This is my first year teaching and I am in second grade. Our grade level chair has planned this field trip. The cost is $40!! We have to get charter buses b/c of the distance. This price doesn't include lunch! We are driving a hour and a half to visit a petting zoo and butterfly garden. The trip is in October and most of my kids have told me they cant go b/c of the cost. I work in a school that is 85% free lunch. We also have pictures coming up that are $45 for the smallest package not to mention our school wide fund raiser that is currently going on. It is $$$!! She wants to have another expensive field trip in December and trust me once she makes up her mind there is no changing it. Dont get me wrong I am all for field trips and taking kids who never get to travel places, but during our times right now I feel this is a bit much. She said NO when the other teachers suggested a bake sale or school store to help fund the trip. Anyone else have this problem? Just needed to vent!
I am sorry this is going on. Could you talk to your principal about it? Maybe she/he will ok the fundraisers or think up less expincive field trips. Looks like this teacher is only catatering to the kids with " richer" parents. That is just not fare!
This is bizarre. I've always griped about the nickel-and-diming the school districts do, but at least I'm in an area where most parents can afford at least most of it if they want to.
Our october trip is $16 bucks a person, which I think is still a lil pricey, and this is in a nice suburban town. I mean when kids get older and the trips are more in depth then I can understand the expense, but for 2nd graders to see animals and butterflies??? $40 is way to much.
Wow, I thought asking $6 was a lot for my students. Could your PTO fund part of the cost? I would talk to your principal.
DANG! I depending on my class make up, we don't even go to the pumpkin patch for $6... $3 for the pumpkin and $3 for the wagon ride to the patch, not to mention the gas and bus driver pay to get over there.
Why is your administration approving these expensive field trips? Are they aware of the fees (I would hope so, but I have learned my lesson about assuming!)
Some places give Title I schools a break on the price. Check and see if you qualify. We also have a "homeless" grant. Teachers with students who can't afford field trip fees can request it be paid from the grant.
Yes $40 is expensive!! Why the need the charter buses? I agree it makes it nicer, but it jacks up the price in a hurry!!! We took first graders to the beach and aquarium (about a 2 1/2 hr drive) in the activity buses. We just had to make sure everyone used the bathroom right before we left and that was our first stop when we got there. The cost of the trip was $7, which was mostly just gas. I agree that a fundraiser should be considered. What is the problem if someone else would agree to be in charge? Second grade at our school went on a fishing trip at the beach several times, and it was $40, but they did several fundraisers throughout the year for the spring trip. We are a title I school with 95% free/reduced lunch, so it was known ahead of time that money would need to be raised. However, the trip was to help those children experience something they never would otherwise
If a field trip is school sponsored and a child cannot afford it the school has to pay. Boy, my administration would be pretty peeved when they saw how many parents could not afford $40.00. When the notices go home to the parents about this trip I would make sure the other person's name is on it so she can receive all of the phone calls from parents who can't afford it. Don't you take the blame.
I did think of something I forgot to say before. What about when these kids get on up to highschool and want to be in band. They take trips all the time and are sometimes 100 dollars or more and funded only by the student or parents unless the rare fundraiser gets done. Idk maybe that is comparing apples to oranges. I am sorry if that was a totally diff. case.
That sounds crazy to me. The most we ask is maybe $5-7 with $2 being the usual. Our school PTA funds the transportation cost and the parents pay the entrance fees. We try to take free field trips we walk to as well (city park, post office,library).
I know when our kiddos cannot afford a field trip, the school steps in and pays for them. I feel so badly that they won't be able to join the group!
We can't even go 30 miles to the nearest big city for a field trip because of gas and the economy. (My nearest big city is one of the largest cities in the world and has world class everything, so my kids are really missing out.) I wouldn't even think of requesting such a trip for my kids unless I could provide plenty of fundraisers and prove that the trip will address many educational standards.
The standard 4th grade field trip in our district is 3 1/2 hours away to the capital building (one way). We take the regular busses leave at 6 am (get back at 6pm) and it doesn't cost the families anything. Money comes from PTA and building budget.
$40.00 is ridiculous. No one will be able to go, is that the teacher's motive??? That's a lot of money, I'd even hesitate before I spent that much anything. Times are hard, we're stewards of our money, & I just don't think this is a wise thing to do. Most poor parents never complain to admin either which makes them voiceless. I think we have to be advocates for all kids, someone needs to talk to admin about this. I'm all about fiield trips, but there's lots of trips you can take that are even free.
With gas prices being what they are, a lot of schools in our area are starting to tighten up on field trips. Even with small or free admissions costs, the cost of charter buses and lunch alone can prevent a lot of students from going...and we're not lucky enough to live in an area with lots of exhibits or events. You're lucky in one regard (though I do sympathize with you on the excesssive costs of this trip). At my old middle school, children were NOT allowed to forgo a trip for financial reasons. It was viewed as a form of economic discrimination. Any fees, lunch, or admission prices were asked for but totally optional by parents. If they replied that they could not afford the amount, our school had to raise the money for those children or no one could go. :unsure: That was one way of keeping the field trip applications down to a minimum.
The same type of situation happened to me last year. My lead teacher wanted us to go on a trip to see a musical that would cost $38 per child. She and another teacher wanted to go, and the rest of us didn't for financial reasons. She and the other teacher had the homerooms where most kids could afford such a trip, and the rest of us had the homerooms where most kids COULD NOT afford such a trip. Does your lead teacher have a homeroom that can afford that? Maybe that's why she can't understand the rest of your team's hesitancy toward going. That's what happened in my situation; she honestly didn't realize that the rest of us had homerooms who couldn't afford that trip. In the end, I suggested that we "survey the kids" by sending home a letter saying we're thinking about this trip, it costs this much, etc. Could your student go? Overwhelmingly, the parents said no so we didn't go.
As a parent, I would be more than a little upset with the prospect of a $40 field trip. This teacher is living in a a dream world. We go on three fun field trips each summer, one a month. The kids plan them and our requirements are cheap, cheap, and cheap. I felt bad this summer when they wanted to go on a float trip and it was $17. And these are high school kids!
It would take a pretty darn amazing field trip for me to pay $40 for my child to go! From my teacher POV, I live in a fairly wealthy school district and I would still never dream of asking for this much for a field trip! That's completely ridiculous. That teacher is out of her mind (or totally naive...)
