Change to field trip policy discussed

TORRINGTON>> A field trip policy update could get more students on field trips and remove red tape for teachers, according to teachers lobbying for the update, Wednesday evening.

“I understand that the board is very busy, and I get that, but instead of taking the 45 minutes to an hour to discuss all the trips, take 10 minutes at the end of each meeting to approve them,” seventh grade Torrington Middle School teacher, Jason Lafreniere told policy committee members. Currently, the Torrington Board of Education approves all field trips for the upcoming year at once in the spring, and rarely grants exceptions to the rule.

This has proved challeng- ing for teachers, who say all the information requested by the board is not necessarily available a year in advance. Proposal information is lost when condensed into a spreadsheet, and museums and other potentially educationally valuable institutions may not have a list of exhibits a year in advance. For the past four years, Lafreniere has planned an eighth grade trip to the nation’s capital, but getting approval for the trip before the end of the school year proved a struggle this year. All out of state, overnight and out of country trips must be approved by the Board of Education at the same spring meeting. If information is not available the night dozens of field trips are approved, teachers risk having trips canceled, or must lobby for a “rare” exception.

Even after a natural di- saster, the Board of Education failed to grant an exception last school year. A trip to New York City, planned a year in advance, was canceled due to the effects of Superstorm Sandy. Teachers arranged a substitute trip to West Point Military Academy, in West Point, N.Y., and sought board approval because the trip crossed state lines.

The Board of Education didn’t approve the trip until five days before students’ scheduled departure, filling planners with such uncertainly the trip was canceled by the time board of education members were discussing the matter.

“At the point, that you guys were discussing the West Point trip, we had already canceled it,” said Lafreniere. “We ended up canceling anyways because of just not knowing from the board what was go- ing on,” he said.

In another instance, Lafreniere told the policy committee his Washington, D.C. trip was planned by January, but had to wait until nearly the end of the year to give the OK to parents. This stalled time when parents could have been making payments on the pricey trip, he said, and caused less students to sign up before year’s end.

Policy committee members ultimately took out language that required board approval, tentatively deciding the board could approve the field trips once a month during full board meetings through a consent agenda. Consent agenda items do not need to be voted on or discussed, but are considered approved automatically, by virtue of having the meeting. Board members can still “pull out” consent agenda items for discussion.

JESSICA GLENZA — REGISTER CITIZEN Board of Education policy committee members look at a possible update to the board’s field trip policy. The new policy could cut red tape for field trip planners.