a week in Utah. That means less REAL math texts for our Algebra class - no wonder they watch donald duck, huh? (BTW - no one in my classes ever watched Donald Duck)

And as for home schooling - I'm all for it. Most home school parents are the kind of parents that wouldn't ever see one of these bills anyway, cause they actually WANT their kid to get an education instead of asking the state schools to raise their kids for them.

Direct your anger where it belongs - at the administration that dreams this garbage up and enacts it. Leave the poor (both in the monetary and beleagured sense) teachers out of it.

Unless they suck, but that's a different issue in which you and I probably fully agree on.

JMHO

 

[arnisador]

Not to mention, often times parents get their vacation time from work durring times when work says it is appropriate.​

​

I think I'd pull my kid out of school, and homeschool em, and say "eat that revenue school"​

This is part of what happened to us. Our daughter was in 1st grade when I had a conference in Washington, D.C. My wife made arrangements to take the kids on a tour of the White House and got an extended tour of the Capitol building as a close friend's significant other was a congressional aide. They went to the Smithsonian and on and on and on--a fully educational tour for the kids, while I worked. The school complained about my daughter missing a week for that...when she was alredy ahead of the otehr kids and often finished her work so early that the teacher would tell her to just put her head down and close her eyes while the other kids finished their work. Less than a year later we made the decision to homeschool her (at her repeated request), and this was one of our big reasons--what a screwed-up system that says No to a trip to Washington, D.C. for a first-grader who is already bored in class and well able to make up any missed work.

​

 

[Ninjamom]

........If we take more, we don't get paid - so yeah, we DO pay a bill for taking off.

.......Yeah you heard me, we got our budget slashed if the children did not attend school cause some self entitled parents pulled Biff and Scooter out for a week in Utah.

No offense, TRad, but I see this attitude as part of the same problem: it's the idea of ENTITLEMENT.

I can pull my kids out of school any time I so choose, because they are MY kids. They belong to ME, and not to the school or school system. The school has no right or entitlement to their presence.

When my kids go to school, the school gets money. That is because the money is MINE for the education of the children, and not the SCHOOL's for the use in 'their budget'.

The school has no entitlement to either my children OR my money.

As a matter of fact, if I pull my kids out of school for a day, shouldn't I be entitled to a refund? :wink2:

 

[jetboatdeath]

Poor teacher?
Please this has been beat to death. Why when there is an issue with teachers this is the first thing that comes up. Never here poor sys admin.

 

[tradrockrat]

Poor teacher?
Please this has been beat to death. Why when there is an issue with teachers this is the first thing that comes up. Never here poor sys admin.

Exactly my point - this whole issue ISN'T about teachers. Leave us out of it.

But we sure do make easy targets, don't we? BTW- what are the problems of sys admin?

No offense, TRad, but I see this attitude as part of the same problem: it's the idea of ENTITLEMENT.

I can pull my kids out of school any time I so choose, because they are MY kids. They belong to ME, and not to the school or school system. The school has no right or entitlement to their presence.

I agree totally with this statement, except for the bit about your kids presence. We do have the right to expect them there - after all, it's the law. Other than that, they are your responsibility. I personally think this billing thing is a joke that is in very poor taste, and I find the whole thing more than a little offensive and indicative of a far deeper issue facing the administration of this nations education system.

When my kids go to school, the school gets money. That is because the money is MINE for the education of the children, and not the SCHOOL's for the use in 'their budget'.

The school has no entitlement to either my children OR my money.

Actually, as you chose to live in this society, you accept the social contract of publically funded aducation - you do owe the money. If you don't agree you are free to try to change the system or failing that move.

As a matter of fact, if I pull my kids out of school for a day, shouldn't I be entitled to a refund? :wink2:

It'd be nice, wouldn't it? Maybe we can get that enacted right after we make it so I don't have to pay taxes that go to my own paycheck.

Then we can try to get back money from the cable company for days we don't watch TV, insurance money back from days we don't drive...

 

[Tames D]

It does work both ways. We teachers get a few days off a year for sickness just like everybody else. If we take more, we don't get paid - so yeah, we DO pay a bill for taking off.

And don't confuse teachers / poor teaching /the school board - three different animals.

Bad teachers suck - enough said.

I used to work for a non-public school in california and we got docked the same amount for every student everyday they were absent regardless of the reasons - sick or not. Yeah you heard me, we got our budget slashed if the children did not attend school cause some self entitled parents pulled Biff and Scooter out for a week in Utah. That means less REAL math texts for our Algebra class - no wonder they watch donald duck, huh? (BTW - no one in my classes ever watched Donald Duck)

And as for home schooling - I'm all for it. Most home school parents are the kind of parents that wouldn't ever see one of these bills anyway, cause they actually WANT their kid to get an education instead of asking the state schools to raise their kids for them.

Direct your anger where it belongs - at the administration that dreams this garbage up and enacts it. Leave the poor (both in the monetary and beleagured sense) teachers out of it.

Unless they suck, but that's a different issue in which you and I probably fully agree on.

JMHO

Thank you. Thank you. We homeschool our 6 and 7 year old boys. We hate the image that it has with alot of people and it is very challenging but we do it anyways, primarily because our 6 year old is Autistic and he responds well to it. We have the utmost respect for Teachers and the public education system but we have to take a different path. And in case I forgot to mention it, Thank you.

 

[tradrockrat]

Thank you. Thank you. We homeschool our 6 and 7 year old boys. We hate the image that it has with alot of people and it is very challenging but we do it anyways, primarily because our 6 year old is Autistic and he responds well to it. We have the utmost respect for Teachers and the public education system but we have to take a different path. And in case I forgot to mention it, Thank you.

I understand completly - I am a special education teacher and spent three years teaching in a non-public school for autism (my older sister is autistic) and frankly if I had an autistic child I would never put him/her in a public school. He /She would go to a school specifically for autism / aspergers or be home schooled by me. JMHO. Public schools are stretched too thin to offer the depth of services I would demand for my special needs child.

 

[Kacey]

As a teacher with several students who are failing due to absences, which their parents condone, ignore, excuse, provide no consequences for, etc., I can understand the frustration quotient of teachers who are at their wits' end attempting to teach frequently absent students. Other districts, municipalities, and states have enacted laws that mandate consequences for students who are absent; in Wisconsin, for example, the following policy is adhered to by a majority of large cities:

Municipal sanctions against habitual truancy may include suspension of driving privileges; a fine of up to $500, assessed against the student or a parent or guardian; home detention; revocation of a work permit; or a court order to participate in various programs, including teen court, community service, and formal or informal supervision. However, the number of students whose driving privileges have been suspended has declined in recent years. In calendar year 1999, a total of 1,617 driver licenses were suspended for truancy.

Similar programs exist in other states. Truancy is a serious concern, and is correlated with other problems both in and out of school, and I do believe it needs to be treated much more seriously than it is in many cases - my district, for example, did not have a truancy officer for some years (we do now) as a cost-cutting measure; however, that has changed recently, following a change in superintendents. I agree that parents need to be encouraged to keep their kids in school, and I find fault with the method of determining funding in California described in the article - but I don't agree that this is the way to change things for the better, because if I were a parent or a student, I would be learning that it's okay to shirk your responsibilities as long as you cough up some money - and as a teacher, I don't want to be teaching my students that they can get out of coming to school (or any other required activity) by paying for absences; it's not a lesson I'm comfortable with.

 

[Phoenix44]

I would submit a bill to every teacher who assigned homework over a school break.

 

[tradrockrat]

I would submit a bill to every teacher who assigned homework over a school break.

LMAO!

 

[Cryozombie]

As a teacher with several students who are failing due to absences, which their parents condone, ignore, excuse, provide no consequences for, etc., I can understand the frustration quotient of teachers who are at their wits' end attempting to teach frequently absent students.

I understand that too, and I think despite what 'Ol Prez thinks, it SHOULDN'T be the teachers/school responsibility if students fail because they don't show up.

That said, The reason, Trad, that I bring up fining teachers, is that I have several freinds who are teachers, and I daresay I am ALARMED at the number of posts in their personal blogs about how they are posting from school durring class because they didnt feel like teaching today, and so they wheeled in a video, or gave the kids "free reading time" or other fairly menial "assignments" because they don't want to teach that particular day/class. It happens with alarming frequency, and I was actually involved in a rather nasty "flame war" when I said somthing about this practice in one particular blog and all the other teachers who read it attacked me for "not getting it"...

So my feeling is if the system is gonna hold the parents accountable for the kids being there, the parents need to hold the system responsible for actually teaching... and, im sorry to say the SYSTEM includes the teachers (you ain't seperate entities) and they are responsible for doing the teaching, not the administration or the board.

 

[grydth]

I hate to spoil a good debate, especially when nobody is shooting at me, but has anyone read the full article?

It says these are not actually bills, but only requests....... so if nobody is being forced to pay a penny, why all the acrimony?

 

[Tames D]

I hate to spoil a good debate, especially when nobody is shooting at me, but has anyone read the full article?

It says these are not actually bills, but only requests....... so if nobody is being forced to pay a penny, why all the acrimony?

Sometimes it's just fun to be upset.

 

[Cryozombie]

Iso if nobody is being forced to pay a penny, why all the acrimony?

Its the idea and the arrogance of the system to send a "request" for payment.

Typically, when a bill comes in the mail, it isn't a request for payment, its a demand, so even if there is no obligation to pay them, its, at best a hassle, not to mention more junk mail to deal with... and speaking of junk mail, Why are they killing trees for this?

 

[tradrockrat]

I understand that too, and I think despite what 'Ol Prez thinks, it SHOULDN'T be the teachers/school responsibility if students fail because they don't show up.

That said, The reason, Trad, that I bring up fining teachers, is that I have several freinds who are teachers, and I daresay I am ALARMED at the number of posts in their personal blogs about how they are posting from school durring class because they didnt feel like teaching today, and so they wheeled in a video, or gave the kids "free reading time" or other fairly menial "assignments" because they don't want to teach that particular day/class. It happens with alarming frequency, and I was actually involved in a rather nasty "flame war" when I said somthing about this practice in one particular blog and all the other teachers who read it attacked me for "not getting it"...

So my feeling is if the system is gonna hold the parents accountable for the kids being there, the parents need to hold the system responsible for actually teaching... and, im sorry to say the SYSTEM includes the teachers (you ain't seperate entities) and they are responsible for doing the teaching, not the administration or the board.

I agree with accountability, and I absolutley agree with you that we're all part of the system, but you don't shoot the mailman because stamps just got more expensive. We all have our roles. Teachers are supposed to teach. If they're all on-line instead of teaching they aren't doing their jobs are they? There is a BIG difference in showing an instructional video to complement the lesson and playing a movie so you can surf the internet.

Now I am no saint. There have been several times in my last few years that I've slacked off in my lesson planning period (no students - no teaching) to just listen to some music or even get on this site and check things out. but these were mental breaks during my planning time - not teaching time, so I spent two hours that night at home working on lessons instead of the usual one. (kinda like this: After three hours which involved hysterical twelve year olds banging their heads against walls, followed by a 15 year old wetting herself in class, followed by an emergaency with one of my Emotionally disturbed students fighting on the playground, I needed a half hour of music and headphones)

In my school I wouldn't last very long if I was surfing the internet instead of teaching - we're monitored all the time (not to mention I teach the bosses son...) and as a special ed teacher, my class is a bit different than the normal - my students wouldn't handle busy work very well - class would explode rather quickly. lol

anyway - I think we (and all caring teachers) do agree, my only issue is that this actual situation has nothing to do with teachers. we sure as hell weren't consulted about this "payment" stuff.

Wishing you all the best
Trad