chaperoning teenagers

[jdorman]

Okay, has anyone chaperoned a group of high school students to Disney before? I, along with my assistant principal, am chaperoning a group of 10 16and 17 year olds in May. We are going on a Sunday afternoon and flying back on Wednesday evening.

Any advice or strategies? What can I expect? Thanks for any input.

 

[Robo]

What can I expect?

BTW, to your THIRD POST on the DISboards, jdorman!

(3rd since March 2004... Wow!)

 

[Cyndo723]

I've chaperoned lots of high school trips, to Disney World and other places. As a whole, all of my experiences were very positive. My best advice is to talk a lot to your students and their parents. Let them know what you expect, and ask them what they expect. 10 students is not a bad group. I've never been with one that small. We usually had 50-100. Don't try to over schedule, but make sure there's plenty to do. Be flexible if possible. Everyone's not going to want to do the same thing at the same time. Most of all, have fun. If you have any specific questions, feel free to pm me.

Cindy

 

[Cheshire Figment]

One suggestion which has both its good and bad points. On entering any park collect the tickets from the students. Make sure each one has their name on the tickets, as each ticket is keyed, by finger scan, to the person who uses it first.

The good point is that they cannot leave the park to return go to another park and if they leave they cannot reenter the park. This keeps them from totally vanishing.

The bad point is that without tickets they cannot get fastpasses for any attractions, unless one of the chaperones who is holding the tickets gets the fastpasses for them.

And also have the chaperones hold on to the room keys at all times.

 

[ekmom]

I haven't done this but my DH did a few years ago with the high school marching band. They go every other year and have rarely had any serious trouble.

A mandatory parent meeting was held about a month prior to the trip and written policies were passed out which had to be signed by parent and student. Some of these policies were:
No student was allowed enter the hotel room of a student of the opposite sex.
All school policies regarding smoking/drinking were fully in effect.
If a student violated the rules they could be sent home at their parent's expense.

The key thing is to keep them busy. Too much down time at the hotel usually results in trouble.

The students were allowed to carry their own park tickets. I would think that it would be rather upsetting to parents and students if they couldn't get fastpasses given that they are spending a lot on this trip. My son had travelled to WDW a number of times prior to this trip so he knew the ropes and he and his friends made extensive use of fastpasses.

Some of the days the group went to only one park, but other days the students were allowed to park hop. Check-in times were established when the students had to check in with a chaperone at a specific time and place, usually every 3 or 4 hours.

I hope this helps!

 

[wilde_oscar]

I am pretty sure there are lockers at the entrance to the parks that would hold a kid that size, if not, push harder.

don't assume you can keep the group together, have points and times established during the day to meet up to check in. if you are staying onsite, make sure they know where to catch the bus... if you are staying offsite, let them know that all the dolls in Small World are teenagers that wondered off, that were painted and nailed to the floor.

 

[imagineer4life]

ooooooohhhh what i would give for a trip like that...

dont be to controlling, im 16, and dont really like being told exactly where to be at all times of the day.

that is an awesome trip.

 

[12kizuna]

My aunt has been a high school music teacher for several years, and she would take the chorus to sing at WDW annually at Christmas-time (she lives in Florida nearby). I know one of her tricks is that she lets the students have a lot of free time in the parks, but there are basic rules regarding times to meet up, no drug / alcohol, etc.
At night there would be a set time (usually reasonably late) that everyone must be in their rooms, and she puts tape on the outside of everyone's door so she knows if anyone leaves their rooms during the night outside of any emergencies. I always thought this was a really smart thing to do, because while one should be able to trust their students, I have to admit I remember middle / high school trips very well, and know about the many things kids would try and get away with without anyone the wiser simply to do it.
If there are only 10 kids though, the tape thing would probably not be very necessary, but I do suggest having several forms (as I'm sure you already have done to some extent) for parents and students to sign involving rules, and consequences to breaking those rules.
Good luck and have a great time!

 

[BabyPiglet]

I say give them space and some freedom, because teenagers love to roam around by themselves. Give them their cards, let them be in power of what they do. But still set rules down, and have a pretty harsh punishment if they break them. Just my opinion.

Have fun!

 

[Aliceacc]

Yes, I've chaperoned to Disney and elsewhere.

My favorite tip for chaperoing girls: you can tell they're in their rooms for the night when their makeup comes off. Anytime prior to that, and they're just faking it.

Also, what my school does when they take the Seniors to Disney is this: After they've done the final bed checks for the night, each room is taped closed with colored masking tape. No one leaves the room in the morning until the chaperones have checked the tape. The kids could still get out in an emergency, but they know that if that tape is broken for anything short of a fire they're in serious trouble.

 

[Schmeck]

ooooooohhhh what i would give for a trip like that...

dont be to controlling, im 16, and dont really like being told exactly where to be at all times of the day.

that is an awesome trip.

Good luck finding a job if you don't 'like to be told' - also, how long do you make people wait for you to be somewhere?

To the OP - you've got a nice small group - there are some things you could do together, and other things better done in smaller groups. Is there a reason you are taking these kids to WDW? Are they performing, etc? How much time do you have in the parks each day?

Definitely schedule a few meeting places and times, just to make sure the students are all OK, behaving themselves, and being appropriate. We send our 8th graders to WDW for their class trip, and they need a lot of supervision. I work in our high school, and I'd say that the high school kids would need to be supervised as well, especially if they were in WDW representing their school.

 

[Robo]

I say give them space and some freedom, because teenagers love to roam around by themselves. Give them their cards, let them be in power of what they do.

 

[LilGMom]

Also, what my school does when they take the Seniors to Disney is this: After they've done the final bed checks for the night, each room is taped closed with colored masking tape. No one leaves the room in the morning until the chaperones have checked the tape. The kids could still get out in an emergency, but they know that if that tape is broken for anything short of a fire they're in serious trouble.

When I was took trips with my school groups, whether it was band, drama or French class, that is what the chaperones did. We had a set curfew as to when we had to be in our rooms and the chaperones checked the rooms before they taped the door. We, and the parents, knew that if we broke the rules that the parents would be responsible for the cost to get our tushes home. We also had to be in groups of 2-3 people at all times but I don't remember ever having to meet up mid-day. The rules of school still applied (no smoking, drinking, etc.) and

I think it would be a good idea if the chaperones had cell phones and all of the kids had a contact number.

Good luck!!

 

[PSherman37]

Yes, blue tape on the door. If you are using vouchers for meals, set a 30 minute window that they have to check in with an adult to get their voucher. They can use it when they get hungry, but that way an adult has seen their face in the park they are supposed to be in. The adult can just linger around a central spot (pick it as you go in so everyone knows exactly where)

 

[eliza61]

I say give them space and some freedom, because teenagers love to roam around by themselves. Give them their cards, let them be in power of what they do. But still set rules down, and have a pretty harsh punishment if they break them. Just my opinion.

Have fun!

Not sure if this is one I agree with. My Ds high school is trying to decide if they will go to disney again. Last year they had a serious incident (not their fault imo). One of the seniors met a "friend" on myspace who claimed to be a student at the University of Florida. She told him she was coming to wdw for her senior trip and they made arrangements to meet secretly. Creep turns out to be a 35 year old unemployed plumber. Only the quick thinking of the chaperone prevented this from being a total disaster (can we say Natalie Hollingway).

 

[Pirate Me]

Not sure if this is one I agree with. My Ds high school is trying to decide if they will go to disney again. Last year they had a serious incident (not their fault imo). One of the seniors met a "friend" on myspace who claimed to be a student at the University of Florida. She told him she was coming to wdw for her senior trip and they made arrangements to meet secretly. Creep turns out to be a 35 year old unemployed plumber. Only the quick thinking of the chaperone prevented this from being a total disaster (can we say Natalie Hollingway).

What a Horrow!!! Not easy raising kids these days!!!

 

[Enchanted]

Good luck finding a job if you don't 'like to be told' - also, how long do you make people wait for you to be somewhere?

Ouch. That was a bit harsh, Schmeck. I think imagineer4life was just saying what I was about to post:

Don't schedule every last second of every day and expect the kids to be happy the entire time. Lay down a few ground rules and then give them some space.

When I was in high school, our church youth group went on several trips together (We never did manage to bribe our youth director into taking us to Disney. But boy, did we try! ), and our favorite trips had some of the following rules:

- A reasonable curfew after which everyone had to be in their rooms.
- No boys in girls rooms or girls in boys rooms at any time.
- When separating from the chaperones, everyone had to be with a group of two or more (and the groups of two had to be same-sex and not boy/girl).
- Someone in each group had to have a fully-charged cellphone, of which the chaperone knew the number and vice-versa so that communication could occur in case of emergency or someone getting lost.
- There were established meet-up points where everyone had to meet every few hours (usually four hours apart) mainly just to reestablish that our "game plans" were the same.
- At least one meal per day had to be eaten as a group.

With our group (there was between 15 to 20 of us on each trip), the knowledge that our chaperones trusted us (within reason) really prevented us from doing anything outrageous. We didn't want to let them down, and we didn't want to lose our privileges on any further trips so we did our best to behave. Plus, we actually ended up spending a lot of time with our chaperones because we thought they were so cool!

A tip I'll suggest solely for a Disney trip: Write down (or photocopy before you leave) ALL of the information on the back of the tickets and have each chaperone keep a copy with them at all times. Then, should anyone lose a ticket (student OR chaperone...it could happen to anyone, y'know.... ), Disney can promptly replace it right then and there without any hassle.

 

[Robo]

The "chaperones" kind of blew it in the infamous 2007 Dec. Pop Warner incident.

And, their charges are younger than High School age.

 

[Enchanted]

The "chaperones" kind of blew it in the infamous 2007 Dec. Pop Warner incident.

And, their charges are younger than High School age.

Infamous? Whoa, what'd I miss?

*runs off to Google "2007 Dec. Pop Warner incident, Disney World" because I am, apparently, out of the loop*

 

[Robo]

Infamous? Whoa, what'd I miss?

*runs off to Google "2007 Dec. Pop Warner incident, Disney World" because I am, apparently, out of the loop*

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1658406

http://www.mouseextra.com/2007/12/17/pop-warner-violence-at-all-star-resort/

http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=wd071217mg