Terror Spurs 2nd Thoughts On School Trips

The most recent terror attack in Europe led Board of Education members to vote to reimburse the cost of upcoming international trips this spring to parents having second thoughts about sending their children — and to debate stopping the trips for the foreseeable future.

The vote and debate took place at a regular board meeting held Monday night, spurred by last week’s fatal attack in Brussels. 

The U.S. Department of State put out a new travel alert March 22 warning citizens to be cautious when traveling in Europe after several terrorist attacks in multiple countries.

Jessica Haxhi, New Haven schools’ supervisor of world languages, told the board that schools usually proceed with trips when the government puts out alerts.

New Haven public school students are planning for four different trips to Europe this spring, in addition to six others in Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

Wilbur Cross students are headed to Spain and France April 15 – 23 with travel company EF. Metropolitan Business Academy students are also headed to Spain and France April 14 – 23 with EF. Sound School teacher Laura Ortiz De Orue is taking students to two cities in Spain April 15 – 23 with travel company ACIS. And Sound and Cross have a joint trip to Italy April 15 – 23 with ACIS.

So far, Haxhi said, one Cross student has decided not to go on the trip, due to financial reasons, not questions of safety. Parents at meetings for the other trips did not express interest in canceling or felt the trip might be safer because of increased security.

The two companies EF and ACIS have different cancellation policies. EF allows groups and individuals to cancel up to 24 hours before the trip and receive all but about $1,250 per person back in the form of travel vouchers, transferable between people and programs. ACIS does not refund any money a month or less before the trip; more than a month before the trip, students can get about $1,300 per person back.

Both companies allow tour directors to change itineraries and hotels to keep groups safe, have hotlines or phone numbers available at all times, and has staff monitoring the trip. The Cross trip to Spain and France has the smallest staff to student ratio at 3:28. The biggest and best staff to student ratio is the Metro trip to France and Spain at 3:16.

Few students choose to buy insurance for the trip through the companies, since it is an added cost for the trip.

Currently no central policy exists governing when schools must cancel their international trips, Haxhi said. Many board members Monday night did not feel comfortable letting any international trips go forward.

“If I had a chance to vote no, I would vote no on this,” said board member Michael Nast.

Board member Ed Joyner urged the district to ​“err on the side of the kid being disappointed than the kid dying.”

Board member Darnell Goldson asked why the ed board no longer approves all international trips as it has in the past.

Superintendent Garth Harries said that during the reconfiguration of the Operations and Finance Committee in 2014, board members decided they didn’t want to be bombarded with the minutia of school trips. Before that decision, ​“the committee approved all overnight field trips,” he said.

Who makes the decisions on school trips now that the board doesn’t? board member Alicia Caraballo asked.

Haxhi said she was directed last year to create an internal process and rubric teachers and administrators had to meet in order to move forward with their trips. Preliminary trip plans were required to be submitted by June 30 last school year and finalized in November of this academic year. Deputy Superintendent Imma Canelli was involved in the approval process.

“We need to not allow at this point, any more trips,” Caraballo responded.

Parents sending their kids on international trips sign contracts that leave the board and district with limited liability in case of an emergency, said Chief Operating Officer Will Clark.

Carlos Torre, who has been on the board for more than 20 years, said members decided to stop all international trips after Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. He said he doesn’t know exactly when the possibility came back on the table. ​“It just eased its way back. I don’t remember making a decision on it,” he said.

Torre said he doesn’t trust making decisions based on federal government determinations of danger. ​“Warnings and alerts are very imprecise,” he said.

Goldson said he wouldn’t necessarily cancel all trips abroad. After September 11, ​“people were afraid to fly. Period,” which is not the same as fearing certain hot spots of terrorist violence, he said.

After December 2015’s terrorist attacks in Paris, district officials and schools provided information to families saying that the trips would proceed but that they would monitor the situation and cancel if necessary, Superintendent Harries said. ​“The timing puts us in a bind” so close to the trips, he said. ​“We could self-insure to some extent,” agreeing to raise funds to reimburse families for the trip costs.

“It is not my recommendation to cancel all trips,” he said. ​“We need to think about how we would absorb all of those costs.”

Goldson made a motion to self-insure, allowing parents deciding they are uncomfortable with any trip this year to a place under alert by the federal government to cancel and get their money back.

All seven board members present voted yes.

Mauro/Sheridan parent Elena Mytarkina pleaded with board members not to cancel international trips for students.

Growing up poor in Russia, Mytarkina said, she always wanted to travel.

“I know what it is when school is canceled because of the war,” she said, unable to stop herself from crying. ​“I know what it is to be starving.”

With the help of her teachers, who supported her trips financially, she traveled to almost every country in Europe and learned multiple languages. She was able to work as a translator and interpreter, as well as teach French in schools.

“Please do not cancel the trips for them,” she said. ​“They may not have another chance.”