Hi All, I have to write a letter to my superintendent about asking for 2 unpaid days off. I am running in a race at Walt Disney World, and I've had this planned since Januart. My principal said I should write a letter and ask him; worst he can say is no. Does anyone have any ideas of what to write? I was just hired in the district and haven't been formally introduced yet. It isn't a necessity that I have 2 days off but it would help! Thanks for the advice!
In my opinion - You either have an extremely small district for a superintendant to bother with an issue such as this... or The principal is trying to intimidate you into not asking. Call human resources and ask them what the procedure is. I am sure they will tell you a different story.
I am using 2 personal days already. (I only have 2) my princip is the one who suggested writing to him as other teachers have done the same for honeymoons and such. Yes, it is a small district and this is what he deals with. We have no human resources department.
Good luck. I am not sure I would include Disney World. I might just say 'Florida'. My P would allow me to be 'sick'.
I didn't want to ask my P that as I was just hired. I wish I could use those sick days! As for including WDW, the race is at WDW so I didn't want to hide that. I drafted something but idk if I like it.
I wrote a reply, but I guess it didn't go through! What does your contract say about personal days? In my district, we don't need to give a specific reason for taking them, but we do need to put in for the days at least 48 hours in advance by filling out a form. Is writing the letter maybe just a formality to request the days, just like the form is for us in my district? The only time we need to get special permission is if we are taking more than 2 in a row or if the days are adjacent to a vacation. Otherwise they are always approved.
This is the procedure in my district and I wouldn't consider us small, medium sized maybe, with over 8,000 students and over 300 teachers. It's usually a technicality. I wouldn't worry too much about the letter as long as it's gramatically correct. You might want to call human resources to see how much information you need to include in the letter.
I don't have an HR department. Yes I don't need to provide a reason for the personal days I am already taking. The days I would be requesting are 2 unpaid days.
Your procedure is the same as ours. I had to request unpaid time from the superintendent when my daughter ran in the state track meet. That being said, is there any way you can do the race without requesting unpaid time off even before the start of the school year? I say this because you are a teacher who is new to the district, and first impressions do count!
When I started out my marathon training, I talked to my kids a lot about goals and how that helped me achieve things. I literally said to my kids "I went out and ran 18 miles this weekend. Had I gone out without having the goal of running for 18 miles, I probably only would have done 3-5. But I had the goal of running for 18, so I ran for 18" Maybe you can include something like this in your letter to your Sup. I am also in a small district and our contract language says that any days above our personal days need to be approved by our Sup. Good luck and have fun at the race! That one looks like a blast!
I had to write one of those letters one year - district policy for taking one extra day off after spring break. My principal gave me a heads up to include language in the letter that the kids would be well taken care of (detailed sub plans, engaging activities, etc.). She said all he really cared to hear was that the instruction did not stop for the students.
I had to write a letter this year b/c I was requesting a personal day on staff development. I just typed it like a memo, not really a letter persay. I just outlined where I would be going and mentioned why it was important to me (it was my son's first field trip, and I was going to come to the meetings before + after I needed to be there). I never heard back directly, so it was no big deal - he just signed the approval and sent it back to my principal.
I had to ask to use a personal day the day after a scheduled vacation when I got married. I just wrote a very basic letter stating that I was getting married over fall break, and I was getting back from my honeymoon on the first day back to school. My principal said it was fine, but I had to ask permission from the superintendent. He approved it. I was using a personal day. I've had friends who have needed days off for vacations, and they are usually approved . . . but they often have to take deduct days.
Have your union rep review your letter. Are you teaching in a tested grade? If so, I would not ask for these two days as you said you don't have to have them to do the race.
Did you have this plan before they hired you? Why didn't you bring it up when they hired you so they knew about it from the git-go? I don't see why it would be a problem. It isn't that you are taking time for a trip to Disney to go on the rides. Is there a way you can involve education into this trip such as sharing journal entries with the class as a way to share narrative writing with them? You could then use the journal entries as a starting point for re-writing, etc. Good luck in the race and in your new position!
