DC trip information

JUNE 25TH UPDATE

Thank you to those of you that sent me their thoughts and feelings on the Washington DC trip and what they wished for moving forward. This is a predicament that no one saw coming. This week I spoke with the president of the travel company, Educational Tours, and she was able to give me exact numbers on a full refund of the trip.

They will not give partial refunds and have stayed consistent with this policy with all of their trips that have been cancelled or rescheduled because of the pandemic. We will be fully cancelling the trip and receiving a refund of 82 percent. Each student or paying adult will be receiving 82 percent of their cash/check/credit card trip payments back. Money earned by fundraisers or concession stand work will remain in student accounts to be used at a later time. Class of 2020 students with positive account balances can transfer their accounts to a family member.

In order to expedite the refund process, parents should fill out this form right away (by July 1st) https://forms.gle/njHgdgVtvYd5JAKN9

Remember you can log into Charms to check how much you paid for the trip and then multiply that number by .82 to know your refunded amount.

Be sure to check the Band Camp announcement on TWiB.

I have continued, almost daily, to figure out a way to refund money from the 2020 trip to seniors and parent chaperones. Unfortunately there is no good solution right now where everyone will get a full refund. I'll try to explain in more detail.

Our trip is completely paid in full for the number of participants that had planned to go this past spring. The decision to not travel was made within 50 days of the trip. In our Trip Agreement, there is not the possibility of a full refund when cancelling or rescheduling within that time. We decided to keep everything the same and just move the trip to 2021...same time of year, same trip, same prices, etc. That works great except for the senior class, their parent chaperones, and a few students choosing not to be in Band this coming year. Our Travel Agreement does not include refunds for trip participants. These are unprecedented times and none of us saw this pandemic coming. These are the options:

1. Cancel the entire trip for everyone and most likely receive a 70-75 percent refund. Educational Tours cannot guarantee to me the refund amount until they get in touch with their vendors. They can only estimate and offer no timeline for a refund whatsoever. Once receiving the refund, we can price out a new trip for 2021. Other trip companies will be considered. Travel protection insurance can also be purchased to avoid possible trouble in 2021. We would do something very similar to this year with payments due and other fundraisers, etc.

2. The trip is now offered to this coming year's 9th grade class and class of 2020 students can sell their trip to another student, thus getting their own refund, perhaps at a discount. That's up to the families involved.

3. Keep the trip as is for 2021 and as new students join the trip, refunds can be issued to students and adults not going on the 2021 trip but who paid for the 2020 trip. This would happen over a period of time and it wouldn't be

*It's important to note that money that was fundraised and applied to the trip cannot be returned. Class of 2020 funds will be transferred to a family member or be absorbed into the Band fund.

Again, I apologize that there aren't better options. I have asked the district to step in and help by loaning the band money to refund the seniors and chaperones but they have said they're not in a position to do that.

If anyone reading this has a legal background and would like to view the travel documents for possible recourse with the travel company, I'd welcome the advice.