DRAFT
Students and Instruction 5000
Instructional Program 5200
Field TRIPS and School sponsored Trips 5213
This policy is adopted in accordance with G.L. c. 71, §37N, and is designed to ensure that all field trips and school-sponsored trips conducted by the Melrose Public Schools offer significant educational benefits to students that clearly justify the time and expense incurred, are age-appropriate, and provide safe and secure learning experiences. Regardless of when they take place, field trips and school-sponsored trips are intended to motivate students and to enrich and extend the curriculum and school-sponsored extracurricular activities. The trips may serve as a source of facts and learning materials that often are not immediately available in texts or reference books. They may relate to a specific or general curriculum unit, help to build group identity and plan for transitions within the school community, or celebrate group work in school or in extracurricular activities.
This policy applies to all field trips and school-sponsored trips. Teachers and other school staff are prohibited from soliciting privately run trips through the school system.
Required Field
Trip Approvals
· All Day trip, overnight trips, out-of-state trips, and out-of-country trips field trips and school-sponsored trips require the advance approval of the Principal or Building Administrator and the Superintendent of Schools.
· Overnight trips, out-of-state trips, and out-of-country trips require the additional advance approval of the Melrose School Committee.
Request forms for field trips and school-sponsored trips, described more fully below, must be presented in writing to the Superintendent for approval at least four (4) weeks in advance of the scheduled trips, in the case of trips not requiring School Committee approval, regardless of funding source. Written approval by the Principal or Building Administrator must be obtained before submission to the Superintendent.
Request forms requiring the additional approval of the School Committee must be presented in writing to the Superintendent at least six (6) weeks in advance of the scheduled trips.
Field trips and school-sponsored trips must be approved by the Principal or Building Administrator, the Superintendent and, if required, the School Committee, prior to any fundraising activities being undertaken or any informational materials concerning the trip being distributed to students and parents.
Travel to countries cited in the Unites States Department of State Travel Warning Listing shall be prohibited. Further, approvals for field trips and school-sponsored trips are conditional, and may be revoked, if changes in circumstances warrant cancellation in the interests of student and staff safety. In such event, the Melrose Public Schools will not be responsible for any financial obligations incurred in the planning of the trip, or for any fees that are nonrefundable or otherwise are lost due to the cancellation.
Field
Trip/School-Sponsored Request Forms
Request forms for field trips and school-sponsored trips must include the following information and be accompanied by the following related forms:
1. School;
2. Class(es), including the grade(s) and organizing teacher(s);
3. Destination;
4. Travel itinerary, including dates/times/places of departure and return to Melrose, and intermediate travel;
5. Number of student who are expected to participate;
6. Number of adult chaperones, including school employees, who are expected to participate;
7. Room/cabin assignments, if applicable;
8. Student supervision plan;
9. Mode of transportation, including name of transportation vendor or charter company, number of vehicles required, evidence of insurance and licensures, etc.;
10. Itemized estimated cost of field trip, indicating amount to be paid by the school, amount to be raised through fundraising, and amount to be paid by students, if any, including plans for scholarships or financial aid;
11. Educational objectives directly relating to the school program;
12. Daily itinerary;
13. Evidence of conformance to applicable statutes including:
§ Hazing law
§ ADA accommodations;
14. Evidence of Principal's or Building Administrator’s approval.
Student
Participation
Before a student will be considered eligible to take part in any field trip or school-sponsored trip, whether in-state, overnight, out-of state, or out-of-country, the student must provide the trip leader with a “Field Trip: Parental Consent and Release from Liability Agreement” and Medical Authorization and Release form, signed by the student's parent, and a Behavior Contract, signed by the student.
No child will be denied access to a field trip or school-sponsored trip because of gender or disability.
No student will be required to take part in any field trip if the student's parent or guardian chooses not to have the student participate. If the field trip occurs during the regular school day the school will provide the student with meaningful instruction in the school setting that relates to the field trip experience.
Whenever possible, overnight trips should be scheduled on weekends or during school vacations to minimize lost classroom time. Field trips and school-sponsored trips should not take place on dates that interfere with important tests or religious holidays. A list of students who are participating in a field trip or school-sponsored trip must be submitted by the trip leader to all of the students’ other teachers at least two (2) weeks before the trip.
Field trips and school-sponsored trips are a privilege, not a right. A student will be ineligible to participate in a field trip or school-sponsored trip if he/she is suspended (whether in-school or out of school), expelled or otherwise excluded from school on the date(s) of the trip. Additionally, a student may be deemed ineligible to participate or may be removed from the list of eligible students, if he/she:
§ Is currently in academic difficulty;
§ Has been absent more than a reasonable number of days;
§ Has been a chronic discipline problem.
Students are subject to the authority of the chaperones, and are expected to comply with their school's and the school district's code of conduct for students, as well as any rules promulgated by the trip leader and chaperones, while on a field trip or school-sponsored trip.
The Melrose Public Schools will not be responsible for any expenses incurred as a result of a team leader's decision to send a student home earlier than the scheduled date of return due to unacceptable conduct on the part of the student. Parents and students will be held responsible for any damage done to real property or personal property, by students while on a field trip or school-sponsored trip. Parents must agree to pay for any damages that may be done by their son/daughter, or to assist school officials in collecting any money necessary to do so.
If students are to be charged individual fees for participation in a field trip or school-sponsored trip, the school district will make every effort to provide scholarships, where needed. If expenses are to be paid from fundraising activities, the amount of time to be devoted to fundraising should be reasonable and commensurate with students' obligations for homework, after-school activities, and jobs. Group fundraising activities are preferred. Students should not be assigned individual fundraising targets.
All schoolwork missed because of a field trip or school-sponsored trip must be made up promptly according to the school’s current make-up policy as stated in the student handbook.
Chaperones
All field trips and school-sponsored trips must include an appropriate number of adult chaperones, based on the number, age, gender, and disabilities of the students attending the trip, the distance to be traveled, the nature of the trip activities, etc. Chaperones may include teachers, paraprofessionals, parents or school volunteers.
It is the responsibility of the Principal or Building Administrator to ensure that criminal record checks have been completed for all chaperones in accordance with G.L. c. 71, §38R. Only chaperones whose criminal records have been found to be acceptable may participate in a field trip or school-sponsored trip.
Chaperones are expected to supervise students at all times, including while the students are being transported to and from their destination(s). Each chaperone is to be provided with a list of the students whom he/she is responsible for supervising and is expected to keep the students within sight. Chaperones will not be allowed to bring minor family members on the trip.
At least one chaperone must be an
employee of the Melrose Public Schools, and must carry with him/her a list of
parents/guardians and their telephone numbers for each student on the
trip. In addition, in the case of an
out-of-country trip, the chaperone must be provided with a directory of
addresses and telephone numbers of U.S. embassies and/or consulates located in
the country(ies) being visited, the parental consent and medical authorization
forms for each student, and other publications appropriate to the country(ies)
being visited, including those relating to safety. Refer to appropriate resources including websites.
Transportation
If a field trip or
school-sponsored trip requires transportation (i.e., the trip extends beyond
the boundaries of Melrose or the students are unable to walk to and from their
destination), such transportation must be provided by public transportation,
such as the MBTA, bus, train or other form of public transportation; or by a
common carrier that is licensed to do business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
and is licensed for passenger transportation by the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA).
The school district will not be permitted to contract with any carrier that has an FMCSA safety rating of "conditional" or "unsatisfactory." The school district may consider the ratings and pre-qualifications established by other public entities, such as the Department of Defense's approved list of motor carriers for troop transport in determining the qualifications of a carrier to provide transportation on a field trip or school-sponsored trip. Any contract with a transportation carrier must prohibit the use of a subcontractor unless sufficient notice is given to the school district to allow verification of the subcontractor's qualifications.
Trips planned to include late night or overnight student travel should involve pre-trip checks of transportation vendors or charter services, drivers, and vehicles. Transportation vendors and charter services must provide evidence of adequate liability insurance in effect on the date(s) of the planned field trip (i.e., a minimum of $1 million per occurrence for bodily injury). Transportation vendors and charter services also must provide evidence that their drivers are licensed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the vehicles being used for the particular trip.
Travel between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. should be avoided, whenever possible. Trip itineraries must leave enough time for drivers to rest in conformity with federal hour-of-service requirements and common sense. Trip schedules also should take into account the likelihood of delays due to weather, traffic, stragglers, and other unanticipated factors.
Privately owned vehicles
are not to be used to transport students, except in the case of a bona fide
emergency, as determined by the Principal or
Building Administrator or trip
leader. Chaperones, whether staff,
volunteers or parents, who utilize their own vehicles, risk being held legally
liable, if students are injured while riding in their automobiles.
Medical Care
At the elementary and middle school level, if it is anticipated that any student will require the administration of a prescription medication or may require the administration of epinephrine on a field trip or school-sponsored trip, there must be a trained school employee present to be responsible for such administration, unless the student's parent is a chaperone. At the high school level, with parental permission, students may carry and administer their own medications under the supervision of a designated adult on a field trip or school-sponsored trip. Appropriate release forms for emergency medical treatment must be signed by all parents/guardians and kept in the care of a designated adult on all out-of-state and overnight trips.
Draft 2 presented to the
Melrose School Committee (12/7) after consultation with school district
counsel, Mary Jo Hollander – Nov. 9, 2004
