3320 - Field Trips and Excursions ## Field Trips And Excursions
The Avery County Board of Education believes field trips enrich and extend learning beyond the classroom walls and are worthwhile when pursued in a well-planned manner. Appropriate personnel must approve all field trips.
General Requirements for Field Trips
- The educational program should be significantly enhanced by all trips. 2. Requests for permission to conduct field trips must be made on forms provided by the central office (Appendix 3320-A) and have the principal's approval. Faxed request forms are not accepted. Forms should be submitted in person or through inter- department mail with payment attached. Day field trip requests must be submitted 3 days prior to date of the trip. 3. Parental permission is required in writing for all participating students. 4. There must be adequate supervision, with a minimum ratio of one chaperone to ten students and one teacher per twenty-five students. In the case of overnight field trips, it is required that chaperones be present in a ratio of 1:8 students. It is required that chaperones shall reflect the gender balance of the group in overnight trips. 5. Field trips traveling out of North Carolina must not exceed 150 miles one-way from the central office building. 6. All students in the group must have an opportunity to participate in the trip regardless of financial ability. 7. No student will be deprived of participating in the field trip because of disciplinary action unless recommended by the principal. 8. Transportation for field trips must be via school owned vehicles or common carrier. All common carriers must be pre-approved through Central Office. Use of private vehicles is prohibited. 9. All fees collected for field trips must be appropriately recorded, receipted and deposited through the school's standard bookkeeping procedures. 10. Grades/classes/groups that are being tested are not permitted to take field trips one week prior to testing or during the week of testing. 11. Grades PK through 12 field trips are only for students assigned to the class(es) approved for the field trip. Chaperones must be approved with the field trip request and must ride the activity bus or approved transportation. Field trip participants are required to ride on approved transportation at all times. School employees may not take their children out of school to attend field trips. 12. Parents who wish to participate in the field trip but do not want their child to ride on school approved transportation may do so, but students will be counted absent and not officially part of the field trip. This applies only to parents and their children. 13. Students who have exhibited behavior that would endanger the safety of himself/herself or others, or has been a discipline problem on previous field trips, may be excluded from future field trips by the principal. In such cases, the student will be provided an alternative educational placement at the school for the day of the
field trip. An alternative assignment will be given to cover the curricular objectives for the day. 14. The following additional regulations will apply to overnight trips: a. A written request for approval must be submitted to the board in a sufficient length of time to plan adequately for the trip. Requests for trips that are repeated from year to year require annual approval by the Board of Education. Accompanying the request will be a tentative schedule and itinerary as well as rationale outlining the trip's curriculum connection. A final schedule and detailed itinerary must be presented to the superintendent one month in advance of the trip. b. In the event that the cost of the trip necessitates fund-raising, the trip must be approved by the board of education prior to the initiation of any fund-raising efforts. In addition, the fund-raising efforts should be in alignment with board policy 3321. c. Special insurance will be purchased to cover each person on the trip. d. Field trips requiring students to miss more than three (3) consecutive school days are to be discouraged. e. Each parent will be given information on how to access financial assistance via appendix 3320.B. 14. A bus passenger list that accurately reflects both students and chaperones participating in the trip, along with emergency contact numbers, must be submitted to the Central Office before the trip. If for any reason a student decides not to participate in the trip after you have submitted your list, you must notify the Central Office of the absence.
Requirements for Field Trip Requests
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All field trips must specifically relate to the grade level curriculum. A detailed written explanation should be provided on the form explaining how the trip relates to the curriculum. Field Trips should not be taken as a reward. 2. Day trips for Pre-K – 5th grade should not exceed 300 miles round trip. 3. Trips must be taken to the destination listed on the request form only. Additional stops (i.e. shopping malls) will not be permitted. 4. Wee Kirk funds should not be used to fund field trips for underprivileged students unless all other possibilities have been exhausted. 5. No PreK - 8th grade trips may be taken to amusement parks, water parks or ski resorts unless detailed explanation is provided that proves it is directly related to the grade level curriculum. This does not apply to 6 – 12 band and choral competitions that may be held at various amusement parks. 6. Any trips listed as competition must be for regional, state or national competitions if mileage is to be paid for by the Central Office. Mileage will be billed at regular price per mile for all other competitions. Athletic trips are considered regional/state competitions and will not be charged mileage. The high school band and the cheerleaders are considered part of the athletics group and are not to be charged mileage. 7. Athletic camps and academic camps will not be charged mileage.
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There will be a $40.00 maximum limit per student for day trips. Any cost above $40.00 should be paid for from class account or other school funds. 9. Transportation arrangements should be made through the Central Office prior to submitting a field trip request form. Requests will be denied if the bus number and name of driver are not provided. 10. No mileage will be charged for field trips within Avery County when an activity bus is used. Mileage will be charged for use of yellow buses even in county. Mileage rates are subject to change to reflect the costs of fuel. Principals will be notified of any rate changes. 11. Background checks may be done on chaperons at the principal's request.
Legal References: G.S. 115C-47, -288, -307, State Board of Education Policy TRAN-009 Cross References: School Safety (policy 7270)-1510-4200 Goals and Objectives of the Educational Program (policy 3000), Student Behavior Policies (4300 series), Attendance (policy 4400), Student Fees (policy 4600), School Volunteers (policy 5015), Community Use of Facilities (policy 5030), Distribution and Display of Non-School Material (policy 5210), Advertising in the Schools (policy 5240), Drivers (policy 6315), Use of Student Transportation Services (policy 6320), Transportation Service/Vehicle Contracts (policy 6340), Contracts with the Board (policy 6420)
Adopted: 1982-07-12 ##
Revised: 1983-03-17 1994-03-07 1994-11-07 1995-08-17 ## Revised: 1995-10-02 2002-08-05 2003-07-21 2005-05-16 2008-02-18 2008-09-08 201-08-09 2011-06-13 2013-12-10 2017-04-28