Policy Statement
The School District is committed to providing a school-based program of extra-curricular activities for all students in the District as required by the Basic Education Program. In order to achieve this end, the School Department shall adopt a written policy in order to guide field trip funding consistent with the law of the State of Rhode Island.
Requests
Any individual within the school department planning a trip involving West Warwick school students made while school is in session or vacation periods must submit a request for the field trip and receive approval from the department chairperson, the principal, and the Superintendent.
All approved field trips must be in compliance with all pertinent West Warwick School Committee policies, i.e. school department bidding, insurance, safety and transportation procedures. In addition, each participating school student must return a properly signed parental permission slip.
Any field trip requiring out of state transportation and/or overnight stay must receive the approval of the West Warwick School Committee at least two months in advance. Upon return from the trip, a report shall be submitted through the Superintendent to the School Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
Policy adopted:
04/23/1981
Revision Date:
11/12/2019
Travel Agencies
Under existing legislation, if schools planning a field trip overnight do not use an existing travel agency, the school must give each individual a notice that schools are exempt from any liability. Therefore, the West Warwick School Committee endorses the use of Travel Agencies to book overnight field trips.
Policy adopted:
05/23/1977
Review date:
11/12/2019
Financing
The School District shall abide by the following protocol in accordance with the R.I. Department of Education Commissioner’s April 10, 2019 Guidance Document.
Field trips shall be funded in the following manner:
The District may include funding for field trips as a part of their overall budget, if the field trip is a part of the instructional program and all students have the same ability to attend;
Fundraising for trips is permissible to supplement District budgeted funds, so long as individual students do not have mandated or suggested fundraising targets that must be met as a requirement for participation; and
Students in the District shall be permitted to use fundraising to supplement funding for field trips.
The District shall be permitted to accept gifts to supplement funding for field trips.
The District shall not require students to pay a fee or meet an individual fundraising goal.
If a field trip does not fall within the BEP’s definition of a "quality expanded learning opportunity," it is not an appropriate use of school resources and should not be sponsored by the District.
Parents and teachers, may, on their own time, and with their own resources, organize trips for educational enhancement that rely on fees from individual students for their funding. Such private trips must be planned for, chaperoned, funded, and held entirely outside the school or district's purview. Said private trips shall not occur during the school calendar and, if they do, must be considered, consistent with district policy, an unexcused absence for students and personal time off for educators.
Evaluation and Review
This policy shall be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, and shall be automatically amended to conform to amendments and changes in applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations.
Transportation Procedures
Minimally, each bus shall have a staff member who is responsible for supervision. Additional personnel shall be included where safety factors warrant. If a field trip must be discontinued once it begins or becomes significantly altered due to emergencies or factors such as storm or inclement weather or other situation beyond the control of the teacher and/or coach in charge or bus driver, it will be the responsibility of the teacher and/or coach in charge to notify the school of the changes. The school principal or designee would then have the responsibility of notifying the Superintendent of Schools and the parents of students attending the field trip. If deemed necessary, students will be housed overnight in a proper facility under supervision of the teacher and/or coach in charge and the chaperones.
General Field Trip Procedures
1. The field trip organizer notifies the school principal of the tentative plan.
2. The field trip organizer calls the bus company to determine busing costs.
3. The field trip organizer fills out the proper field trip forms and submits them to the school principal.
4. The educational objectives of the field trip must be clearly stated on the "Objectives" section of the form.
5. Field trip requests must be submitted to the principal based on the following schedule: one month prior to curricular/academic in-state field trips, two months prior to out-of-state curricular/academic field trips for school committee approval, four months prior to out-of-state extracurricular/elective field trips for school committee approval.
6. The principal forwards the request to the Superintendent of Schools for consideration/approval.
7. Upon Superintendent approval, if it is an out-of-state the field trip, the request will be put on the School Committee agenda for approval.
8. Upon approval by the School Committee, the principal notifies the field trip organizer of the field trip approval. The field trip organizer will confirm the field trip with the busing company upon receiving this approval.
9. Private automobiles are not to be used to transport students on field trips.
10. Chaperones must be provided in sufficient numbers to maintain order throughout the trip.
11. Only those students designated to participate in the field trip, teachers and other adult chaperones may ride on the buses.
12. Principal/Administrator reserves the right to exclude a student from any field trip due to behavior concerns that may jeopardize the safety of themselves and/or others on the trip.
13. Students shall be under the supervision of a chaperone at all times. Disregard for the authority of the chaperones or misconduct may be deemed sufficient cause to exclude students from the trip. In such cases, full refunds shall be made except where prior non-refundable arrangements are made.
14. When cancellation is necessary, field trip organizer should notify the principal and the bus
company. This must be done early enough not to incur a charge from the bus company.
References:
RI Gen. Laws § 16-21-1 Transportation of public school pupils
Rhode Island General Laws § § 16-38-6(a) provides that no public school official or public school employee shall, for any purpose, solicit or exact from any pupil in any public school any contribution or gift of money or any article of value, or any pledge to contribute any money or article of value. This statute was specifically applied to the prohibition on student fees or mandated fundraising goals to attend a school sponsored field trip in an April 10, 2019 Guidance Document issued by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-35-2.12.
Policy adopted:
04/23/1981
Policy revised:
01/10/2017
11/12/2019
Elective Field Trips
Elective trips (ski trips, New York theater tours, athletic team tours, world language clubs, foreign tours, co-curricular clubs, school related activities/exhibitions, etc.) will comply with the financing section of this policy. Fundraising will be offered as part of each opportunity, and the trip fundraising options must be pre-approved through normal administrative procedures at least four (4) months prior to each trip. Students will be notified prior to signing up for any elective club or activity if the club activity includes a field trip and what the options and opportunities are for participation and fundraising.
Policy adopted:
09/17/1974
Policy revised:
10/21/1991
11/12/2019
References:
RI Gen. Laws § 16-2-16 Rules and regulations - Curriculum