If you are keeping your child home from public school for a major religious holiday..

[kep]

What do you say when you call the school to excuse the absence? Do you actually say the child is home for religious reasons (to attend Mass/prayers with the family)? I am concerned that it is not a "valid" reason to miss school, even though I know it is. For the record, said child has missed two days for illness during the last year. I am sure I am overthinking this.

[egoldber]

I would just say that you are keeping them home for a family religious celebration.

[missym]

I would just say that you are keeping them home for a family religious celebration.

:yeahthat: You might also check your district's policy - in ours, absences due to religious observance are marked "as present." It doesn't even show up as an absence on the record.

[wellyes]

Yes absolutely.

[kep]

:yeahthat: You might also check your district's policy - in ours, absences due to religious observance are marked "as present." It doesn't even show up as an absence on the record.

Wow, so interesting. I had no idea. I will ask when I call this morning. Thanks!

[JBaxter]

I would just do it and not worry. Nathan is missing 2 days because we are attending his brothers college graduation.

[PZMommy]

In my district students are allowed to be excused for 2 days due to religious reasons. You are still marked absence, but it is excused vs unexcused. I would just tell them he is absent due to a religious observance.

Does he have school on Good Friday?? I would imagine tons of students would be absent on Good Friday. My district actually started giving us two Jewish holidays off as unassigned days as so many students/teachers were missing those days.

[hbridge]

In our district, the parents have to write a letter and submit it a few days ahead of the observance to have the absence be excused and to prevent homework and assessments from being given...

[kep]

In my district students are allowed to be excused for 2 days due to religious reasons. You are still marked absence, but it is excused vs unexcused. I would just tell them he is absent due to a religious observance.

Does he have school on Good Friday?? I would imagine tons of students would be absent on Good Friday. My district actually started giving us two Jewish holidays off as unassigned days as so many students/teachers were missing those days.

Yes, our schools have class this week, including Good Friday. This is our first year in public school though, and obviously our private (Catholic) school had Thursday and Friday off.

[PZMommy]

Yes, our schools have class this week, including Good Friday. This is our first year in public school though, and obviously our private (Catholic) school had Thursday and Friday off.

Is that because of the snow days?? I've gone to public school all my life and teach public school and we have always had Good Friday off. That is awful that they scheduled school for today. I would take it off and not give it a second thought!!

[BunnyBee]

Is that because of the snow days?? I've gone to public school all my life and teach public school and we have always had Good Friday off. That is awful that they scheduled school for today. I would take it off and not give it a second thought!!

Why is it awful? It's never been a day off where I've lived in the Bible Belt, as the most common religions here don't "do" Lent. It would only be off as a school holiday if the school district knows at least 40% (or whatever the number is for minimum attendance) would opt to stay out of school. I wouldn't hesitate to keep a child home for a religious observation no matter what the calendar says.

[egoldber]

Our district always has spring break the week before Easter, in part I think to not have to deal with the Thursday/Friday issue.

But I don't think a public school district should be obliged to be off on Good Friday.

[PZMommy]

Why is it awful? It's never been a day off where I've lived in the Bible Belt, as the most common religions here don't "do" Lent. It would only be off as a school holiday if the school district knows at least 40% (or whatever the number is for minimum attendance) would opt to stay out of school. I wouldn't hesitate to keep a child home for a religious observation no matter what the calendar says.

I'm not Catholic, so I don't do Lent either. However Good Friday is an important religious holiday in a variety of religious denominations, so every district I've worked in, even here in Los Angeles, we get the day off. I would imagine many kids and teachers would take the day off if they want to go to a church service. In my current district we now get Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah off because too many students and teachers took the days off.

[swissair81]

I'm not Catholic, so I don't do Lent either. However Good Friday is an important religious holiday in a variety of religious denominations, so every district I've worked in, even here in Los Angeles, we get the day off. I would imagine many kids and teachers would take the day off if they want to go to a church service. In my current district we now get Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah off because too many students and teachers took the days off.

I wonder if at least part of the same population also takes off for Passover this week. This year, Good Friday is also the 4th day of Passover.

[Aishe]

I'm not Catholic, so I don't do Lent either. However Good Friday is an important religious holiday in a variety of religious denominations, so every district I've worked in, even here in Los Angeles, we get the day off. I would imagine many kids and teachers would take the day off if they want to go to a church service. In my current district we now get Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah off because too many students and teachers took the days off.

We're in an LA suburb and our public school does not have the day off. Neither does our private preschool. I've honestly never heard of having GF off.

[PunkyBoo]

We're in an LA suburb and our public school does not have the day off. Neither does our private preschool. I've honestly never heard of having GF off.

I grew up in L.A. public schools and never had Good Friday off. The public schools in my area now are also in school today. My son is in Catholic school now so he she's have it off.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[maydaymommy]

I wonder if at least part of the same population also takes off for Passover this week. This year, Good Friday is also the 4th day of Passover.

I think there is a minuscule number of Jewish children who attend public school who would consider staying home from school because of Passover. Perhaps the most religious would take off the first full day or two. Our Conservative rabbis' kids will probably take off the first 2 days and last, for instance.

DS1 had school the day after the first Seder & it's the first time we've ever had school during Passover since it is his first year in public school. It was tough since it's a long, late night. Packing lunch during Passover is a first for me, too, and it was harder than I'd thought, plus there were cupcakes for birthday snacks and days he wanted to buy that he couldn't. It wouldn't be hard, but there was nary a piece of matzah available in the cafeteria.

To answer the OP question, I would not hesitate to take a child out for religious observance of any type & I would describe it to the school as such. We took DS1 out for an hour or so when DS2 was "Shabbat Kid" at his school one Friday morning, no matter that it's not even Shabbat yet. He also missed a whole morning for Purim, to go to the preschool carnival that I chair. Neither of these were "necessary" religious observance, but i would not expect any pushback or consequence for being with family celebrating at our place of worship.

[elektra]

Our school policy is that missing for a religious holiday is excused so I would tell them that was he reason for missing, yes.

[niccig]

We're in an LA suburb and our public school does not have the day off. Neither does our private preschool. I've honestly never heard of having GF off.

Same locale, no day off for public school or public college.
I agree with taking day off for a religious observance. Just find out what school wants to know so it's hopefully excused. And if it isn't excused, I wouldn't worry about it.

[o_mom]

Is that because of the snow days?? I've gone to public school all my life and teach public school and we have always had Good Friday off. That is awful that they scheduled school for today. I would take it off and not give it a second thought!!

We never had it off growing up and don't now unless it happens to fall right before/during spring break (I think once in 5 years?). These were all public schools in the Midwest. Only the Christian schools seem to have it off.

All the churches I have attended have GF services in the evening, so we have never had a reason to take kids out of school. ETA: if we did, it would be excused.

Interestingly, DH used to get GF off work because it was part of the union contract at their facility, even though he was non-union. They replaced it with a floating holiday a few years ago.

[okinawama]

I agree with others, call in, and explain the reason for the absence, and hopefully they are accommodating!

I have never had or heard of school being out specifically for Good Friday. I see some districts strategically planning a teacher inservice day for that day, but never taking of specifically for Good Friday. I would never expect a public institution of any kind to take that day off.

[KrisM]

Our spring break was the week of the 7th. Kids all had today off for Good Friday. Public school. It's on the schedule like that. Much of the auto industry is off as well. DH had the day off today.

I'm surprised they do it. They don't need it, as we just had a week off!

[o_mom]

Our spring break was the week of the 7th. Kids all had today off for Good Friday. Public school. It's on the schedule like that. Much of the auto industry is off as well. DH had the day off today.

I'm surprised they do it. They don't need it, as we just had a week off!

I wonder if it is the industry driving the schools to have it off in your area. If a large portion of parents have it as a holiday and take kids out to travel, the schools may have decided it was easier to have it off.

[ett]

I agree with others, call in, and explain the reason for the absence, and hopefully they are accommodating!

I have never had or heard of school being out specifically for Good Friday. I see some districts strategically planning a teacher inservice day for that day, but never taking of specifically for Good Friday. I would never expect a public institution of any kind to take that day off.

We have Good Friday off and most towns around us do too. I grew up in the same state (MA) and we also always had the day off.

ETA: I'm talking about public schools. I don't know what privates do.

[buddyleebaby]

Growing up, we always had Passover off. We only had Good Friday off if Holy Week happened to coincide with Passover that year.

In my current area, we don't have a weeklong spring break, but usually get off Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the day after Easter. This year, due to snow days, we only had off Good Friday.

Religious Observances are counted as excused absences, you just have to send a note.

[belovedgandp]

This is the first time in the 8 years I've had kids following the public school schedule that we did have Good Friday off. There is always one professional day off of school in April. It's bounced around, so not always the third Friday or anything. I assumed they were intentionally avoiding Good Friday, but they hit it either on purpose or not this year. I looked ahead and we are not off next year.

For some random tradition the stock market doesn't trade on Good Friday, so DH has always had this day off. I usually make him go have lunch with the kids at school since it is the only day he has a holiday and they have school, but not this year.

As for calling in, just tell them and don't think twice. I've pulled my kids out for random reasons - admittedly some more valid than others over the years.

[KrisM]

I wonder if it is the industry driving the schools to have it off in your area. If a large portion of parents have it as a holiday and take kids out to travel, the schools may have decided it was easier to have it off.

Most likely. Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have it off. DH works for a Tier 1 supplier so he is off as well.

[MontrealMum]

I would never expect a public institution of any kind to take that day off.
We're off for a 4-day weekend here. Good Friday is a statutory holiday in Canada, and Easter Monday is a bank holiday. For schools, that adds up to 4 days off. Some non-government employers give both the Fri. and the Mon., and some give a choice of one or the other.

I had Good Friday off growing up in the States because I went to a Catholic school, but never Easter Monday. It's so hard to remember that so many things are closed for 4 straight days!