New teacher vacation 2nd week of school

The OP hasn't checked back in since initial post...

 

My son's first grade teacher took the second day off in order to take her child to college. Totally justifiable, in my opinion. She asked me to sub that day. A lot of parents were furious when they saw me in the room instead of the teacher. Even though many of them knew me (and liked me!) from subbing in their children's classes the year before. Once I explained where the teacher was, they were fine but probably still a bit dubious.

This was a very experienced teacher who knew many of the kids already. She also had a "playdate" before school started and invited the kids to the room to get a feel of her and the class ahead of time. She told me that that first month of school was the hardest she had ever had, and attributed it to her absence that day.

 

So one would imagine it would be exponentially harder for a brand new teacher to overcome such opinions....

 

One way or another, if OP is still following this and deciding, I hope she ends up making the best decision, not only for her professionally and personally, but also for her potential students.

 

Not actively following. The op hasn't been on since a half hour after writing the initial post on this thread.

 

I am no longer teaching (as many of you know) but I would never, ever miss a week or even a day that early in the school year. It is crucial for classroom routine/procedure/overall management. When I was a first year teacher my management sucked! And frankly, as I gained more experience I noticed that most first year teachers "survived" and then came down more iron-fisted the following year when school started.

The only way I would ever miss a day in the first month would be a) one of my immediate relatives died (so, parent or my husband) or b) if I had a critical illness or injury where I was hospitalized.

Ironically enough, one of my friends got summoned for jury duty with a report date on the first day of school. I really hope the jury person has common sense when she calls and asks to be rescheduled.

 

SB, the teacher I used to to co-teach with missed the second day of school one year with jury duty. It was my first year, so I was nervous! Everything went great though. P and parents were very understanding.

I do think there is some difference though between a 10th grade teacher and a kindergarten teacher having jury duty that first week. We noticed no problems with our kids upon his return, but I imagine the young ones would be a different story.

 

I know of think jury duty trumps vacation, don't you? TRY to get out of jury duty these days - no luck. Consider that an act of God. Vacation, well, that is me being good to me.

 

^ my friend is teaching 4th grade this year. So it could be fine or it could be a disaster! Who knows. She transferred from a middle school to elementary with her former AP, who is now the P of her "new" elementary school.

I agree--high schoolers more than likely would be fine, especially if you tell them on the first day that on the 2nd day you have Jury Duty. If you were in the social studies department, you could probably even tie it in to your normal curriculum.

e: I was supposed to have Jury Duty this coming week but got out of it because I recently changed my drivers license to Florida.

 

Typo - so sorry. Could we go with "kind of think"

 

He actually did teach social studies so he was very excited! He ended up getting passed over because he knew almost every person testifying. Small towns :lol:

 

Don't most courts have some sort of option to defer jury duty? I could be way off base on that, but I thought that there were ways to defer for a certain period of time. I'd think this would be a perfect example of a time to defer.

 

I don't know how it works, but I know he had already deferred once because he was called the last week of school. I had a friend in college who was called during exams and they would not let her defer even after her professors said they wouldn't let her take exams at a different time. She got quite the earful about how it was her civic duty and basically it was people like her who ruined our just system. It was bizarre. It all worked out in the end because she wasn't chosen. I think around here the ease of deferment varies by county or at least that's how it seems.

I've only been summoned once but I'd moved so I didn't have to go in.

 

I was a newbie last year and I barely survived. This year, I'm gonna much more iron-fisted. And, as previously mentioned, I wouldn't dare miss any time during those crucial first months unless the circumstances were dire... I do wonder where the OP went!

 

I can't resist... Maybe the OP went on vacation :lol::lol:

 

That's insane! In college I got called up for jury duty and all I had to do was call in and say I was a college student, and I was immediately taken off the list. I didn't have to show up anywhere or even offer any proof, and they didn't ask me to come during the summer or anything either.

 

It's next to impossible to get out of jury duty in my county. When I went, the judge refused to dismiss a nursing mother with a one-week-old baby. She was selected to serve on the jury. (I wasn't.)

I once missed the entire second week of school due to H1N1. I was completely unable to go to work. I felt awful for missing that much school but there was just no way that I could go in. I did have some issues with classroom management that year that I haven't had before or since. The first few weeks really do set the tone for the whole year.

 

I believe that this thread is drawing so many views because none of us can actually believe this is even a real issue. Where is Ann Landers when you need her? She always seemed to be able to find the set ups in her mail, and that was part of the fun. Vacation, indeed; we just want to be functioning two weeks into the new year!

 

Our jury coordinator here is great about deferring or dismissing people from duty. I've been called three times. Twice the timing was really bad for me and I was deferred for one of the times, dismissed for the other.

I was dismissed by the prosecutor the last time. I got a dressing down from the judge then because I "couldn't shed a prejudice." He was correct - I honestly cannot think of a reason why someone would blow a .2x while driving and it be justified.

 

We are lucky here, we can postpone it within 180 days of when you are first scheduled. My husband had to reschedule his due to getting called at his super busy time at work, but thankfully I was called for duty in November, so I was into the year a bit by then. Thankfully only had to miss two days, they didn't count against me or cost me anything.

 

I got called for jury duty the third day of school. This was about twenty years ago. We couldn't defer duty at that time but I did tell the judge I was a teacher in the first week of school do I was dismissed.

 

I"m worried because DH had bypass surgery and has his follow-ups with his cardiologist and his surgeon the first and second weeks of school. This of course will mean that I have to miss a full day each week because of how things had to be scheduled. When I mentioned this fact to my new principal she was wonderful, stated to turn the papers in to the secretary and not to worry they would make sure they got a strong sub to cover my class since it was the first two weeks of school.
I"m still concerned about being out but she made me feel better by being so understanding.

 

Melissa,
It sounds like you have a great principal. There is a BIG difference between your situation and someone just taking a vacation. I hope the followups go well for you both. Sending you some positive energy.

 

I'm sure it'll be fine because you'll be able to snag the best sub since they will all be available!

 

Hm, jury duty. Anytime a teacher from our school has to go in, our P stresses because it's next to impossible to get a decent sub (not great, just decent) for any amount of time, and 1 or 2 weeks would be a nightmare.
She said defense attorneys love us, because we're educated (having a Masters degree, or even just a Bachelors is a big deal in this small city), we work with a tough student population but we're compassionate towards them (otherwise we wouldn't work at that school) so we don't judge someone by the crime they commit, and we actually get paid while we serve, as oppose to a field worker who is the sole provider for his family and will not get paid if he doesn't work.

 

misseskb, what have you decided to do? I know vacations are important too, but this is pretty much making the difference in whether you get this job or not.

I remember I was hired on at the start of the year as a long-term sub & had to go to a relative's funeral one day during the first week of school, but that's still different from your situation. Since I was considered a sub & this was a death in the family, the P couldn't say much & allowed it. Plus, I wasn't a general ed teacher, but an RSP teacher (a type of special ed teacher) who pulled kids out of their regular classroom for 30-60 min, so that was a little different.