A reinterpretation of an old school board policy could leave
about 50 South Valley Middle School students in the lurch.
A reinterpretation of an old school board policy could leave about 50 South Valley Middle School students in the lurch.
The traditional week-long field trip seventh graders embark on every February to Yosemite National Park has been canceled this year, months after teachers signed a contract with park officials locking them into the trip.
Board policy mandates that in order to miss school days for an academic field trip, every student must be included in the trip. Of the more than 200 seventh graders at South Valley, only 54 students have expressed a desire to go, said Ginger Gallup, a seventh grade science teacher at SVMS. And the students that can’t afford the trip have been working after school and on the weekends to raise funds for the trip. Additionally, the school has been offered thousands of dollars in program scholarships to pad the $450 cost per student.
According to the policy, students can’t be excluded from academic field trips during school hours for lack of funds. But the trip was offered to every student and not everyone wants to go, Gallup said. And if a student wants to go and can’t afford the price, she will work with the student so that they can come up with the money together, she said.
She was surprised when the district delivered the news just days before she had to commit 100 percent to the trip, she said.
“They (the board) never opened this up for public comment,” she said.
A string of disappointed parents, teachers and students spoke briefly before the school board at a Thursday night board meeting.
“We’ve all been very excited about this trip,” said Zaira Aahz, 12, a seventh grader at SVMS. “Taking it away would be heartbreaking. Most of our electives have been taken away and we really miss it. If you take away the Yosemite trip, you’re taking the last thing left.”
With electives at the middle school drastically reduced after budget cuts, the students have been looking forward to the trip for months, teachers and parents said.
“Our kids have nothing to look forward to,” said Jami Reynolds, a physical education teacher who typically chaperones the trip. “They’re dying to run around and have some fun.”
She pleaded with the board not to take the trip away.
“It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” said Michelle Nelson, Gilroy Teachers Association president who spoke on behalf of SVMS seventh graders as a former SVMS science teacher. “To pull the rug out at this point would be a real shame.”
The board didn’t reply to the statements made during public comment but Gallup said that, if the decision sticks, a student for each of the green permission slips in the stack she held in her hand would be at the next board meeting wanting an answer.
Many students haven’t yet heard the news and are planning a sidewalk sale to raise money for the trip, 8 to 11 a.m. Oct. 4 at SVMS.
