No DCPS busses for in-city class trips

[Anonymous]

In our Ward 3 elementary school, families pay a school"activity" fee to cover bus/field trip fees. I believe it's about $125. Of course there are other "fees" on top of that, including classroom fee (around $95), teacher gifts, HSA dues and requested donations.

School (HSA) fund raisers are spring fair, fall fair, the auction, and the book fair. Other activities where parents can choose to spend money -are jump rope for heart ($5-$15), several book readings throughout the year where the children can buy the book ($10-$15).

All these fees add up to a much richer, vibrant school experience for children in schools who have parents with both the time and the money to spend on their children's school. For some, it really is what they consider their full-time job.

DCPS should absolutely give more "activity" fee money to schools that do not have parents who have neither the time nor the resources to supplement the budget. Chartered buses for field trips are the tip of the iceberg.

[Anonymous]

Actually in NYC, they do use school buses. The fleet of school buses are free to schools as long as they're reserved in advanced and the students return in time for the buses to pick up students with special needs from other schools. I know this to be true because I was a student, teacher, in admin in NYC.

Yes, students have to travel by metro because private buses can run upwards of $600.00 for a simple day trip to the museum. It would be lovely to have each parent pay PTA fees to cover these expenses, but is not an option in all parts of the city. In order to ensure students are exposed to every ward in the city and all of the cultural exhibitions, teachers use the metro (with plenty of chaperones). If schools in SE wait for buses to become affordable/free, their students will never get a chance to visit the wonderful opportunities for classes all over the city.

[Anonymous]

Our DCPS also has field trip fees etc to cover chartering busses etc. our 'wealthy' school actually gets the least money from DCPS in the district because the parents have stepped up to take up the slack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I do think there should be money in the school system for field trip buses. You do not need to maintain a fleet of buses. There are many companies that will contract specifically for field trips. Whether the money comes from the PA or the system, having a charter bus option (now many are available with seat belts) is often the safest. I agree that using city transport is fun and educational and I do use the public buses at times with student groups. However, can you imagine having those cute pre-K students trapped on the Green Line for two hours or thrown from escalators at L'Enfant Plaza? Or having their cute little shoelaces, jacket ties or fingers sucked into the escalator works? Metro has become way too unreliable, and some children are too small for some kinds of travel. without one to one adult care. And in certain parts of our city public buses are being pelted with rocks by disgruntled teens. These public options shouldn't be the only go to. Getting out on field trips is an important part of education, and access and safety should be the deciding factors for mode of transport.

You really should seek professional help to bind your anxiety level. The scenarios you are describing are hardly the norm. In China and Japan, children as young as 5 travel on public transportation to schools throughout major cities without adult supervision. And they are more independent and happy as a result. You must live in a state of nearly crippling anxiety.

I'm quietly laughing as I lay down my watercolors to reply to you. My job, first and foremost, is to protect the emotional and physical safety of children in my charge. If you think that is a character flaw, I can live with it. Also, we are not discussing traveling to and from school. I am all for kids who are responsible enough walking or riding public, especially in small groups. In my professional judgment, I truly don't believe metro is a safe option for children for field trips below Middle School. I know firsthand of events that have gone wrong for teachers on Metro field trips. Thankfully, their students were older and had some wherewithal and emerged OK. Exciting for the students, scary for the teachers/chaperones-but everyone was OK in the end. I would not wish those scenarios in anyone supervising K students. If it has worked out for you in the past, great. What about the time it doesn't?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/post/five-injured-on-lenfant-plaza-escalator/2012/08/07/349f506e-e095-11e1-a19c-fcfa365396c8_blog.html

http://inthecapital.com/2013/01/31/navy-yard-fire-delay-leaves-thousands-stranded-on-green-line-metro-station-wmata/

http://inthecapital.com/2012/07/18/tourist-gets-hand-caught-in-dc-escalator-trying-to-retrieve-flip-flop-video/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going with what the teacher says!

Ditto. It is easy to say ride public transportation if you aren't a teacher or chaperone. Trust me your nerves will be frazzled after a couple hours with the "cuties".

I've done it. My nerves weren't frazzled at all, it was fun.

[Anonymous]

I'm not arguing that it's not fun, or that you won't stay cool as a cucumber. In fact, my impression of parent chaperones on metro field trips is that of folks smiling benevolently as the six kids in the group they're watching ride the escalator backwards with their shoes untied. There are risks, and I would suggest approaching it with the utmost seriousness, while the kids have safe fun. I don't think that's possible with the elementary crowd, unless you have an extremely small group or a very high chaperone ratio.

[Anonymous]

Former elementary DCPS teacher and current DCPS parent. I took groups of students on public transportation to trips in the city. Charters were for out of the area trips.

My sons' school is not as easily accessible by public transportation, but they have used it. It's less expensive and always available, if you're staying in the city.

[Anonymous]

Also. DCPS doesn't own the school buses. OSSE does.

[Anonymous]

22:49, You are new to this and that is okay. Take a look at the budget and transportation is a separate line item. Stop it with these scare tactics as sending a 55 seat passenger bus to transport a 9 member team is utterly ridiculous. OSSE oversees our bus fleet and I would think that DCPS and OSSE could come to a mutual agreement. History when the school system had more students, which in turn had more athletes participating and needing transportation. Guess, what busses we rode? That's it, the yellow school busses. There was a rule on the books that school busses could be used during the hours of 10am thru 2pm for outings. Also we had a an actuvity bus MIU.

But back to Capital Entertainment, if they can secure a lucrative contract like that, then guess who's laughing all the way to the bank?