field trip question

mama.bear · May 2011

Is it odd that parents would not be welcome on a kindergarten field trip?

neverblushed · May 2011

Depends on the field trip details.

Could be that the school has money in the budget to pay for the students, teachers, and a certain number of parent chaperones, but not enough to pay for every parent who wants to come along. They may not have a convenient accounting mechanism in place to allow parents to pay their own way.

Could be that the buses are at capacity and they just don't have room for anyone else.

Could be that the school has had bad experiences with chaperones in the past on this particular trip, and that they just want teachers to be in charge of the kids.

My kids' school district offers a field trip for 2nd grade to see The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at a local music center. The trip is paid for from a grant, not out of the school's budget, and it only covers the kids. Parents cannot pay their own way because every seat in the center is being used for 2nd graders from one school or another.

The school should at least give you the courtesy of explaining their reasoning for saying you can't chaperone.

notkateanymore · May 2011

I don't think so. Ever since 4k, there have been some trips parents were welcomed and needed on and some that we weren't.

littlemermaid · May 2011

No not odd, I'm sure there is a good explanation. If you kindly ask I'm sure they will have no problem telling you why the parents can't come.

DandelionMom · May 2011

Not odd at all. My kids' schools usually have parent chaperones but there has definitely been ones where parents weren't needed (usually when space is at a premium).

mama.bear · May 2011

I can understand budget restrictions, bus spacing limitations etc. That doesn't apply to this situation.

There were NO parent chaperones resulting in a higher student/adult ratio.

The field trip was at a very large public place with free admission. I can not think of a valid reason for parents not being allowed to come.

DandelionMom · May 2011

mama.bear:

I can not think of a valid reason for parents not being allowed to come.

There are all kinds of reasons that might be hard to explain to parents -- maybe in the past parents haven't been reliable or have been disruptive, maybe some children don't do well with their parents around, maybe it is upsetting to some children if their parents don't come.

If you really don't like the policy, you can talk to the teacher and/or principal. And if that doesn't resolve your concerns, just don't sign the permission slip.

shouldbworkin · May 2011

mama.bear:

I can understand budget restrictions, bus spacing limitations etc. That doesn't apply to this situation.

There were NO parent chaperones resulting in a higher student/adult ratio.

The field trip was at a very large public place with free admission. I can not think of a valid reason for parents not being allowed to come.

Maybe too many parents would want to go, making it 1) more expensive, 2) more difficult for kids whose parents didn't go and 3) more difficult to get help from the parents who did volunteer b/c there are so many parents there. Not sure why the ratio would matter, isn't there 1 teacher to all of the kids in the class most days? Maybe one aide too?

mama.bear · May 2011

You're supposed to agree with me, darn it.

I asked for your opinion and got it. Thanks, ladies!

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