| Shepherd Public Schools |
| Bylaws & Policies |
2340 - FIELD AND OTHER DISTRICT-SPONSORED 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 shall be defined as any planned journey by one or more students away from District premises, which is under the supervision of a professional staff member and an integral part of a course of study.
Other District-sponsored trips shall be defined as any planned, student-travel activity which is approved as part of the District's total educational program.
The Superintendent shall approve all other such trips with the following exceptions:
| A. | Any Field/District sponsored trip that exceeds a one (1) way distance of 100 miles will require Board approval. | |
| B. | Any Field/District sponsored trip that exceeds 100 miles, but is part of a MHSAA Tournament will not require Board approval. (This also includes spectator/fan buses.) | |
| C. | Any Field/District sponsored trip that students will be away from home for one (1) or more nights will require Board approval prior to the trip. | |
| D. | Any Field/District sponsored trip that requires students to be away from home for one (1) or more nights, that is part of a MHSAA Tournament, will not be required to have Board approval. (This does not include spectator/fan buses.) |
Students may be charged fees for District-sponsored trips but no student shall be denied participation for financial inability, nor shall nonparticipation be penalized academically.
Students on all District-sponsored trips remain under the supervision of this Board and are subject to its District's 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 permission from the Superintendent. Permission to solicit neither grants nor 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 administrative guidelines for the operation of both field and other District-sponsored trips, including athletic trips, which shall ensure that:
| A. | the safety and well-being of students is protected at all times; | |
| B. | parental permission is sought and obtained before any student leaves the District on a trip; | |
| C. | each trip is properly planned, and if a field trip, is integrated with the curriculum, evaluated, and followed up by appropriate activities which enhance its usefulness; | |
| D. | the effectiveness of field trip activities is judged in terms of demonstrated learning outcomes; | |
| E. | each trip is properly monitored; | |
| F. | student behavior while on all field trips complies with the Student Code of Conduct and on all other trips complies with an approved code of conduct for the trip; | |
| G. | each student's emergency medical authorization information is in the possession of the staff member in charge. |
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 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 a trip is altered, the professional staff member in charge shall notify the administrative superior.
M.C.L.A. 380.1282
Revised 12/17/96
Revised 10/18/05