WP - "Incident" in Outdoor Classroom Overnight Field Trip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People. One child accused another of touching him inappropriately. We don’t know more than that so can everyone chill out?

They wouldn't have put out a letter and put a stop to these trips for an inappropriate "touch."

Of course they would. It’s APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People. One child accused another of touching him inappropriately. We don’t know more than that so can everyone chill out?

They wouldn't have put out a letter and put a stop to these trips for an inappropriate "touch."

Of course they would. It’s APS.

Police were involved.

[Anonymous]

wow 10 year olds..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People. One child accused another of touching him inappropriately. We don’t know more than that so can everyone chill out?

They wouldn't have put out a letter and put a stop to these trips for an inappropriate "touch."

Of course they would. It’s APS.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People. One child accused another of touching him inappropriately. We don’t know more than that so can everyone chill out?

They wouldn't have put out a letter and put a stop to these trips for an inappropriate "touch."

Of course they would. It’s APS.

Police were involved.

That doesn’t mean much. Any time you call police they are “involved.”

The responses here that support canceling the overnight bother me. It’s not like the school is forcing the kids to do it. If you don’t feel comfortable letting your kid do the overnight, that’s valid. Don’t send them. I very much wanted my child to go overnight despite the risks and now he can’t because of what frankly I see as an overreaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People. One child accused another of touching him inappropriately. We don’t know more than that so can everyone chill out?

They wouldn't have put out a letter and put a stop to these trips for an inappropriate "touch."

Of course they would. It’s APS.

Police were involved.

That doesn’t mean much. Any time you call police they are “involved.”

The responses here that support canceling the overnight bother me. It’s not like the school is forcing the kids to do it. If you don’t feel comfortable letting your kid do the overnight, that’s valid. Don’t send them. I very much wanted my child to go overnight despite the risks and now he can’t because of what frankly I see as an overreaction.

You don’t get it. the incident was severe enough for the police to be called on 10 year olds by the outdoor lab stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If kids can't be monitored and kept safe, then these types of trips should not take place.

Amen. I hate these kinds of trips. They are inevitably stressful for me—I was molested by older neighborhood girls in elementary school. I have always been envious of parents who seem to have no worries at all. Either they blissfully unaffected by this potential reality or they are aware but much less worried than I am about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If kids can't be monitored and kept safe, then these types of trips should not take place.

Amen. I hate these kinds of trips. They are inevitably stressful for me—I was molested by older neighborhood girls in elementary school. I have always been envious of parents who seem to have no worries at all. Either they blissfully unaffected by this potential reality or they are aware but much less worried than I am about it.

Agreed. I'm sorry you went through that. Sadly its more common than most think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If kids can't be monitored and kept safe, then these types of trips should not take place.

Amen. I hate these kinds of trips. They are inevitably stressful for me—I was molested by older neighborhood girls in elementary school. I have always been envious of parents who seem to have no worries at all. Either they blissfully unaffected by this potential reality or they are aware but much less worried than I am about it.

Agreed. I'm sorry you went through that. Sadly its more common than most think.

Thank you for that. I’ve never told anyone except my husband, who himself was assaulted as a teen. So between the two of us we carry a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the administrators and teachers? Where is the oversight? Our teachers/chaperones used to be required to take turns staying up at night to ensure that everyone stayed in their rooms, no drinking/drug use/no unusual sounds, etc. We even escorted kids to the bathrooms.

They are in tents alone.

Wait, what? The kids have no supervision overnight? That can’t be right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the administrators and teachers? Where is the oversight? Our teachers/chaperones used to be required to take turns staying up at night to ensure that everyone stayed in their rooms, no drinking/drug use/no unusual sounds, etc. We even escorted kids to the bathrooms.

They are in tents alone.

Wait, what? The kids have no supervision overnight? That can’t be right.

Parents are only allowed to be in a tent with their own child, no other children. So yes, there are children only tents just like in scouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the administrators and teachers? Where is the oversight? Our teachers/chaperones used to be required to take turns staying up at night to ensure that everyone stayed in their rooms, no drinking/drug use/no unusual sounds, etc. We even escorted kids to the bathrooms.

They are in tents alone.

Wait, what? The kids have no supervision overnight? That can’t be right.

Parents are only allowed to be in a tent with their own child, no other children. So yes, there are children only tents just like in scouts.

If no one is supervising outside the tents, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I’m not an APS parent, but I saw this story. MCPS has a similar program, called Outdoor Ed, and it’s a 3 day program for 6th graders, so a 2 night stay. Parent chaperones are recruited and they must undergo and pay for fingerprinting and background checks. The facilities have large cabins with numerous bunk beds and each one has a bathroom that can accommodate several people. School staff sleep in their own cabins, while students are assigned to same sex cabins with multiple parent chaperones. The cabins have locks on the doors. Even during the daytime, students are not allowed to go anywhere alone. As a chaperone, it was my responsibility to escort students to the bathroom facilities or to the nurse during activities. At night, I slept in the bunk right next to the door. Even with all of these precautions, we heard about two kids who tried to sneak out at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the administrators and teachers? Where is the oversight? Our teachers/chaperones used to be required to take turns staying up at night to ensure that everyone stayed in their rooms, no drinking/drug use/no unusual sounds, etc. We even escorted kids to the bathrooms.

They are in tents alone.

Wait, what? The kids have no supervision overnight? That can’t be right.

Parents are only allowed to be in a tent with their own child, no other children. So yes, there are children only tents just like in scouts.

If no one is supervising outside the tents, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I’m not an APS parent, but I saw this story. MCPS has a similar program, called Outdoor Ed, and it’s a 3 day program for 6th graders, so a 2 night stay. Parent chaperones are recruited and they must undergo and pay for fingerprinting and background checks. The facilities have large cabins with numerous bunk beds and each one has a bathroom that can accommodate several people. School staff sleep in their own cabins, while students are assigned to same sex cabins with multiple parent chaperones. The cabins have locks on the doors. Even during the daytime, students are not allowed to go anywhere alone. As a chaperone, it was my responsibility to escort students to the bathroom facilities or to the nurse during activities. At night, I slept in the bunk right next to the door. Even with all of these precautions, we heard about two kids who tried to sneak out at night.

There's a difference between supervising (making sure kids aren't running out of tents/being loud) and having an adult be IN the tent. Many things can happen inside a tent that would not cause alarm to an adult just monitoring for obvious behavior. Sexual assault is easily hidden.

[Anonymous]

These are the tents at Outdoor Lab

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the administrators and teachers? Where is the oversight? Our teachers/chaperones used to be required to take turns staying up at night to ensure that everyone stayed in their rooms, no drinking/drug use/no unusual sounds, etc. We even escorted kids to the bathrooms.

They are in tents alone.

Wait, what? The kids have no supervision overnight? That can’t be right.

They don't have NO supervision. Parents are sleeping in tents right next to them. And my husband, who has chaperoned, didn't sleep at all. And we can't watch kids 24/7 but while many people think this was a lapse in supervision, I say things worked well safety policy wise. The action (whatever it was) was stopped. Chaperones intervened and police were called. This all happened in the MOTN. So obviously someone caught whatever was going on.

But yes both girl scouts and boy scouts have kids sleeping in tents without adults in the tent.