Middle School trips -how did/do yours work?

[kaseyC]

My DD's 7th grade Class will go on an 8 night trip to the East Coast in March.
They will visit Antietam, Charlottesville, Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, Jamestown, Luray, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Washington D.C., Williamsburg, Yorktown. They will be very busy.
She will be 13 at the time of the trip and will be sharing a room with 3 of her friends.

 

[ameraumi]

DS went with the 8th gr class to DC last year. I believe it was 4 days/3 nights (could have been an extra day) and the school booked everything thru a travel company (scholastic?). They made the hotel accomedations that included night time security guards, there were 4 boys (or 4 girls) to a room and the doors were taped shut at 11pm. If the tape was broken there was trouble to be had. There were also planned times for touring. The total cost was $375 plus spending money. Spending a few days without my teenager: PRICELESS!

 

[agnes!]

Tell me about your child's middle school trip. I'm talking away from home for a week or at least a long weekend. My son's 7th grade teachers are proposing an 8 night trip with 45 kids and 9 adults. They are planning to stay in Red Roof Inn type accomodations and stay in three spots. It's a trip to study ecosystems. Im thinking 8 nights in non secured hotel rooms occupied by 13yo children only is a little much and I'm tempted to 'helicopter parent' my son out of the trip. There is a parent meeting tonight. I emailed some of my concerns to the teachers-non secure hotels, 8 nights alone in a room with just 13yo kids, how to deal with sickness, how discipline will work and so forth. Their response? "We are not going to talk about that stuff at the meeting, we want to discuss the itinerary and the academic value of the trip."
Um, I do not doubt the academic value, I want to know your plan to care for my child. Last year when our family went on a two week vacation, we visited the dentist once and a clinic twice for accidents and illness so I know how travelling with children can go. What provisions for these issues were made for your children?

Doesn't the school have safety guidelines/rules for field trips, like ratio of adults to kids? This trip doesn't sound that well-planned to me. I wouldn't let my kid go.

And do these teachers have kids themselves? They sound young/enthusiastic or perhaps unorganized...

agnes!