RECONSIDER WWII SCHOOL TRIP
Student safety always should be a primary factor in decision-making by Hamilton County Board of Education members, but we wonder if basing what might be happening in June 2024 on what is happening today is premature.
We’re referring to the board’s decision last week to reject a proposed trip next year by the Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts to the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Austria. The trip was to be made in connection with the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, which began the liberation of Europe during World War II.
The https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/oct/20/hamilton-county-school-board-rejects-overseas/#/questions board, which approved overseas trips to France and England, respectively, at the August and September meetings, rejected the trip in a 7-3 vote (with one absence) because of current tensions in the geopolitical climate.
“I just do not think it is wise, especially given the climate, especially now, especially as an American, to be making these trips overseas, especially sanctioned by the school system,” board member Rhonda Thurman, R-Hixson, said. “I just do not think that’s our place, and I just do not want that responsibility.”
If the students were going during the remaining months of 2023, we might agree with the majority of board members. But seven months is a lot of time where international events are concerned. The Israeli-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine clashes could worsen, it’s true, but the hotspots also might calm. Yet, since the students aren’t going to Eastern Europe or the Middle East, the chances of trouble are surely slim.
Travel companies, schools and school districts naturally have rules and regulations that must be followed. If there is no wiggle room about deadlines to confirm a trip, have a travel company make reservations or pay for a trip that potentially could be canceled, we sympathize with the sentiment of board members in being overly cautious.
If there is some wiggle room, though, we wish they could have waited.
We also wish parents could be involved in the decisionmaking over such trips. For instance, could the decision to approve or deny the trip have been postponed a month to allow parents to be polled over their thoughts?
Nothing, after all, is more topical in school districts across the country than how much parents should be involved in their children’s education.
Steve Doremus, spokesperson for Hamilton County Schools, said in an email that while district policy requires board approval of overnight field trips, it does not dictate when approval must be obtained in advance of the trip.
However, he said, each trip would have internal deadlines for fundraising, fee payments, etc. For instance, trips with large fees may have multiple deadlines for partial or monthly payments leading up to a final deadline. Those are determined at the school level based on the travel arrangements and vendor requirements. Most trips of this magnitude would begin collecting payments multiple months ahead of the trip.
School board member Ben Connor, D-Chattanooga, one of three members who voted to allow the trip to go forward, said he understands some parents already have paid at least part of the money for the trip and doesn’t know whether they can get their money back.
But that’s not what has him fuming about the vote. Connor mentioned the two overseas trips approved the last two months and said he just assumed at last week’s meeting that “this craziness [of debating such trips] wouldn’t take hold.” The same concerns had been voiced by Thurman the previous two months, he said, and there was “not a lot of turmoil.” “I never anticipated the vote going the way it did,” he said. Connor also brought up the fact that “we champion parental rights,” but parents had virtually no say in the issue.
Plus, he said, “it’s a slap in the face to the men and women of the armed forces,” to those who stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, to turn the tide of WWII, and to the local families of WWII veterans honored at Chattanooga’s own National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. “We’re saying it’s not important to honor you guys.”
Connor said both of his grandfathers — Tennesseans both, Lester Oakes and Joe Connor — served in the war, and he could imagine that his Marine Corps grandfather Conner “would not have batted an eye” about safety concerns over something months in the future.
“People still remember,” he said, “and people who lived it. People are here today because of [veterans’] sacrifices.” The rejection of the trip, of “denying children to get to go and see where it happened is a double punch of amazement.”
Connor said he hopes the matter can be brought back before the board. Doremus said “reconsideration of items is at the board’s discretion.”
We hope if there is any wiggle room to reconsider that the board will do so. We can’t imagine a trip that would be more valuable to a student’s understanding of history, sacrifice and what can be done when countries work together for freedom than tracing the steps that ended the war.