Field trips have become a focal point for an underlying
philosophical/school culture debate that is boiling in the Gilroy
School Trustee board room and, to a lesser extent, in the
community. It’s a healthy, long-overdue sign.
Field trips have become a focal point for an underlying philosophical/school culture debate that is boiling in the Gilroy School Trustee board room and, to a lesser extent, in the community. It’s a healthy, long-overdue sign.
Trustees have re-written the Gilroy Unified School District field trip policy to tighten up the ground rules in addressing who gets to go where and what the justification is for leaving the classroom. The new policy is unequivocally a step in the right direction.
Trustees Rhoda Bress and Tom Bundros have led a drive to ensure that academics is at the forefront of each and every decision that GUSD trustees make. It is a noble and welcome goal supported by the new field trip policy.
It’s no wonder, then, that they are frustrated by the initial “test case” related to the policy.
Trustees voted to approve an extended Future Farmers of America field trip for Gilroy High students who will travel from the FFA National Convention in Louisville, Ky., then to Washington D.C. By going to Washington D.C., the six students would miss two more days school.
Superintendent Edwin Diaz, Bress and Bundros, believe the additional Washington D.C. leg of the trip violates the new policy which reads: “Programs and field trips which result in excessive loss of class time in other areas of study are to be discouraged. Field trips, to qualify for approval, must be related to class instruction of contribute to the district’s educational goals.”
It’s a tough call. But the FFA trip fits the educational goals of the district. The FFA’s California delegation has travelled to Washington D.C. after the convention for many years, and there’s an educational agenda that goes with the trip. It’s not a Disneyland excursion. That said, it’s tough to imagine another field trip with the same impact.
What this test case has made clear is that the school board has placed itself in an awkward position via the new policy as field trip judge and jury.
To wit: “The Board shall approve those field trips which are planned to take students out of the state or are overnight. ”
While the board should be informed, the approval role should be given to administrators – specifically the superintendent and the school principal. In this case it likely would have resulted in denial, but that’s how the process should work.
Trustees have bigger fish to fry than judging the merits of each field trip.
For the FFA students and instructor, a suggestion: Upon returning from the trip give the Board a top-notch presentation about what you learned in the nation’s capitol and how it related to classroom curriculum.
Undoubtedly there are numerous field trips that will and should be denied under he new policy. The FFA trip isn’t one of them.
That doesn’t make the new policy less worthy. In most cases it will be crystal clear what makes the cut and that will mean less classroom time missed for GUSD student and teachers.
