Kids, RunDisney and School

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Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
i wanted ask fellow parents out there that have let their kids run 5ks for RunDisney what they do with school. Being the 5ks are Friday morning, do you tell the teacher that they will miss school because they will be at Disney World or Disneyland? Call them in sick?

How receptive have the teachers been if they know kids will miss school for RunDisney?

I guess when I went to school this was unheard of as you would miss school if you were sick or a family emergency, but I would like to let my kids do a 5k instead of just a kids race as the kids race seem too short for my kids, but the 10k too long.

thanks in advance.
 
Some of the 5Ks happen on a weekend. The big one is marathon weekend. That 5K is actually on Thursday!

Also know the 10K and 5K have different age requirements for the kiddos. So check those before signing your kids up.

I always see a ton of kids at the 5K and 10K so I imagine there are enough parents that don't feel bad about taking their kids out of school. I would say pick 1 race and factor that in as one of their unexcused absences for the semester/year.
 
We have taken our kids out of school for Disney trips before (not specifically runDisney), and we just tell them the truth. We are going to Disney World, or we are going on a family vacation. We have never received push-back. We do first make sure there are no standardized tests going on that week before we make our reservations, and we do try to minimize the missed school, but sometimes it's worth it to miss a day or two.
 


Some of the 5Ks happen on a weekend. The big one is marathon weekend. That 5K is actually on Thursday!

Also know the 10K and 5K have different age requirements for the kiddos. So check those before signing your kids up.

I always see a ton of kids at the 5K and 10K so I imagine there are enough parents that don't feel bad about taking their kids out of school. I would say pick 1 race and factor that in as one of their unexcused absences for the semester/year.

Unfortunately, Disneyland runs all seem to be Friday 5ks. we are in Southern California. I guess for me, I can justify one missed school day... Maybe... But to fly to Florida have them miss more than one day of school for a race.. I just can't do that. I know some parents do and that's fine. But I am wondering how receptive the school is for missing school when the child is not sick or a family emergency. I imagine you cannot say they are sick as the kid will go back to school and blabber about their run.
 
Unfortunately, Disneyland runs all seem to be Friday 5ks. we are in Southern California. I guess for me, I can justify one missed school day... Maybe... But to fly to Florida have them miss more than one day of school for a race.. I just can't do that. I know some parents do and that's fine. But I am wondering how receptive the school is for missing school when the child is not sick or a family emergency. I imagine you cannot say they are sick as the kid will go back to school and blabber about their run.

It will really depend on the school. From my understanding if it is an unexcused absence they can't really do anything until the truant laws for your area are broken.
 
So far DD has only done the kids races at DL but even that requires her to miss 1 day of school. (Avengers required her to miss 2 days last year as it was not over a holiday weekend. This is one reason we didn't do Avengers this year.) I'm pretty honest about it with the school. So far the school has just told me "have fun" and that its an unexcused absence. She even brings her medal to school along with a picture of her from the race to show her class. Teachers have been supportive of it so far. It does count as an unexcused absence and I just live with that. I believe they're allowed 3 unexcused absences in our district before you have any truancy issues. I personally think its good for her to participate in events like this, to see mommy participate in events like this and to learn how much fun being active and healthy can be! That being said, this is the last year she can do kids races. So my dilemma when I register for SW next year will be do I sign her up for the 5k and have her miss 2 days of school (2 really bothers me. I'm so much more comfortable with 1) or do I get creative on her birthday (by only 5 days) and sign her up for the 10k instead. I haven't decided what I'm gonna do yet.
 


So far DD has only done the kids races at DL but even that requires her to miss 1 day of school. (Avengers required her to miss 2 days last year as it was not over a holiday weekend. This is one reason we didn't do Avengers this year.) I'm pretty honest about it with the school. So far the school has just told me "have fun" and that its an unexcused absence. She even brings her medal to school along with a picture of her from the race to show her class. Teachers have been supportive of it so far. It does count as an unexcused absence and I just live with that. I believe they're allowed 3 unexcused absences in our district before you have any truancy issues. I personally think its good for her to participate in events like this, to see mommy participate in events like this and to learn how much fun being active and healthy can be! That being said, this is the last year she can do kids races. So my dilemma when I register for SW next year will be do I sign her up for the 5k and have her miss 2 days of school (2 really bothers me. I'm so much more comfortable with 1) or do I get creative on her birthday (by only 5 days) and sign her up for the 10k instead. I haven't decided what I'm gonna do yet.

If the expo is what is making her miss 2 days know that for every race you can go to runner relations at the race start and pick up your bib. You have to then go to the expo later to get your shirt. The do not advertise this but it is available at every runDisney event.
 
So clearly I'm out on my own here. I am not particularly concerned about missing school days so far as my kids are not behind or struggling to keep up. My district doesn't give a written warning until 10 unexcused absences, 15 before you've actually got a problem. I tell the teachers the truth. They missed yesterday and today for travel to Avengers, will miss Monday to for our flight home. They'll miss two days in February for PHM weekend too. I do not travel around testing weeks, but other than that I think missing a few days here and there is ok. I've never had a bad reaction from their teachers.

Perhaps it's the leniency of my district, but I do believe there is something to family experiences. There's no guarantee of what we can do in the future. If we can do it now, they want to, and the school is not giving me a hard time, then it's worth it to me.
 
If the expo is what is making her miss 2 days know that for every race you can go to runner relations at the race start and pick up your bib. You have to then go to the expo later to get your shirt. The do not advertise this but it is available at every runDisney event.

I had no clue! Yes its the expo that bumps it up to 2 day of missed school. Thank you!!!
 
I had no clue! Yes its the expo that bumps it up to 2 day of missed school. Thank you!!!

It is not a known or advertised thing. I only found out about it because once challenges pushed the 5K to Fridays a lot of people were having this problem. Basically they have a box of bibs and you have to make sure you have your waver printed and signed as there are no printers there at runner relations in the set up.

For locals with kids you can also pick up the kids bibs with out the kid present. For under 18s they still let others pick the bib up.
 
So.....I'm my kid's teacher, so we have a parent-teacher conference while booking flights and the teacher says OK. It's easy.

But if he chooses to go to school at some point, I would:

1. find out how the teacher feels about family vacations.
2. find out how the principal feels about family vacations.
3. make sure I don't live in a draconian county in a draconian state (*cough* Texas *cough*) where it's not just a *threat* that they *can* take you to court, but they WILL take you to court for a family vacation.
3a. assuming 3 is not my situation...
4. tell the teacher what's going on.
5. go.


This is NOT something I would worry about.

You're talking Disneyland runs. DLHalf weekend is Labor Day weekend. Avengers is over Veteran's Day. Tinkerbell is, what, Mother's Day? Star Wars is just before MLKJr day. That's a lot of long holiday weekends...makes things either easier or harder depending on your teacher/principal/district/county/state. :)
 
Mine is out of school this week for our cruise. It was $$$$$less to go this week instead of thanksgiving break. His teacher told him to have a blast and he would catch up the work after break. We don't make a habit of pulling him out. It happens just every few years and the school knows this. Of course I also have him in a school that believes everything is a learning opportunity, including athletic events.
 
We have taken our kids out of school for Disney trips before (not specifically runDisney), and we just tell them the truth. We are going to Disney World, or we are going on a family vacation. We have never received push-back. We do first make sure there are no standardized tests going on that week before we make our reservations, and we do try to minimize the missed school, but sometimes it's worth it to miss a day or two.

Likewise. We are straight forward with the teachers and even ask if there is work they can do during our stay. Being in K-2 grades, the teachers say have a good time and don't worry about missing school. They are even more happy to know we all as a family are running some for of race. They see this promoting good family time while incorporating exercise in a fun environment!
 
I think a lot of it depends on the age of the children. Our three are in elementary school and we don't think twice about pulling them out a week per year. Once they get into middle school it will be tougher. In high school, we'll consider it impossible and will just vacation during normal break times and summer.
 
Our kids are elementary school age and will miss 5 days in the spring for two trips. We're doing DL and WDW so I can get a shot at my Star Wars C2C! We tell the teachers up front, and they are cool about it. They are on top of their schoolwork so missing a few days won't put a dent in things.

In advance of booking the races, I made sure the race weekends didn't fall on the weeks they do state mandated testing. I figure school will be much harder to skip during middle school and high school, so I want to take advantage of my kids ages while I can!
 
Talk to the other parents at your school to see what their take is. It really does depend on the principal/teachers' attitudes toward vacations.

We're from Irvine, so Disneyland is pretty close to us. We've done the 5k several times, and I have been able to get my daughter back to school in time without being late! We pretty much walk the whole thing, so we're usually done by 7am I think.

Also, I know that Fullerton Unified has "Saturday School." Kind of like traffic school. If you have unexcused absences, you can make up the time by sending your kid to Saturday School and the unexcused absences fall off your record.

Hope that helps!
 
i wanted ask fellow parents out there that have let their kids run 5ks for RunDisney what they do with school. Being the 5ks are Friday morning, do you tell the teacher that they will miss school because they will be at Disney World or Disneyland? Call them in sick?

How receptive have the teachers been if they know kids will miss school for RunDisney?

I guess when I went to school this was unheard of as you would miss school if you were sick or a family emergency, but I would like to let my kids do a 5k instead of just a kids race as the kids race seem too short for my kids, but the 10k too long.

thanks in advance.
I am a High School Student (senior). This January will be my second marathon weekend in a row. Last year I was the only kid in my family that went and I ran the 10K. I missed 3 days of school because we had off one of the days I was gone. Every school district is different. Ours allows 10 days unexcused/excused absences. More than 10 can result in punishment or truancy tickets. This January my two sister will be joining me in the festivities. One sister will run the 5K with me the other will run the mickey mile kids race.

In regards to telling the school, my mom would call us in each day we were gone. Before I left I did tell my teachers that I would be gone and got any work needed. Most of my teachers did not give anything to me before hand and just waited untilIi got back.
 
Our school district in GA consider them all unexcused absences, so we don't explain at all since it makes no difference to them. When DS comes to run or spectate on a race weekend we let his teachers know and make sure he gets all the assignments in advance. We try and schedule so that he won't miss and state/county testing while we are gone.
 
At our last district our teachers/principal had no issue with us taking the kids out of school for a Disney run or vacation, as long as we completed the out of school absence form in advance. Unfortunately we just moved to a new state and learned that after 5 unexcused absences we are sent to court. This is changing our April trip to FL for the SW races. Especially as three weeks later we have to fly back to WA to attend DHs PhD graduation.
 

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