International trip for 5th graders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's every parent's decision as to whether their kid is ready to take the trip, but 2/3 of the class will be going. Those who don't will have school every day. What "fund-raising" is needed for that? Are you suggesting that funds be raised for them to go to school as usual? What an odd idea.

Actually only about 1/3 the class (11 students) is signed up as of now. My problem with the fund raising is that the entire focus of fund raising at the whole school for this entire year is on these 11 fifth graders who will go on a trip. I think fund raising should benefit the ENTIRE school, not just a subset of the 5th grade.

As others have mentioned, there are needs throughout the school, in all the grades. Fund raising efforts should support the entire school. If a family can afford to pay $6000++ for a trip (cost of one student and one parent going) then I don't see why they need the whole school to "fund raise" to subsidize the trip.

[Anonymous]

YY parent here. I would be very concerned if money came from school budget. I hope the money was a grant or donation. I think that it would be helpful to reassure the school community that the money did not come from the general school budget.

[Anonymous]

$50,000 / 20 students = $2500 per student. Questions:

1. What specifically is the source of these funds?

2. If from the board of directors - why are funds being spent on an extravagent class trip when there are more pressing needs in the school? (Musical instruments, library books, etc.)

3. What about those 5th graders who cannot participate on the trip? How about using the funds to enrich their educational experience? Like special tutoring, test prep, Chinese language books and videos, etc?

Don't get me wrong. I like Yu Ying. But I disagree with making one big trip the be all and end all of all fundraising and enrichment efforts.

[Anonymous]

This trip is supposed to be offered for 5th, 8th and 11th graders. I guess the fund raising will be relentless from here on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$50,000 / 20 students = $2500 per student. Questions:

1. What specifically is the source of these funds?

2. If from the board of directors - why are funds being spent on an extravagent class trip when there are more pressing needs in the school? (Musical instruments, library books, etc.)

3. What about those 5th graders who cannot participate on the trip? How about using the funds to enrich their educational experience? Like special tutoring, test prep, Chinese language books and videos, etc?

Don't get me wrong. I like Yu Ying. But I disagree with making one big trip the be all and end all of all fundraising and enrichment efforts.

I like Yu Ying too and think the trip is a good idea but agree with you that these type of donations should be used to benefit the whole school. There should be a means test like FARM students only getting a full subsidy for the cost of the trip. I don't see why families who can pay their own way should be subsidized at all.

[Anonymous]

IF the Board has in fact decided to subsidize this trip to the tune of $50,000, then they have just turned off a whole bunch of parents from donating or participating in fund raisers in the future. I've been active in the school, and I love Yu Ying, but I am not going to participate in any fund raising knowing it will be spent this foolishly and without input from parents of the whole school. Those selling books at B&N and tickets to musicals in December will not see my dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF the Board has in fact decided to subsidize this trip to the tune of $50,000, then they have just turned off a whole bunch of parents from donating or participating in fund raisers in the future. I've been active in the school, and I love Yu Ying, but I am not going to participate in any fund raising knowing it will be spent this foolishly and without input from parents of the whole school. Those selling books at B&N and tickets to musicals in December will not see my dollars.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm happy that these kids are getting to go on the trip. I look forward to them doing this yearly for all of the kids. My concern and wonder is why the school has an extra $50,000 for something that will benefit such a small segment of the school when teachers are begging for computers in their classrooms, the teachers do Donors Choose for books and equipment, and families must pay $100 supply fee per child. I'm hopeful that there is a simple explanation such as a grant or benefactor came through. That would be wonderful and a great joy to announce to the school community.

If the board did donate $50k donation why isn't it being used for computers, library books and musical instruments like a real piano for the music room instead of just a keyboard? While I'm happy that everyone in the fifth grade class who wants to go on the trip will go, I agree with everyone else that this amount of money being used for a one time trip benefiting a few, 20 kids?, when there are more pressing needs is a huge turnoff and does not bode well for fundraising efforts and good will.

[Anonymous]

Only 11 kids are signed up? If the 50k donation is real, that's a terrible allocation of resources.

[Anonymous]

From what I've heard more kids are interested now that the trip is being subsidized. It is convenient because they didn't need to participate in all of the fund raising that has taken place so far, but they will still benefit.
this whole situation has been handled with no regard at all for the ~400 other students at the school who are not going on this trip. Taken individually, not publicly involving the parents in the decision to have the trip in 5th grade instead of 8th, fund raising gaffs, timing of the trip, and now on to the board allocating a huge sum of money for it- each of these could have probably been dealt with in a suitable manner with effective communication. When they all bubble together it looks like a mess. For example, without any word about the $50,000 it just looks like a terrible idea from the outside. It could be that each board member wrote a donation or it is a grant from somewhere. That would be cause for celebration. Sure, only a few kids get to go, but GOOD FOR THEM! As it seems now, people are wondering why that money can't be used for something that benefits EVERY child at the school. As PPs mentioned: books, computers, instruments, etc. Unless the administration and board get a handle on their never-ending PR problems and become just a little more open to communication this type of situation will be a recurring problem.

[Anonymous]

My kid is going on the trip and is not included in that 11 kid going figure on the portal. We made the decision to send our DC after the early bird deposit was due? Why? We wanted to give our child the opportunity to think the trip through and make an informed decision about the trip after spending a couple of months as a fifth grader. DC made a detailed decision tree with our help, of course, outlining the pros and cons of going or not going and ultimately decided to go.

The vitriol about this trip has frankly shocked me. I would have hoped that the YY community would have rallied around this trip and supported the 5th grade class. Whether or not you agree with how the trip was presented, these are kids who have worked really hard. They should be supported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going on the trip and is not included in that 11 kid going figure on the portal. We made the decision to send our DC after the early bird deposit was due? Why? We wanted to give our child the opportunity to think the trip through and make an informed decision about the trip after spending a couple of months as a fifth grader. DC made a detailed decision tree with our help, of course, outlining the pros and cons of going or not going and ultimately decided to go.

The vitriol about this trip has frankly shocked me. I would have hoped that the YY community would have rallied around this trip and supported the 5th grade class. Whether or not you agree with how the trip was presented, these are kids who have worked really hard. They should be supported.

+1000!!!!

Thank goodness the majority of the YY community is supportive!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going on the trip and is not included in that 11 kid going figure on the portal. We made the decision to send our DC after the early bird deposit was due? Why? We wanted to give our child the opportunity to think the trip through and make an informed decision about the trip after spending a couple of months as a fifth grader. DC made a detailed decision tree with our help, of course, outlining the pros and cons of going or not going and ultimately decided to go.

The vitriol about this trip has frankly shocked me. I would have hoped that the YY community would have rallied around this trip and supported the 5th grade class. Whether or not you agree with how the trip was presented, these are kids who have worked really hard. They should be supported.

+1000!!!!

Thank goodness the majority of the YY community is supportive!!!

Not so sure about that. My kids are in lower grades, and I already hear the grumbling about the constant barage of fund raising on the listserve. The lower grades are now talking about methods of fund raising so that their class will have more than $3000 at this time of the 5th grade year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going on the trip and is not included in that 11 kid going figure on the portal. We made the decision to send our DC after the early bird deposit was due? Why? We wanted to give our child the opportunity to think the trip through and make an informed decision about the trip after spending a couple of months as a fifth grader. DC made a detailed decision tree with our help, of course, outlining the pros and cons of going or not going and ultimately decided to go.

The vitriol about this trip has frankly shocked me. I would have hoped that the YY community would have rallied around this trip and supported the 5th grade class. Whether or not you agree with how the trip was presented, these are kids who have worked really hard. They should be supported.

1. I hope ALL the 5th graders are being supported -- including those who will not go on the trip and who invariably feel left of the excitement and who will not benefit from the fund raising.

2. Question - are all the students who are going on the trip also bringing a parent with them? It would be odd if everyone goes with a parent except for one or two students.

[Anonymous]

10:56 here. My child is going without a parent.

In general the YY community is great. I meant the vitriol on this site by supposed YY parents, who say things like they won't attend a single fundraising event because they don't agree that 5th graders should be taking this trip.