Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked a couple years ago at our MS, and it was like $4k for a trip to Paris to sightsee and take french classes. I wouldn't pay that, unless it was for our family of four to get to Europe! LOL I know airfares are higher now, but still...

What happened to low-key exchange programs, where you have kids from a school come to your school for a few weeks and vice versa?

My son is at Sherwood Highschool and took part in a French exchange. His teacher does it every year. It was prob $2k total for 2 weeks including flight and pocket $. On his return we hosted a student for 10 days. When we saw the kids offat the end, they were all hugging with tears in their eyes. A great experience with new friends.

That’s reasonable. Our spring break trip with the extras was over $5k plus spending money for some meals and other stuff.

My kids have done these trips and it was a wonderful experience. My daughters were already international travelers, but it was DS’s first experience. And his best friend’s. The friend’s family couldn’t afford to take the whole family to Greece and Rome, but they had two years to pay to send their high schooler with EF. Without this program, he would have entered art school without any international travel. He was able to see firsthand many of the works of art and architecture that will influence his studies. Let’s not ruin chances for kids in our community to visit and learn from other countries.

Complain to principal? Like they don't have more pressing issues?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the MS trips to Spanish speaking countries also this private company advertising through the school?

Do they do this for all World Language classes?
I don't mind it on principle, but they should be clear about who's running the trip.

They shouldn't be allowed to advertise it via email and MCPS when it's not an MCPS approved trip. My husband got all excited to see them until I showed him all the information and he realized it was pretty shady.

100 percent this. The teachers are using their public offices for private benefit.

This. It’s weird. We’re at a lower-income MS with a high ELL/FARMS rate and there are two teachers who advertise this quite heavily using their MCPS email. It is an email coming FROM your kid’s teacher.

Complain to the principal. It’s not permitted.

Not true that it isn’t permitted. Plus, MCPS also permits private companies to advertise other opportunities like used piano sales. These are allowed because there’s a tangible benefit to students.

Anonymous wrote:OP some MCPS teachers lead trips. They are permitted to publicize the trips via school email and they recruit teachers to serve as chaperones, but the trips aren't sponsored or run by the county. Some are well-run and are a good experience for the students.

This.

Anonymous wrote:What are affordable alternatives for a similar kids group trip with chaperones replacing parents?

I don’t know that you’d want a cheap one. These are extremely well organized and structured and safe and have been operating for a long time. I would not send my child across the ocean with a random company.

What are affordable alternatives for a similar kids group trip with chaperones replacing parents?

I joined one through EF with my middle schooler. The teachers’ job is exhausting in these trips and they are supervising kids literally 24-7 for 10 days! Our host teacher only uses MCPS employees as chaperones for safety/liability reasons. Yes, it is more expensive than going on your own but you’re paying for convenience, supervision, experience of going with friends, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind. My 2 kids went without us on one of these trips. It was fun to have the teachers, other students from the school and to see new places. Lots of activities and places to see. They fitted in quite a bunch of things in very few days. We trusted the teachers and the students and everything was taken care of. Great if you can afford it and if you don't have time to take kids to such vacations yourself.

I like that the teachers are chaperoning and it is fine if they get a free vacation out of it.

+1. I’m fine that the teachers trip is covered. They are serving as a chaperone after all so it’s no like they just get to wander off doing their own thing

+1. The previous posters really think that supervising 40 teenagers is a vacation? They’re working.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind. My 2 kids went without us on one of these trips. It was fun to have the teachers, other students from the school and to see new places. Lots of activities and places to see. They fitted in quite a bunch of things in very few days. We trusted the teachers and the students and everything was taken care of. Great if you can afford it and if you don't have time to take kids to such vacations yourself.

I like that the teachers are chaperoning and it is fine if they get a free vacation out of it.

+1. I’m fine that the teachers trip is covered. They are serving as a chaperone after all so it’s no like they just get to wander off doing their own thing

+1. PP are making teachers out to be grifters. They have a grueling job with low to average pay and little support from the county. Why not allow the “luxury” of chaperoning your children. What a bunch of scrooges.

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind. My 2 kids went without us on one of these trips. It was fun to have the teachers, other students from the school and to see new places. Lots of activities and places to see. They fitted in quite a bunch of things in very few days. We trusted the teachers and the students and everything was taken care of. Great if you can afford it and if you don't have time to take kids to such vacations yourself.

I like that the teachers are chaperoning and it is fine if they get a free vacation out of it.

+1. I’m fine that the teachers trip is covered. They are serving as a chaperone after all so it’s no like they just get to wander off doing their own thing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the MS trips to Spanish speaking countries also this private company advertising through the school?

Do they do this for all World Language classes?
I don't mind it on principle, but they should be clear about who's running the trip.

They shouldn't be allowed to advertise it via email and MCPS when it's not an MCPS approved trip. My husband got all excited to see them until I showed him all the information and he realized it was pretty shady.

100 percent this. The teachers are using their public offices for private benefit.

This. It’s weird. We’re at a lower-income MS with a high ELL/FARMS rate and there are two teachers who advertise this quite heavily using their MCPS email. It is an email coming FROM your kid’s teacher.

Complain to the principal. It’s not permitted.

Anonymous wrote:You guys do realize its a lot of work for the teachers... Id rather not be on the hook for chaperoning a large group of high schoolers abroad.

Complain more and those options will disappear. I bet there are fewer each year.

And they should disappear. They are nothing more than an expensive junket for teachers. It’s extremely misleading that they are positioned as class terror when they are not and so expensive that most families can’t afford them.

My nephew just did one and loved it. His family really could not afford to take the whole famil to Europe for this amount of time but he was able to use his summer job money to do it and it was a great experience.

Also, for the person asking what happened to the old school stay on someone’s home foreign exchanges…I’m sure people realized that they weren’t super safe. I did it in high school. The family I stayed with had a teen son who was definitely a peeping Tom. We weren’t really supervised when we were supposed to be with our families and so the teens were often drinking. People got alcohol poisoning. I got sort of sexually assaulted outside a bar. In retrospect, it was kind of crazy that we just put teenage kids in houses with men/boys who were barely vetted.

Anonymous wrote:I looked a couple years ago at our MS, and it was like $4k for a trip to Paris to sightsee and take french classes. I wouldn't pay that, unless it was for our family of four to get to Europe! LOL I know airfares are higher now, but still...

What happened to low-key exchange programs, where you have kids from a school come to your school for a few weeks and vice versa?

My son is at Sherwood Highschool and took part in a French exchange. His teacher does it every year. It was prob $2k total for 2 weeks including flight and pocket $. On his return we hosted a student for 10 days. When we saw the kids offat the end, they were all hugging with tears in their eyes. A great experience with new friends.