Seattle Schools' Field Trip Procedures Update (Another Garfield Investigation)
In one of the stranger press releases I've ever seen come from SPS, comes this one today on field trips.
It starts with this general district-wide information below:
In 2013, the district revised its field trip procedures and chaperone training requirements. School administrators were trained on these revisions during the summer of 2013. The field trip procedures and chaperone training requirements are being further reviewed this fall (2014) to reflect lessons learned.
We are taking the following steps to ensure the safety of our students on overnight field trips. Here’s what parents and staff need to know:
· There must be at least two chaperones on each trip of more than 6 students including at least one chaperone for every 10 students.
· We will not allow parent/teacher chaperones to bring their own younger children on the trip.
· We require 24/7 supervision with bed checks in the middle of the night.
· We require chaperones to maintain proximity to the students.
· Parents and students are required to sign off on the guidelines; including the understanding that violation of the field trip behavior requirements may result in the student being sent home.
· Lead chaperones are required to provide training to each of the chaperones on the trip. · Emergency procedures for the chaperones to report student or chaperone violations up the chain to security, the principal or the superintendent/designee as appropriate.
It appears that some things have changed. For example, it's not even a matter of getting permission to bring any younger children on a trip, the district isn't allowing any chaperone to do it. This was an issue on the Garfield trip.
It is also my understanding that no chaperone has to stay up all night: there are measures that can be taken to ensure bed checks periodically throughout the night.
I also note the "maintain proximity to the students" which, again, was an issue on the Garfield trip.
What is curious in the press release was also this:
*Please note, the district will not be doing interviews. The information below should provide adequate information.
Being a citizen-reporter, I actually have lots of questions but apparently I shouldn't ask them? I'm supposing I can ask Communications but that statement above feels like, "don't call."
Then there is this letter from Garfield principal, Ted Howard:
Principal
Garfield High School
Where to start?
It would seem policy got violated by having high school students in coed teams share sleeping space. How did this happen and who are the tone-deaf Garfield organizers who let this happen?
And ANOTHER investigation?
It starts with this general district-wide information below:
In 2013, the district revised its field trip procedures and chaperone training requirements. School administrators were trained on these revisions during the summer of 2013. The field trip procedures and chaperone training requirements are being further reviewed this fall (2014) to reflect lessons learned.
We are taking the following steps to ensure the safety of our students on overnight field trips. Here’s what parents and staff need to know:
· There must be at least two chaperones on each trip of more than 6 students including at least one chaperone for every 10 students.
· We will not allow parent/teacher chaperones to bring their own younger children on the trip.
· We require 24/7 supervision with bed checks in the middle of the night.
· We require chaperones to maintain proximity to the students.
· Parents and students are required to sign off on the guidelines; including the understanding that violation of the field trip behavior requirements may result in the student being sent home.
· Lead chaperones are required to provide training to each of the chaperones on the trip. · Emergency procedures for the chaperones to report student or chaperone violations up the chain to security, the principal or the superintendent/designee as appropriate.
It appears that some things have changed. For example, it's not even a matter of getting permission to bring any younger children on a trip, the district isn't allowing any chaperone to do it. This was an issue on the Garfield trip.
It is also my understanding that no chaperone has to stay up all night: there are measures that can be taken to ensure bed checks periodically throughout the night.
I also note the "maintain proximity to the students" which, again, was an issue on the Garfield trip.
What is curious in the press release was also this:
*Please note, the district will not be doing interviews. The information below should provide adequate information.
Being a citizen-reporter, I actually have lots of questions but apparently I shouldn't ask them? I'm supposing I can ask Communications but that statement above feels like, "don't call."
Then there is this letter from Garfield principal, Ted Howard:
December 12, 2014
Dear Garfield community,
As you know, student safety is a priority at our
school and in the district. I was recently made aware of a field trip
(the Fall Survival 2014 outing) where coed teams shared designated
sleeping areas. The district is going to conduct
an investigation into this field trip to determine what happened and
why coed sleeping arrangements were permitted.
I want to reassure our families that we take any
potential breech of policies and procedures very seriously. At this
time, the district has not received any information regarding
inappropriate and unsafe incidents during the field trip.
For more information on these policies and procedures, you can visit the district’s Title IX Compliance site:
http://www.seattleschools.org/
Sincerely,
Ted HowardPrincipal
Garfield High School
Where to start?
It would seem policy got violated by having high school students in coed teams share sleeping space. How did this happen and who are the tone-deaf Garfield organizers who let this happen?
And ANOTHER investigation?
Comments
-Mom w/2 Daughters
Have we seriously reached the point that we believe our young people are incapable of sleeping within viewing distance of each (they are outside - like camping) without engaging in physical activities that are not acceptable on school trips? The chaperones are present at all times.
My teen (boy) responded with a "you have got to be kidding me". He has participated on both Survival and Advanced Survival.
-GHS Parent
GHS Parent, understand others' sensibilities. EVERY trip needs to conform to the rules (they are there for a reason).
- Incredulous parent
I don't think that kids nowadays were as sexcrazed as we were in the '70's.
Violation of a rule, if it is important enough to be stated, is important enough to be followed.
There should be no MAY be sent home about it. If they break a rule, they have to be released to a parent or guardian.
I would not agree to be a parent chaperone where I was really viewed, as it seems, as responsible for making sure that no kids could possibly get out of their hotel rooms ever. Is this consistent with what chaperones have been expected to do so far? What happens if a teen leaves the room on my watch as a chaperone?
--future GHS parent
Everybody knows Catholic kids don't mess around until they're married, right?
Catholic Bastard
Excellent job on your communication plan, SPS! Oh, I'm sorry, that was sarcasm. Nothing says "we don't care about your opinions or concerns" like preemptively refusing interviews. What's wrong with politely declining to comment when a reporter calls you? Alternatively, nothing says "we have something to hide" like a public office preemptively refusing interviews.
I am very glad to see an increased push to enforce the rules during field trips and to send students home if they disobey the rules. I doubt that the teens were breaking (or deliberately breaking) any rules here, but it's still good to see that emphasis.
Does anyone know how far apart the boys and girls were? Ten feet and I'm a little concerned. Fifty feet and I think that's very safe.
Catholic Bastard, I don't believe that the schools are trying so much to prevent students from having sex (SPS doesn't use abstinence-only sex ed), but to make sure they they're not having sex at school or on school trips, where the school is legally responsible for them.
C'mon, no one can guarantee a clever teen(s) won't figure something out. BUT you have a procedure and you follow it. That should cover most of it and then the onus is on the teen.
Liwen
- Incredulous Parent
Recognizing that it's a survival thing with the students sleeping with no tents, it raises another question. Why is the District investigating? The only way an investigation could be required is if somebody wasn't in the loop about the field trip procedures. One would have thought that with all of the other PR disasters around field trips at GHS, any field trip with odd sleeping arrangements would be signed off in triplicate by everyone up to the superintendent. There'd be no need for an investigation because the whole thing would have been so thoroughly vetted ahead of time that they could just drop the reports on the desk.
One would have thought. So did JSCEE know that the trip had unusual sleeping arrangements where they couldn't provide separate areas (no tents)? If so, who'd investigating and why weren't they in the loop ahead of time? If not, how did this get approved without JSCEE involvement?
My questions about the trip itself are more around hypothermia safety than student misconduct. Do the sleeping bags have waterproof covers if they're just out in the rain or snow with no tent?
What a dumbo tempest when there didn't need to be an incident at all with proper planning. So tired of him and his 'leadership'.
DistrictWatcher
So that seems to be contradictory. Are you say investigate but don't make it public or what?
Again, if Howard or the district said, "this was such and such trip where students traditionally sleep out in the open but we're checking to make sure all overnight field trip procedures were followed," it sure wouldn't be such a big deal.
I did ask about the rule about co-ed sleeping arrangements and was told that was part of the investigation. I'm still not sure the status of that issue for overnight field trips.
Why do we allow this?
Avi
Were parents fully informed about the trip?
not in denial
Wait, wasn't he aware of the field trip BEFORE it happened? And isn't HE the one who permitted it? I don't know anything about the trip and whether it complied with policy or not, but his apparent lack of awareness is disturbing.
Half Full
It is one of the most rewarding field trips at the school - even kids who are not "outdoor" kids enjoy the experience and come away with the feeling that they have succeeded at something that they thought they could never do. It is truly fantastic.
The staff for this club, along with the parent/staff coordinators have jumped through 1,000 hoops this year to comply with all the new procedures - although I am not sure that the "co-ed" sleeping out in the woods even occurred to them based on how the trip works - there are literally people up all night making the rounds and checking on students to make sure they are ok. At no point is 100% of the staff asleep.
It sounds to me like Ted Howard just wants to get rid of every field trip so he doesn't have to deal with it That would be a terrible loss to the culture at Garfield.
I'm trying to figure out if this came about through a complaint by someone on the trip or by Garfield Administration? So confused...
-GHS Parent
times have changed. . . .
mother of adult
Adam
Until I read about the 145 murdered Pakistani students and staff.
small world
Were you looking for the Tuesday open thread?
realist with experience
If you're referring to the 2012 incident, there were many life guards around, but nobody asked for help.
Innocent people get attacked everyday by perfect strangers and there's only so much we can do to protect ourselves against such things. But that's not what we're talking about on overnight field trips. WSDWG