School trips cancelled over virus fears
The Calgary Board of Education has cancelled five student trips to Italy, Japan and Taiwan scheduled for March and April amid growing worries over coronavirus.
The board said in a statement on Thursday that the decision was made to keep students and staff safe as travel advisories change.
“As a system we have rigorous processes in place leading up to, and during international travel. Recent health events across the globe surrounding the coronavirus (COVID -19) have caused us to take time to reflect on trips outside of Canada,” the CBE said.
“This was an extremely difficult decision, and one we did not make lightly.”
Other international trips planned for Calgary schools are still expected to proceed, but could be cancelled at any time, CBE said.
It’s a disappointing outcome for Chloe, a Grade 12 student at Joane Cardinal-schubert High School in southeast Calgary who was slated to travel to Italy with her classmates in mid-march.
“We would have been going to 10 different cities in Italy, just seeing museums and historical sites,” said Chloe, whose mother asked that her last name not be used. “It’s upsetting. I understand why, but it’s a huge disappointment. It’s frustrating.”
As of Thursday evening, 655 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Italy, the third-most among all countries. In total, nearly 83,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 2,800 deaths have been reported worldwide.
The decision presents an uncertain financial consequence for parents and students, who pay thousands of dollars to fund the educational trips abroad.
In an email sent to parents at Joane Cardinal-schubert, principal Garry Tink wrote that the school recognizes there will be a “financial impact on families” as a result of the cancelled trips.
When asked whether affected students and parents would receive refunds or whether the trips were insured, the CBE said the board would provide details at a meeting for affected families on Monday at Lord Beaverbrook High School.
“We recognize there will be a financial impact and it will be discussed at the March 2 parent meeting,” read a statement from the school board. “We are still working through the details of what this will mean.”
Chloe personally raised more than $4,200 to finance her trip, money she earned while working as an office cleaner on weekends. Chloe’s mom, Aimee, said the disappointment of the cancelled trip would be even greater if her daughter isn’t reimbursed.
“We can’t afford a trip like this, honestly,” said Aimee. “She’s been faithfully doing this every single weekend for the past year, cleaning the office, just to save up money so she can pay for herself to go on this trip.
“The whole idea was that she would work for it and learn that you work hard for the things that you want and then you get the reward. In this case, the reward isn’t coming because of coronavirus but at least the monetary value you would hope would come, that all of that hard work isn’t for nothing.”
Aimee says she hopes the Monday meeting provides some reassurance about financial investments into the trip.
A separate trip that would have sent some Calgary students to Japan over the summer was also cancelled last week. The Yamate Gakuin school in Yokohama, which arranges the trip, decided to cancel it, saying in an email to participants that they “could not adequately manage the risk of exposure to our students and staff.”
The Calgary Catholic School District did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether they will also cancel any international trips.