Expensive Class Trips and Those Left Behind
The eighth grade class at our school left a couple of days ago for Washington D.C. and will return on Sunday late.
Out of a small class of approximately 120 students, 19 were not able to go because of the cost. Two of mine are in the 19 that didn’t get to go.
As a result, they are left behind to attend school as usual and instead of doing class projects or something fun – they are left to do word searches all day long. When I heard this from the kids, I didn’t believe them really. Then I heard it from the substitute that’s left in charge of overseeing the students all day long.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the school would make an effort to make being left behind not feel so poorly and to not make the parents feel even worse for not having the money to send their kids?
Fortunately one of the boys girlfriends sent him a text today and said it was boring and was SO not worth the massive expense it was to be there. That helped some – but what has helped even more is I’m keeping my kids home!
We might get in trouble for unexcused absences, but I feel my kids can learn more, have more fun and be more creative at home then stuck feeling dirt poor in a classroom doing word searches all day long.
Wow, glad you are keeping the kids home. When I was in 5th grade there was an overnight camping trip I didn’t want to go on (even back then I wasn’t much for roughing it) and I went to school one day and sat left out in the back of another classroom…the second day I went to work with my mom and learned more playing on the computers than I did the day I actually went to school.
There has to be a better way!
thats why I keep mine home EVERY day…LOL!
@ Samara – It’s terrible how schools don’t take the time to think about those who are staying behind. This has been a class trip that’s been taken for years. I’m sure ours aren’t the first ones to not go.
@ Marye – I should have known you’d chime in. I’m getting more near following in your footsteps then you can imagine
I am grateful that our school has a policy of helping families with demonstrated financial hardships go on trips, so kids don’t have to get left behind. I think your solution to keep them home is totally justified in this situation.
Did the school not offer fundraisers to help out with the expense? When I was in school (a long time ago, lol) we went to Carowinds for a singing competition. Our chorus director hosted a rock-a-thon where we rocked in rocking chairs all night long and got sponsors.
We kept our daughter home from preschool yesterday so that we could take her to the science center. She learned so much more there than she would have at school.
They did offer fundraisers, but to be honest, with times as tough as they are, I would have felt guilty going to relatives asking them to purchase enough to send TWO kids.
And it’s not like I could take it to work with me
Still feeling guilty – although the girlfriend of one called and said it was a complete waste of money! She wishes she hadn’t gone now.
No, you certainly couldn’t take any over-priced crap to work to sell. lol I’d rather make a donation than buy that stuff anyway. That over-priced junk just irritates me.
I know – it’s ridiculous. The one fund raiser I like in our school is the FFA (Future Farmers) sells citrus fruit near the holidays. We usually buy heavy on that for gifts, juicing and snacks.
Trinkets, candles that suck, are pricey and burn to quick and junk that just collects dust doesn’t do a thing for me.
I don’t mind the fruits, Pepsi products, $1 candy bars, magazine subscriptions, and reasonable stuff like that. They certainly can keep the wrapping paper and trinkets. I wish all schools would do practical fundraisers. My daughter’s school has gotten creative with their fundraisers. They do stuff like:
-Halloween week you could wear a costume for $1.
-One day they were allowed to wear a hat if they gave $1.
It’s pretty much easy stuff that everyone can afford.
good for you!!!
what a shame the trip is not worth it for the other kids… it doesn’t sound like it was planned very well- there is so much to see and do there!!! even just getting the state rep to meet with the kids is a start…
now.. for the kids doing word searches.. what a waste of time.. this coming from a former teacher.. yep, I called those worksh*ts and when I see them come home with my kids I quickly tell the teacher what a waste of time… if any child in the class is dyslexic it is maddening!!! I have taught my kids to do what is called a “magic window” (even taught the teacher if she was to give out this trivial time waster again). What you do is fold a length of paper and cut a slit in it the size of the letters seen… slide it up and down, side to side and even diagonally and the word magically!!! This takes care of a maddening exercise quickly and they can move on to say…. reading historical fiction to get them involved in history and reading at the same time…
can you tell this is a soap box for me? lol!
put up a fight and tell your kids you will find a way to take the whole family some day.. it is worth the trip and you can take days in the Smithsonian, walk The Mall, eat at some cool cultural restaurants…
This is wrong — on so many levels, and amounts to economic discrimination by the public schools. If all the kids couldn’t make the trip, it’s a shame. But, they need to have a viable curriculum for those that didn’t go.
she’s right..get your lawyer on the phone Gayla.
I dread the day my son brings home a field trip notice that I can’t afford. With finances the way they are right now, that might not be so far away.
Good for you for keeping them home. Make your own field trips.
I’m sorry the kids think my home town is boring. they should have called me.
SoloMother – I don’t think it was the town that was so boring, I think it was the lame teachers that served as chaps for the event. They’re the ones who left behind the puzzles for the kids to do – obviously they don’t think much about anything else but themselves.
Hi Gayla
We homeschooled both our kids until they graduated from highschool. They are both incredibly creative, delightful, amazing and fantastic people that are a joy to know and an honour to have parented.
Homeschooling is a lot of work, but it’s also a really great option.
For those who can, then I say: Go for it!
Yes!
The trip should either be done during spring break, like mine did, after school is out, or on the weekend. With that kind of field trip not all kids can go and its not fair to the ones who can’t. And if they do it during school the kids left behind should have a normal curriculum that is graded or be “allowed” to stay home.
When the children returned to school did you send a note in explaining their absence? Was there anything laid out stating that if the children did not attend school during this time they would be forced to serve detention? If not then I would be screaming discrimination. How they could expect every family to be able to aford this kind of trip is beyond me. Do you have a local paper? I would contact them or a local news station and get your voice heard. It seems like the school and the superentendent just want to sweep it under the run rather than evaulate the issue.
Indiana school, right? I am so not surprised.
@ Jess, no there was nothing aside from standard school policy that applied during that same time. The superintendent insisted that a curriculum was laid out for the kids to follow during that time and seemed shocked that I was telling him the kids were doing puzzles. As if I were making it up.
I didn’t just buy my kids story on this information – it came first hand from a staff member who was working IN the school that week and who was a witness to the “curriculum”
I’ve not received a response to my letter requesting a time for this “detention” so I may sit in with them. We’ve decided the boys will not attend at all today. The school has gone behind my back and done things with the kids we’ve specifically asked them NOT to do – so given that history, I’ll not send them into a day of detention where they may not be allowed to call me.
And I’ll be retaining an attorney today just in case we might need one.
How pathetic this has become. It’s not like my kids were skipping school, smoking crack or spent the day without adult supervision – they did something more educational and beneficial then keep a seat warm.
Good for you,I am tired of America turning a blind eye to everything that is going on right in front of their faces.I hope you retain an attorney,and have a knock out win against that school.You have taught your kids a good lessen too,do not let the government harass or scare you,the government is nothing without the people.