2340 - FIELD AND OTHER ESC-SPONSORED TRIPS

The Governing Board recognizes that field trips, when used for teaching and learning integral to the curriculum, are an educationally sound and important ingredient in the instructional program of the schools. Properly planned and executed field trips should:

1. supplement and enrich classroom procedures by providing learning experiences in an environment outside the schools; 
2. help students relate school experiences to the reality of the world outside of school; and 
3. bring the resources of the community - natural, artistic, industrial, commercial, governmental, educational - within the student’s learning experience.

For purposes of this policy, a field trip shall be defined as any planned journey by one (1) or more students away from ESC premises, which is an integral part of a course of study and is under the direct supervision and control of a professional staff member or any advisor as designated by the Superintendent.

Other ESC-sponsored trips shall be defined as any planned, student-travel activity which is approved as part of the ESC’s total educational program and is under the direct supervision and control of a professional staff member or any advisor as designated by the Superintendent.

School personnel shall not accept any form of compensation from vendors that might influence their recommendation on the eventual selection of a location for, or a vendor that shall provide transportation to, a field or other ESC-sponsored trip. Furthermore, school personnel shall not accept any compensation from a vendor after a decision has been made regarding the location for, or a vendor that shall provide transportation to, a field or other ESC-sponsored trip. In addition, school personnel who recommended the location for, or a vendor that shall provide transportation to, a field or other ESC-sponsored trip shall not enter into a contractual arrangement whereby an individual staff member receives compensation in any form from the vendor that operates the venue for, or provides the transportation to, a field or other ESC-sponsored trip for services rendered.

Such compensation includes, but is not limited to, cash, checks, stocks, or any other form of securities, and gifts such as televisions, microwave ovens, computers, discount certificates, travel vouchers, tickets, passes, and other such things of value. In the event that a school staff member receives such compensation, albeit unsolicited, from a vendor, the staff member shall notify the Treasurer/CFO, in writing, that the staff member received such compensation and shall thereafter promptly transmit said compensation to the Treasurer/CFO at the staff member's earliest opportunity.

The Governing Board shall approve those field trips and other ESC-sponsored trips which:

1. take students out of state; and/or
    
2. are planned to keep students out of the ESC overnight or longer or out of the State, except that prior Governing Board approval is not required for overnight trips related to extracurricular competitions that arise at a time when no Governing Board meetings are scheduled prior to the date of the trip.

The Superintendent shall approve all other such trips. The Superintendent may approve overnight trips related to extracurricular competitions that arise at a time when no Governing Board meetings are scheduled prior to the date of the trip.

In accordance with State law, members of the opposite biological sex are prohibited from sharing overnight accommodations.

Students may be charged fees, including, but not limited to, admission fees, for ESC-sponsored trips but no student shall be denied participation for financial inability, nor shall nonparticipation be penalized academically.

Students on all ESC-sponsored trips remain under the supervision of this Governing Board.

The Governing Board does not endorse, support, or assume liability in any way for any staff member, volunteer, or parent of the ESC who takes students on trips not approved by the Governing Board or Superintendent. No staff member may solicit students of this ESC for such trips within the facilities or on the school grounds of the ESC without permission from the Superintendent. Permission to solicit neither grants nor implies approval of the trip.

A professional staff member shall not change a planned itinerary while the trip is in progress, except where the health, safety, or welfare of the students in the staff member's charge is imperiled or where changes or substitutions beyond the staff member's control have frustrated the purpose of the trip.

In any instance in which the itinerary of a trip is altered, the professional staff member in charge shall notify the administrative superior immediately.

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