Why are the field trips so underwhelming?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appropriated funds cannot be used for field trips. This means parents have to fund buses and any entrance fees. Or there have to be fundraisers and/or PTA subsidies. There are some grant funded trips such as all the fourth graders going to the Kennedy Center and all sixth graders going to the Portrait Gallery.

Different grade levels at different schools go on different trips that are connected to the curriculum. Our 4th grade visits Jamestown and 6th grade goes to Gettysburg. First grade studies animals and visits the National Zoo.

My kid's elementary doesn’t do Jamestown anymore. They went to Luray Caverns, which returned an hour after school got out. My kid is really into history so I was telling my kid that some schools do still go there for a field trip. My kid said the teacher said they can't go anymore because Jamestown has a gift shop. What?!

Yeah, that sounds like a 10 year old misinterpreting something their teacher said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appropriated funds cannot be used for field trips. This means parents have to fund buses and any entrance fees. Or there have to be fundraisers and/or PTA subsidies. There are some grant funded trips such as all the fourth graders going to the Kennedy Center and all sixth graders going to the Portrait Gallery.

Different grade levels at different schools go on different trips that are connected to the curriculum. Our 4th grade visits Jamestown and 6th grade goes to Gettysburg. First grade studies animals and visits the National Zoo.

My kid's elementary doesn’t do Jamestown anymore. They went to Luray Caverns, which returned an hour after school got out. My kid is really into history so I was telling my kid that some schools do still go there for a field trip. My kid said the teacher said they can't go anymore because Jamestown has a gift shop. What?!

Yeah, that sounds like a 10 year old misinterpreting something their teacher said.

You'd think, but it's oddly specific and kid went on saying people would bring money to buy things and it got out of control. We actually just got back from Jamestown as a family and it wasn't hard to imagine that the location and size of the giftshop might present challenges.

[Anonymous]

Lots of reasons. Money is one. We can’t plan trips that cost a lot of money so things like Mount Vernon are out as are longer distance ones. Buses are another. There’s a short window where buses aren’t needed during the day and that limits your field trip distance and length. We can’t leave at 8:30 am and get back at 3:30 pm because they need buses for the later morning runs and earlier afternoon runs. It really makes planning trips very difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if it’s also a case of burnt-out, overextended teachers who don’t have the bandwidth left to organize a field trip.

[Anonymous]

In MoCo it's the busses as limiter. If using school busses they have to be back early so the busses can do their HS runs. We will do an Annapolis trip in 4th but that's in charter busses.
When they went to natural history museum it was like 1.5 hrs tops inside the museum with all the travel and lunch.

[Anonymous]

High school gets better if there is a teacher or group willing to do them. Band and chorus do big trips, SGA went to Disney this year at our school and my kid is doing a trip to Key Largo with their science class. All need to be student funded though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

Okay, you’re now just making things up. There is no rule anywhere that you cannot take students on a field trip during a testing window. Students go on field trips all the time during testing windows.

Name your school or this isn’t happening.
—signed an elementary administrator

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

Okay, you’re now just making things up. There is no rule anywhere that you cannot take students on a field trip during a testing window. Students go on field trips all the time during testing windows.

Name your school or this isn’t happening.
—signed an elementary administrator

Perhaps that teacher is posting about another county? I teach in a neighboring county and that’s rule #1 about field trips: no trips during a testing window. I’m a little surprised MCPS doesn’t have that rule, actually.

I get that this is an MCPS thread, but many people get here from Recent Topics and education-specific concerns tend to span districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

Okay, you’re now just making things up. There is no rule anywhere that you cannot take students on a field trip during a testing window. Students go on field trips all the time during testing windows.

Name your school or this isn’t happening.
—signed an elementary administrator

Perhaps that teacher is posting about another county? I teach in a neighboring county and that’s rule #1 about field trips: no trips during a testing window. I’m a little surprised MCPS doesn’t have that rule, actually.

I get that this is an MCPS thread, but many people get here from Recent Topics and education-specific concerns tend to span districts.

This is an FCPS board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

Okay, you’re now just making things up. There is no rule anywhere that you cannot take students on a field trip during a testing window. Students go on field trips all the time during testing windows.

Name your school or this isn’t happening.
—signed an elementary administrator

Perhaps that teacher is posting about another county? I teach in a neighboring county and that’s rule #1 about field trips: no trips during a testing window. I’m a little surprised MCPS doesn’t have that rule, actually.

I get that this is an MCPS thread, but many people get here from Recent Topics and education-specific concerns tend to span districts.

This is an FCPS board.

Okay. I still work in a neighboring county. And I guess I’m surprised FCPS doesn’t have this rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appropriated funds cannot be used for field trips. This means parents have to fund buses and any entrance fees. Or there have to be fundraisers and/or PTA subsidies. There are some grant funded trips such as all the fourth graders going to the Kennedy Center and all sixth graders going to the Portrait Gallery.

Different grade levels at different schools go on different trips that are connected to the curriculum. Our 4th grade visits Jamestown and 6th grade goes to Gettysburg. First grade studies animals and visits the National Zoo.

My kid's elementary doesn’t do Jamestown anymore. They went to Luray Caverns, which returned an hour after school got out. My kid is really into history so I was telling my kid that some schools do still go there for a field trip. My kid said the teacher said they can't go anymore because Jamestown has a gift shop. What?!

I thought that fcps dropped Jamestown and a lot of other cool historical fieldtrips when the school board decided the district was anti founding fathers and anti colonialism.

They used to do cool field trips like Jamestown and Richmond to see statuary row, the Virginia history museum, and the church where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech. But those field trips preesented the founding fathers and early settlers in a positive light, which doesn't align with fcps values, so they were nixed.

Fcps also did a Kennedy Center field trip to see tge national symphony orchestra, a middle school trip to finance park, a ropes course at Burke lake for 6th grade team building, and multiple Smithsonian trips.

A neighbor mentioned FCPS used to do an 8th grade field trip to the National Holocaust Museum

All of these field trips were just a few short years ago.

My kids did all of these within the last 3 years. Some just last year. Langley pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appropriated funds cannot be used for field trips. This means parents have to fund buses and any entrance fees. Or there have to be fundraisers and/or PTA subsidies. There are some grant funded trips such as all the fourth graders going to the Kennedy Center and all sixth graders going to the Portrait Gallery.

Different grade levels at different schools go on different trips that are connected to the curriculum. Our 4th grade visits Jamestown and 6th grade goes to Gettysburg. First grade studies animals and visits the National Zoo.

My kid's elementary doesn’t do Jamestown anymore. They went to Luray Caverns, which returned an hour after school got out. My kid is really into history so I was telling my kid that some schools do still go there for a field trip. My kid said the teacher said they can't go anymore because Jamestown has a gift shop. What?!

I thought that fcps dropped Jamestown and a lot of other cool historical fieldtrips when the school board decided the district was anti founding fathers and anti colonialism.

They used to do cool field trips like Jamestown and Richmond to see statuary row, the Virginia history museum, and the church where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech. But those field trips preesented the founding fathers and early settlers in a positive light, which doesn't align with fcps values, so they were nixed.

Where did you hear that? The school board never made such a decision and those trips have never been district-wide. Individual schools and grade level teams decide which trips they are going to take.

PP is making things up. My DC went to Jamestown 2 years ago. It was probably $80 per kid to pay for a tour bus, so I can see why all schools don’t do it.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the pta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

This is crazy to me. I went to FCPS in the late 80’s and 90’s and we visited dozens of Smithsonian museums, Ford Theatre, the Capitol, Kennedy Center, etc. Why would they just take kids to such obscure locations for field trips when all of this is in their backyard?!

That alone isn’t possible because of all the testing we have now. We can’t take them during MAP testing windows, WIDA testing windows, or SOLs. It’s nuts.

Okay, you’re now just making things up. There is no rule anywhere that you cannot take students on a field trip during a testing window. Students go on field trips all the time during testing windows.

Name your school or this isn’t happening.
—signed an elementary administrator

Perhaps that teacher is posting about another county? I teach in a neighboring county and that’s rule #1 about field trips: no trips during a testing window. I’m a little surprised MCPS doesn’t have that rule, actually.

I get that this is an MCPS thread, but many people get here from Recent Topics and education-specific concerns tend to span districts.

This is an FCPS board.

Okay. I still work in a neighboring county. And I guess I’m surprised FCPS doesn’t have this rule.

FCPS does NOT have a rule about field trips during testing windows. Students take trips all the time during testing windows. Our school sent kids to Gettysburg in the first week of May this past spring. That’s right in the middle of SOLs.

The only rules that have an impact are that trips to DC have to occur by a certain date in May and that if you use school buses, they have to be back in time for dismissal runs.