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POLICY UNDER REVISION
Revised 9/2/93
Field trips are intended to allow students experiences that provide them with insight, information, or knowledge that cannot be adequately developed through regular classroom instruction. Field trips, therefore, become an integral part of the curriculum and are as essential to the instructional process as textbooks, equipment, and other instructional devices and teaching/ learning strategies. They allow students to learn what might not be learned within the classroom. As it is widely acknowledged that not all children learn in the same way, field trips allow students the opportunity to expand their intelligence in ways different from those typically available inside the classroom.
While most field trips are directly related to specific, academic curricula, they also may address the need for intra- and inter- personal growth in children, and thus may be designed to promote social and emotional development and to provide for the development of the "whole" child.
The Principal, or his/ her designee, is responsible for seeing that a teacher or group of individuals proposing a field trip, plan, implement, and assess the field trip with the following educational issues in mind:
Practical issues must also be addressed by the principal or his/ her designee. These matters include:
Field trips may be authorized by the building principal provided that the following criteria are met:
Upon approval of the school trip by the appropriate authority, the relevant consent and release forms should be sent home with participating students for signature by the students’ parent(s). NO student may be permitted on a school trip without a signed consent and release form (permission slip).
Students shall be transported by public or chartered conveyance traveling to and from a destination for all field trips or school events. Exceptions are:
The teacher/ administrator of the field trip or activity must request that written proof of adequate liability insurance is in effect for the carrier/ transportation company. Minimal coverage which provides indemnity, protection, or security to the amount or limit of at least five hundred thousand dollars on account of injury to or death of one person, of at least one million dollars on account of any one accident resulting in injury or death of more than one person, and at least one hundred thousand dollars on account of damage to property, to be further supplemented by an umbrella liability policy in the amount of five million dollars, is expected. The chartered transportation companies shall follow the directions of the teacher/ administrator in charge.
When individual/ community drivers are used to transport students, the drivers will be asked to sign a statement that they have received no citations for automobile accidents or moving violations within the previous five years. Private cars must be equipped with seat belts to accommodate each passenger. It is expected that the driver of such vehicle will enforce the use of seat belts. Further, they will provide a copy of a valid automobile liability insurance policy providing no less than $ 100,000 per individual and $ 300,000 liability per occurrence, recognizing that the individual/ community driver ’s insurance will be the first carrier sought for payment in case of an accident.
School personnel must verify license and registration for currency.
Preparations for emergencies and the care of children with chronic medical problems need to be made. To ensure accurate, up-to-date health information, permission slips for field trips must require parents to indicate if their child has any medical issues to be considered or medication to be taken and to list the steps that should be followed in case of an emergency. Planners of the trip must be sure that parents understand what forms they are required to provide, signed by doctors and/ or parents that will accompany any medication. Health forms need to be submitted to the school nurse two weeks prior to an overnight trip. For day and night trips there must be an organized way to ensure that all K- 8 students actually take their required medicines. At the high school level, students are permitted to carry and administer their own medication under the supervision of a designated adult on the field trip. In addition, appropriate release forms for emergency medical treatment should be signed by all parents/ guardians and kept in the care of a designated adult on all overnight trips.
On the Field Trip Permission form parents need to indicate the name of the student’s medical insurance carrier and policy number. It should be noted that the school system carries an "umbrella " medical insurance policy in the event of an emergency for those students who may not have individual coverage.
Day –Field trips may be funded through a variety of sources: school budget, grants and contributions from outside the school budget, parent teacher organization support, and parent contributions.
Gift shop or souvenir purchases should be discouraged.
Schools should be sensitive to the cumulative amount of money spent by any one family within a given year. If this emerges as a concern, it is incumbent upon the building PTA and school principal to enter into dialogue to arrive at an appropriate resolution.
Overnight –These trips may be funded through a variety of sources. Parent contributions for overnight trips will be determined by each school ’s principal and/ or his or her designee. Trip organizers will suggest amounts students need for food and miscellaneous items. Amounts for gift shop and souvenir purchases will be at parent discretion. Ample notification will be given to parents regarding overnight trips so that students themselves can contribute to defraying their own expenses, e. g. , earning money with summer, weekend, and after-school jobs and/ or organized fundraisers.
NO student shall be denied access to any school trip due to financial restraints. In cases of need, parents should contact the principal, or teacher liaison, and scholarship monies will be made available. Explanation of available financial aid must be incorporated in the letter to parents explaining the objectives of the field trip.
Number of Chaperones:
Criteria to be considered in determining the number of chaperones needed are, for example, the age of the students, distance to be traveled, nature of the field trip activities, and safety requirements. At least one adult chaperone must be available to handle emergencies or other matters that develop and must not be assigned a group of students without another adult who could take charge of the group if necessary.
Designated Driver:
The principal, in consultation with the teacher/ teachers planning a field trip, shall determine whether or not a designated driver shall travel by separate private vehicle in order to provide for transportation of student(s) should an emergency arise or, for example, should a student be lost, thereby permitting the remainder of the group to proceed as scheduled.
Careful attention needs to be given to the location, safety, and security of the facility selected.
Appropriate educational accommodations will be made for those students who are not participating in field trips.
POLICY UNDER REVISION