Expensive Field Trips- Montgomery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

Probably helicopter parents to thank for this one as well, because the school has to worry about kids who are so engrossed in their iPhone that they don't get off the train with everyone else, then don't have the common sense to get off at the next stop and ride back the other way since their parents never use public transit or let them go anywhere unsupervised. "My 12-year-old child was traumatized by being alone at McPherson Square for 2 minutes! Why wasn't someone holding their hand at Metro Center?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've wondered this, too. Most of my kids' field trips are $10-$20. Our school sometimes uses charter buses which I am sure adds to the cost.

I think they end up using charter busses because they can't get there and back in time for the busses to do the HS run. It used to be you had to be back by 1:00 to use MCPS busses. With ES not starting until 9:30, you wouldn't be organized to leave until 9:45 at the earliest, depending on how far you are from the zoo, you might have 2 hours to visit the zoo and have lunch before heading back.

Not sure if the time you need to be back shifted with the change in bell times or not, but it's always been an issue for schools farther away from the city. It's hard to go and get back in the time you can get an MCPS bus, so you have to pay for a charter bus which is much more expensive.

This has been our experience and the charter bus can be expensive.
Also the schools try to ensure that noone misses a trip for financial reasons so if you can I suggest you put in a little donation to help cover another child's cost.

F that. I am not paying for other kid’s field trips. Ridiculous.

Fortunately, other parents are more generous than you.

It's not about being generous. It's about what's right and wrong. If the county can supplement AP and IB test fees, which can cost hundreds, then surely an extra $5 here or there won't break the bank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My 7th grader's trip to Medieval Times was $50 all included: bus, tickets, lunch.

I paid nearly that much for him to go to Mount Vernon and St Mary's City in 5th and 4th grade, respectively.

This is why most PTAs allocate funds to students who cannot pay the field trips.

? MoCo? Meanwhile, my 4th grader has not had a field trip this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

It’s orobably some union bus thing. Do a few calls and find out for yourself when busses and drivers are free and at what cost, and if available at all. This county is too big to deviate from The Plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

I hear you. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

When we talk about kids not having background knowledge to connect to and deepen understanding of new concepts being taught, this is what we mean. But there's plenty of background knowledge about video games and King's Dominion. --teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does no one ever have parents drive anymore? I'm 30 and every field trip I ever went on had parents drive kids in their vans and chaperone.

Liability. That would never happen today.

Yes helicopters like to worry and sue

Yeah, well, some dumb parent staring at their phone and driving the kids off a cliff is actually sue-worthy.

[Anonymous]

Just wait until the four-day trip to Montreal with the French class. $1500 for bus ride and hotel accommodations only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wait until the four-day trip to Montreal with the French class. $1500 for bus ride and hotel accommodations only.

I assume this might be a joke, but I went to Italy with my Latin class in middle school over spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not take metro? Our dcps kid does most of his field trips on metro, including museums and the zoo. Trips are free.

Well ding-dong, most MCPS schools aren’t located within walking distance of a metro station.

Ours is, so it baffles me when they hire charter busses for trips into DC. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and was absolutely shocked at the number of kids who had never been there and seemed to have never seen downtown, DC either. Almost all our students live walking distance to a metro stop.

I hear you. Sad.

That’s what you get with both parents working - weekends are for catching up on laundry/bills/cooking and driving kids to sports or birthday parties.

Suggestion - have your kids next birthday party at the museum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My 7th grader's trip to Medieval Times was $50 all included: bus, tickets, lunch.

I paid nearly that much for him to go to Mount Vernon and St Mary's City in 5th and 4th grade, respectively.

This is why most PTAs allocate funds to students who cannot pay the field trips.

? MoCo? Meanwhile, my 4th grader has not had a field trip this year.

Saddest of all is that in MoCo they leave the special ed kids home at school which is the opposite of what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My 7th grader's trip to Medieval Times was $50 all included: bus, tickets, lunch.

I paid nearly that much for him to go to Mount Vernon and St Mary's City in 5th and 4th grade, respectively.

This is why most PTAs allocate funds to students who cannot pay the field trips.

? MoCo? Meanwhile, my 4th grader has not had a field trip this year.

Saddest of all is that in MoCo they leave the special ed kids home at school which is the opposite of what they need.

What school is this? I've worked in multiple schools in MCPS and have never heard of this. I have heard of some students with severe behavioral issues and/or frequent elopements requiring a parent to attend the field trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wait until the four-day trip to Montreal with the French class. $1500 for bus ride and hotel accommodations only.

That one is optional, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Same here. Don’t spread your legs if you can’t afford kids. Not my job to pay for their field trip entertainment. Already pay for their schooling.

PP, thank you for the morning confirmation for my belief that any post on DCUM that includes the phrase "open your legs" or "spread your legs" doesn't contain anything of value.