Michael Rossi recently took his family on a trip to Boston. His two children missed 3 days of school because of the trip, which prompted a letter about unexcused absences from Rochelle S. Marbury, Principal of Rydal Elementary School."I understand that your family recently took a family vacation. I want you to be aware that the Abington School District does not recognize family trips as an excused absence, regardless of the activities involved in the trip. The school district is not in the position of overseeing family vacations or evaluating the educational nature of a family trip.
"The dates that the children were absent were recorded as unexcused. An accumulation of unexcused absences can result in referral to our attendance officer and a subsequent notice of a violation of the compulsory school attendance law," Marbury wrote.
"This is the zero tolerance that everyone loves. They've taken common sense out of the equation.
"You've violated the rules and here's your letter.
"It definitely rubbed me the wrong way," Rossi said about the letter from Marbury.
Rossi responded to Marbury with a letter of his own about the purpose of the family trip to Boston and schooled the Rydal Elementary Principal on what it means to truly educate our nation's children:
Dear Madam Principal,
While I appreciate your concern for our children's education, I can promise you they learned as much in the five days we were in Boston as they would in an entire year in school.
Our children had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that can't be duplicated in a classroom or read in a book.
In the 3 days of school they missed (which consisted of standardized testing that they could take any time) they learned about dedication, commitment, love, perseverance, overcoming adversity, civic pride, patriotism, American history culinary arts and physical education.
They watched their father overcome, injury, bad weather, the death of a loved one and many other obstacles to achieve an important personal goal.
They also experienced first-hand the love and support of thousands of others cheering on people with a common goal.
At the marathon, they watched blind runners, runners with prosthetic limbs and debilitating diseases and people running to raise money for great causes run in the most prestigious and historic marathon in the world.
They also paid tribute to the victims of a senseless act of terrorism and learned that no matter what evil may occur, terrorists can not deter the American spirit.
These are things they won't ever truly learn in the classroom.
In addition our children walked the Freedom Trail, visited the site of the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre and the graves of several signers of the Declaration of Independence.
These are things they WILL learn in school a year or more from now. So in actuality our children are ahead of the game.
They also visited an aquarium, sampled great cuisine and spent many hours of physical activity walking and swimming.
We appreciate the efforts of the wonderful teachers and staff and cherish the education they are receiving at Rydal Elementary School. We truly love our school.
But I wouldn't hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this past week.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Michael Rossi
Father
"These rules should be in place for parents who aren't involved and who, in some cases, don't even know their kids are absent.
"This is not for responsible parents trying to teach their kids the right things and teach them about the world outside the classroom.
"I wouldn’t hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this past week," Rossi also said.
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