My Turn
'The Orlando Odyssey'

This teacher has a set of rules for parents who take their kids out of school for vacations.

By Phyllis Lewis

First-grade teacher Phyllis Lewis feels like she knows most Disney characters personally, because her students bring back so many of them from vacations.

After a 10-year hiatus from teaching, I recently returned to the classroom to discover an interesting phenomenon: parents and their children taking extended vacations during the school year.

I call this all-too-common trend the "Orlando Odyssey," or "OO" for short. And, each year, the requests for time off increase.

Today, 180 days of learning are reduced by 10 percent or more via absenteeism, field days, trips to the doctor, holiday plays, and now, "OO." It's not unusual for a child to bring in a note that reads, "Alyssa will be out the next three weeks as we travel to Orlando to see Mickey. During this time, she will partake in numerous educational activities that include discovery, geometry, literature, and history. Please have three weeks worth of homework ready for her by tomorrow."

To my dismay, but not my surprise, I've come to learn that "discovery" is euphemistic for trying to discover the shortest entrance to the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" exhibit at Epcot, "geometry" means judging the shapes on the plate during Breakfast with Pluto, "literature" is actually reading comic books in the rental car en route to Sea World, and "history" simply refers to glancing at the date the city was founded on the sign that welcomes visitors.

When I dare to inquire what these young travelers learned during their time away from the classroom, the answer invariably boils down to, "I can't remember cause my sunburn hurt most of the time." Sure, most come back with homework in hand, but there's reason to believe that the papers were hurriedly completed with much assistance from their parents on the flight home.

During my first few years as an elementary teacher, in the early '80s, such elaborate and elongated vacations were few and far between. I can't recall anyone being legally excused to visit Disney World. Now it's the norm.

Perhaps the robust economy has a lot to do with "OO." Parents are feeling good about their monetary resources and want to travel. Trying to beat the crowds also plays into decisions to visit "It's a Small World" in October. As a result, there's no off-season at the Magic Kingdom anymore.

Neither my school friends nor I ever enjoyed the luxury of today's exotic vacations during the school years. If we weren't feigning an illness, it was off to school for us. People did manage to drive to Atlantic City each summer for three days to see the Steel Pier's Diving Horse. But that was about it.

"OO," unfortunately, may be here to stay. So teachers need to develop sound strategies to cope with, and perhaps deter, 11th hour requests for extended homework assignments and makeup tests. For my first graders, I've implemented the following rules:

• Parents are told during "Meet the Teachers Night" and with notes the first week of school that all requests for "OO" or other vacations must be submitted in writing a week before the scheduled time off. Those that ignore this are not given the assignments and must make up all work during recesses and free time when they return.

  Of course, I have bent this rule many times, but it sometimes helps to put on a hard face. Besides, parents need to know that it's often impossible to gather all the necessary homework material on short notice.

• In addition to homework, students are required to keep a daily, illustrated (as precise as possible for six-year-olds) journal of the trip. We share this with the entire class upon return. I encourage parents to assist with this assignment but to let the creativity of their children take precedence over accuracy.

• The students present their experience to the other children by speaking in front of the class. The class then can ask questions of the vacationers on experiences they encountered during their trip. This builds self-esteem and softens the fear of public speaking.

• As part of show and tell, the student can bring in objects from the trip. I'm always amazed at the stories that go with these objects and how excited the other students are to listen.

  All teachers know that flexibility plays a major role in their day-to-day responsibilities as educators, and learning to deal with "OO" may be simply another test of our mettle.

  Actually, it's nice to see the wide-eyed excitement of children as they relive their "educational" vacations for the rest of the class.

Phyllis Lewis is a first-grade teacher at Academy Street School in the North Pocono School District in Moscow, Pennsylvania.

Editor's Note

Most readers have probably never noticed the masthead that appears on the bottom of page 2 of NEA Today. It lists most of the key people who are responsible for the publication.

At most publications, the title of publisher is mostly an official one, signifying some combination of editorial and fiduciary responsibilities.

Most publishers I'm aware of don't spend a lot of time on the publication's editorial content, leaving most of the heavy editorial lifting to others.

But that's not so for Sam Pizzigati, who's been publisher of this magazine since it was founded 18 years ago.

Sam's been a hands-on publisher, steering it along with a deft hand, attending all story conferences, acting as the main interface with NEA governance, editing and fine-tuning articles, and contributing original writing as well.

It was Sam's idea to fold the old NEA Reporter, a newspaper mostly devoted to leader news and political topics, with NEA's Today's Education, a monthly magazine, to start a new publication, NEA Today.

Sam's leaving the NEA after a 20-year career, to work on some long-delayed writing projects of his own.

Taking over as publisher of NEA Today on an interim basis is NEA Assistant Executive Director Tony Rollins. Leona Hiraoka, currently editor of the Learning section of NEA Today, will assume a new editorial management role with responsibility for NEA Today, as well as several other NEA membership publications.

Sam's vision, editorial savvy, and low-key style will be missed. We wish him well.

And we pledge to him, but more important to all NEA members, to continue the mission that we began nearly 20 years ago: to put out the best member publication in education and labor journalism.

—Bill Fischer