Did your FCPS go on a really pitiful field trip this year to the Smithsonian art museum?

[Anonymous]

My fourth grader has never gone on a field trip. The school seems to come up with every excuse why we can’t get back to normal after Covid. I think she’s finally going to Jamestown this year, fingers crossed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the big trips that FCPS used to do, Philly, Williamsburg, etc.

Mine is a 6th grader scheduled to do the trip to National Gallery. Sounds like it’s not going to be a great experience.

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that field trips were not as impactful lat year because the schools could not get enough parent volunteers -- as such, they had to limit what they could do with the size of the groups they had. I volunteer for my DD's chorus and saw that post-covid, we had a heck of a time getting volunteers, even for the teeniest job. It's like people went mad after covid and it's all for one and none for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the big trips that FCPS used to do, Philly, Williamsburg, etc.

Mine is a 6th grader scheduled to do the trip to National Gallery. Sounds like it’s not going to be a great experience.

I taught 6th grade for years. It’s an interesting trip, but there aren’t any videos, games, etc. and they have to listen, so it’s “boring” to them.

[Anonymous]

I chaperoned my DCs 6th grade field trip last year to the museums on the mall. They did it slightly differently since we had the freedom to go to any of the museums, I think we had 2.5 hours. I sat with the kids in my group (7 of them) before we got on the bus and we spent 15 minutes hammering out our plans. We got off at the National Gallery, looked at a section that interested them, then went to National Archives and then Natural History, had lunch in the Sculpture Garden, looked around the garden and then I treated them to ice cream from a truck and we got back on the bus. It wasn’t lame. It was great. We worked together, voted, compromised, spent some extra time on things they were fascinated by, learned a little and got to experience the National Mall. I think every one of them enjoyed themselves.

[Anonymous]

I chaperoned my son's 6th grade trip to Philly. 2 charter buses; I think we paid $65 for kids, $25 for chaperones and then the pta picked up some of the bus costs. My fourth grader is going to mount Vernon and Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the big trips that FCPS used to do, Philly, Williamsburg, etc.

Mine is a 6th grader scheduled to do the trip to National Gallery. Sounds like it’s not going to be a great experience.

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that field trips were not as impactful lat year because the schools could not get enough parent volunteers -- as such, they had to limit what they could do with the size of the groups they had. I volunteer for my DD's chorus and saw that post-covid, we had a heck of a time getting volunteers, even for the teeniest job. It's like people went mad after covid and it's all for one and none for all.

Teacher here. I think a few things have happened.

1) Cost- These trips are pricey and not everyone has PTAs that can help fund them.
2) Behaviors- This has been getting worse for awhile
3) Parent Volunteers- It is hard to get parent volunteers.
4) Teachers - Teachers don’t get paid overtime for going on a field trip at 5:00AM and coming back at 7PM. Teachers are burnt out.

We used to do a big trip, but stopped due to Covid. With the behaviors in our grade, it is definitely not happening. We will go to the art museum and if they do okay, we can plan a trip to another place in DC in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had the same experience. My husband took my kids again on the next day off so they could have a much better experience. FWIW my son said the kids were not well behaved so maybe starting small was a good idea. These were 6th graders who hadn’t been on a trip since 3rd grade.

Starting small? This is the only field trip they will take all year.

Do other schools' 6th graders get another field trip?

Good on the dad for making it up to the kids.

Hope others do the same and even plan trips with other families.

You really can’t rely on FCPS for some things.

You can’t rely on the FCPS asshats for anything.

[Anonymous]

I find this shocking TBH. My nieces and nephews go to FCPS. My kids go to Richmond Public Schools. My 6th grader is going on two field trips next week. They went a bunch of places last year. To be fair, it's really easy in Richmond, since we are minutes away from a science museum, art museum, etc. But we also did Luray Caverns etc.

COVID did make us miss some of the regular trips, like Jamestown. So I took our Girl Scout troop there for a weekend. But we're pretty much back to normal now.

[Anonymous]

For the last few years our school couldn't do many bus field trips. Buses were incredibly hard to get. A lot of companies went out of business when the pandemic hit. So there was a shortage of drivers and buses. 6 month bookings required with a bus costing $2k a day. It's better now, but some of the kids make a functioning field trip impossible/unsafe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the big trips that FCPS used to do, Philly, Williamsburg, etc.

Mine is a 6th grader scheduled to do the trip to National Gallery. Sounds like it’s not going to be a great experience.

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that field trips were not as impactful lat year because the schools could not get enough parent volunteers -- as such, they had to limit what they could do with the size of the groups they had. I volunteer for my DD's chorus and saw that post-covid, we had a heck of a time getting volunteers, even for the teeniest job. It's like people went mad after covid and it's all for one and none for all.

Teacher here. I think a few things have happened.

1) Cost- These trips are pricey and not everyone has PTAs that can help fund them.
2) Behaviors- This has been getting worse for awhile
3) Parent Volunteers- It is hard to get parent volunteers.
4) Teachers - Teachers don’t get paid overtime for going on a field trip at 5:00AM and coming back at 7PM. Teachers are burnt out.

We used to do a big trip, but stopped due to Covid. With the behaviors in our grade, it is definitely not happening. We will go to the art museum and if they do okay, we can plan a trip to another place in DC in the spring.

Totally makes sense to me. As a parent volunteer on field trips I have to admit I'm completely exhausted taking care of the 4-5 kids in my charge. I usually have at least one whose behavior is beyond anything I'm used to experiencing with my kids or their friends. And I can see that the teacher has kept the most challenging kids for herself.

[Anonymous]

So my 6th grader is going in a couple of week. They leave school from Vienna at 10am to DC. And they leave the museum by 12pm. Do the math. What’s even the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 6th grader is going in a couple of week. They leave school from Vienna at 10am to DC. And they leave the museum by 12pm. Do the math. What’s even the point?

Well complain to the school board. This is a county field trip. They plan it in accordance with the museums. The docent tours are about 1 hour and 15 mins and buses need to leave no later than 1:00PM to do the middle school runs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 6th grader is going in a couple of week. They leave school from Vienna at 10am to DC. And they leave the museum by 12pm. Do the math. What’s even the point?

I want my $5 back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the big trips that FCPS used to do, Philly, Williamsburg, etc.

Mine is a 6th grader scheduled to do the trip to National Gallery. Sounds like it’s not going to be a great experience.

I taught 6th grade for years. It’s an interesting trip, but there aren’t any videos, games, etc. and they have to listen, so it’s “boring” to them.

I guess that makes sense. Kind of
sad but makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 6th grader is going in a couple of week. They leave school from Vienna at 10am to DC. And they leave the museum by 12pm. Do the math. What’s even the point?

Well complain to the school board. This is a county field trip. They plan it in accordance with the museums. The docent tours are about 1 hour and 15 mins and buses need to leave no later than 1:00PM to do the middle school runs.

When we went to a these field trips
as young kids I’m almost certain they let
us wander around a few different museums in small groups with a teacher and a few parent chaperones.

It was pretty low key. No docent tours. I’m sure we didn’t really learn anything it was just fun to get out of the classroom for the day.

The best part was eating our sack lunches on the mall outside with our friends. And then running around and climbing the bronze statues outside of the natural history museum.