CHICAGO — Martha Padilla-Ramos and Jose Barrera fondly remember the long car rides south to Mexico each December when they were children. At the end of the trek awaited their cousins, delicious food, trips to church and days of parties to celebrate Christmas.
It was a beloved part of their childhood, so the Chicago-area school administrators understand why families make the annual trek to their homelands. But they can’t understand why so many families — an estimated 10 percent of the Hispanic students in Waukegan, for example — plan these trips to last a month or more, far beyond the traditional two-week holiday break Illinois schools allow.
In addition to falling behind in their schoolwork, educators said, the students are in danger of being labeled truant and could perform poorly on standardized tests that help determine if their schools meet federal No Child Left Behind guidelines. Other students can expect extra class time with teachers to catch up.
Some districts threaten to fail students who miss too many days or force them to re-enroll, repaying registration fees and possibly losing their spot at a school. Still, they are having a difficult time convincing families that they should forgo the long trips.
“This time of year, those two weeks of vacation never seem to be enough for families,” said Barrera, principal at Columbia Explorers Academy in Chicago. “Being Hispanic, I understand. But families also have to understand that every day of school is important.”
In Mexico, holiday festivities typically start Dec. 12, with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Next are Las Posadas, the celebrations leading to Christmas Day that commemorate Mary and Joseph’s search for an inn. The holiday stretches until Jan. 6, the Feast of the Three Kings, when gifts are traditionally exchanged. Extended families in rural towns anticipate the arrival of their American relatives and hold block parties and festivals, the school officials said.
Padilla-Ramos, coordinator for the Welcome Center in Waukegan Public Schools, said when she was a child, it took her family three days by car to get to Mexico City. But they would wait to leave until the last day of school in December so her parents, both teachers, could finish their jobs.
Although she treasures her holidays in Mexico (she now travels by plane), she said families have to realize the consequences.
In Illinois, students are considered truant if they miss 10 percent of the 180 required days of instruction without a valid reason, like illness or a death in the family.
Waukegan high school students who have 10 or more absences a semester are given a “no-credit” grade for the course, Padilla-Ramos said. Students might not be allowed to return to classes after a long absence.
“The students are losing out,” she said. “The older ones could be coming back in the middle of final exam week … they could fail their classes.”
Padilla-Ramos estimated that 10 percent of her district’s Hispanic students leave for an extended vacation this time of year. A slightly smaller number of families seem to be going this year, possibly because of security crackdowns at the border, she said.
“The economic situation has hit many of our families hard,” she said. “But many want to go. It’s the point of being with your family.”
There are risks involved with the long trips that also can complicate return times, Padilla-Ramos said. Long waits at the borders, ice and sandstorms, a broken-down car in an isolated area all can delay a family’s return.
Some families drive for days non-stop in an attempt to make good time. On Dec. 4, three Aurora brothers, all students in East Aurora School District 131, died in a sport-utility vehicle crash in Oklahoma after their father fell asleep at the wheel as they traveled to Mexico for the holiday.
To curtail the missed class time, districts are trying a variety of approaches. In some California districts, officials decided to avoid the problem by adding a third week to the winter vacation.
In Waukegan, where students are dropped from the rolls after 10 days of absences, parents must re-enroll and pay registration fees again for the student to return. But district officials can’t promise the child will be able to return to the same school, Padilla-Ramos said.
At Community High School District 94 in West Chicago, students face a new attendance policy this year, developed in part to target these long trips, said Antonio DelReal, dean of students. If they miss seven or more days in one quarter, they receive an “FA” — failure for attendance — for the course. If it’s a yearlong course, they can earn back their grade if they miss fewer than seven days the next quarter. If it’s a semester course, the grade stands and the student receives no credit.
“We hear the same excuses in December that we hear during the year,” DelReal said. “A relative is sick, or they need to go to a wedding or quinceanera (a girl’s 15th birthday party), or this is the only time of year they can see family.”
“But in the workplace, you can’t just leave for 10 days in one month,” he said. “That’s the reality. And that’s what we try to teach these kids.”
At Perry Elementary School in Carpentersville, 21 pupils already had left for Mexico by Dec. 13, more than a week before the scheduled break begins Friday, said Principal Craig Zieleniewski.
Many probably won’t return by the time school starts again Jan. 6, he said. Teachers often put together packets of homework for pupils, but they need to be in class to retain what they have learned, Zieleniewski said.
“Our registrar explains to our parents that this is not good for the students’ education,” he said. “But their travel plans are set.”
The Chicago Public Schools use attendance prizes to try to curb the problem. For every month of perfect attendance, a student is entered into a raffle for big-ticket items. At Columbia Explorers Academy, pupils have the chance to win a computer this month, Barrera said.
If students miss more than 10 days, however, they must attend summer school, Barrera said.
At Highland Elementary School in Elgin, where about 10 families were leaving for extended breaks last week, teachers were developing lessons for pupils to take along on their trips, said Carlos Trujillo, the school’s bilingual liaison.
“We try to convince them to stay,” Trujillo said. “But there is really nothing you can do.”
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