| Buchanan Community School District |
| Bylaws & Policies |
2340 - FIELD TRIPS
The Board of Education 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:
| A. | supplement and enrich classroom procedures by providing learning experiences in an environment outside the schools; | |
| B. | arouse new interests among students; | |
| C. | help students relate school experiences to the reality of the world outside of school; | |
| D. | bring the resources of the community - natural, artistic, industrial, commercial, governmental, educational - within the student's learning experience; | |
| E. | afford students the opportunity to study real things and real processes in their actual environment. |
For purposes of this policy, a field trip can be defined as any journey by a group of students away from the school premises, under the supervision of a professional staff member, which is an integral part of the curriculum and conducted for the purpose of affording a first-hand educational experience not available in the classroom and any planned travel activity which supplements or enriches the curriculum.
The Building Principal shall approve all field trips.
Students may be charged reasonable fees for field trips but no student shall be denied participation for financial inability, nor shall nonparticipation be penalized academically.
Students on field trips remain under the supervision of this Board and are subject to its administrative guidelines.
The Board does not endorse, support, or assume liability in any way for any staff member, volunteer, or parent of the District who takes students on trips not approved by the Board or Superintendent. No staff member may solicit students of this District for such trips within the facilities or on the school grounds of the District without Board permission. Permission to solicit neither grants not implies approval of the trip. Such approval must be obtained in accordance with the District's Administrative Guidelines for Extended Trips.
The Superintendent shall prepare procedures for the operation of a field trip which shall ensure that:
| A. | the safety and well-being of students shall be protected at all times; | |
| B. | parental permission is sought and obtained before any student may be removed from the District for a field trip; | |
| C. | each field trip is properly planned, integrated with the curriculum, and followed up by appropriate activities which enhance its usefulness; | |
| D. | each field trip is monitored and should be continually evaluated; | |
| E. | teachers are allowed a considerable degree of flexibility and innovation in planning field trips; | |
| F. | no field trip will be approved unless it contributes to the achievement of specified instructional objectives; | |
| G. | student behavior while on field trips complies with the Student Code of Conduct; | |
| H. | emergency medical treatment is authorized for all trips; | |
| I. | every effort will be made to avoid duplication in destination and/or purpose with previously approved or established field trip. |
Teachers are not permitted to make on-site alterations to a trip itinerary.
A teacher shall not change a planned itinerary while the trip is in progress, except where the health, safety, or welfare of the students in his/her charge is imperiled or where changes or substitutions beyond his/her control have frustrated the purpose of the trip.
In any instance in which the itinerary of field trip is altered, the teacher in charge shall notify the administrative superior as soon as possible.
M.C.L.A. 380.1282
Revised 12/8/97