@TrayvonNorris - Disneyland is one word...... use Google before you start calling someone a Dumbass... and yes one week off of school in the middle of a Teacher's lesson (not a school break), is a big deal. You obviously don't know any Teachers.

^ I just thought it was a little silly to call someone a dumbass and then misspell Disneyland. I mean you did capitalize L not just a space.... but yes your little (younger) brother is a PPS teacher. Ask him what he thinks.... unless he teaches Art, then I guess it really doesn't matter. I'm talking about Math or English or Science. Subjects that colleges look at on transcripts. Shoot, I'm using big words again. I'm sorry, I meant a copy of a student's academic records.... Shoot, I did it again. Academic records means a paper document showing grades.....

If you're going to home school, can you please find somebody else to teach your children English? I'd hate to think they'll grow up thinking it's normal to capitalize every third noun.

I guess Anon missed Spread the Word to End the Word yesterday... r-word.org

I thought you had a semi-valid point until you used the word "Retards" to describe people who don't respect an educator's time.

Your rant is invalid and you are awarded no points. Also, fuck you.

Portland schools are fucked for a lot of reasons; a 1 week absence is not one of them. public ed was designed to warehouse children so parents could serve as cogs in the capitalist machine. public ed curricula hasn't advanced much beyond its 19th century roots. now, public ed curricula is the perfectly shitty intersection of profit-driven textbook & "education services" corps and the prevailing ideology of whatever yahoos managed to get themselves elected to the school board. funding priorities change every election cycle, as do the education fads of the day. the result is PPS. teachers have a thankless job, but i'd kill myself if i had to teach the mind-numbing drivel that passes for "education" today. i'm endlessly thankful that my 3 kids go to private school.

Let's keep this in mind the next time we have a property tax levy to throw more money at PPS please.

as a retired teacher (high school) let me add my two cents worth. for kids who are excellent students, one week of absence is nothing. in fact, one of the best students i ever had missed the entire second semester of a.p. u.s. history due to a serious illness and still got an a in the class and a 5--highest rating-- on the a.p. test. it is the marginal student who suffers as a result of a prolonged absence, especially new immigrants who are still dealing with language proficiency.

But you do get summers off, yes?

I remember how worthless my public school teachers were. Really grateful my parents had the money to eventually send me to private school. Probably saved my life. My opinion of public school teachers is this: most of you are lazy, burnt out, pieces of garbage. Thanks for giving me the chance to say that.

summers off? not exactly. i taught summer school and operated a small (25 acre) organic farm.