Reply to Why are the field trips so underwhelming?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [/quote]

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?![/quote]

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. [/quote]

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[/quote]

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. [/quote]

This is an FCPS board.[/quote]

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

[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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