District Field Trip Policy

                         

 RIVER DELTA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

445 Montezuma Street              

 Rio Vista, California 94571-1651

                                                                                                        

 (707) 374-1700       Fax (707) 374-2995

                                                                                                                               www.riverdelta.k12.ca.us        

River Delta Unified School District

Field Trip Policies and Procedures

The Board of Trustees recognizes that school-sponsored trips are an important component of a student's development and supplement and enrich the classroom learning experience. School-sponsored trips may be conducted in connection with the district's course of study or school-related social, educational, cultural, athletic, school band activities, or other extracurricular or co-curricular activities.

The principal shall establish a process for approving a staff member's request to conduct a school-sponsored trip. When planning trips, staff shall consider student safety, objectives of instruction, the most effective use of instructional time, the distance from school, district and student expense, and transportation and supervision requirements. Principals may exclude from the trip any student whose presence on the trip would pose a safety or disciplinary risk. The following policies will be adhered to on all school-sponsored trips:

·      The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that adequate supervision is provided on all school-sponsored trips and that there is an appropriate ratio of adults to students present on the trip.

·      All students attending the field trip must have a signed permission slip on file.  Students without permission or who refrain from attending will be provided an alternative educational opportunity.

·      Teachers or other certificated personnel shall accompany students on all trips and shall assume responsibility for their proper conduct.

·      Before the trip, teachers shall provide any adult chaperones who may accompany the students with clear information regarding their responsibilities.

·      Chaperones shall be 21 years of age or older and have a clear TB test on file with the school district. Chaperones for overnight school-sponsored trips will be required to have fingerprinting on file.

·      Chaperones shall be assigned a prescribed group of students and shall be responsible for the continuous monitoring of these students' activities at a ratio of one chaperone per ten students.

·      If the trip involves water activities, this ratio must change to 1 chaperone to 8 students for grades 4-8 and change to 1 chaperone to 4 students for grades k-3.

·      Teachers and chaperones shall not consume alcoholic beverages or use controlled substances while accompanying and supervising students on a trip.

·      When a trip is made to a place of business or industry, the teacher shall arrange for an employee of the host company to serve as conductor.

Guidelines for Parent Participation:

• Children must travel to and from field trip site by bus or vehicles that have been approved by the office to have necessary paperwork and insurance on file.

·    The number of parents asked to attend a field trip will depend on the nature and demands of the particular trip being taken.  For grade level trips, teachers will work as a team to determine the number of parents per class that will attend the field trip.  Often, only a specific number of adults and students are allowed in a site due to fire codes.

·    During the course of a school year, we want to give as many parents as possible the opportunity to assist with field trip supervision. 

·    Parents participating in field trips are not permitted to bring siblings or other non-students on the trip with them.  Parent chaperones need to be fully able to assist in student supervision.  Caring for siblings on a trip could detract from a parent’s ability to fulfill this supervision responsibility.