Overnight school trips - Chaperones

[NotUrsula]

We had kids stay 4 to a room, and chaperones were in different rooms. We also flew - took up most of 2 planes and there were a number of kids that it was their first time on a plane. Very fun and exciting to watch the kids have such a great time, just hard when you get a couple of less than stellar chaperones tossed in the mix.

Oh well, water under the bridge now, next time should be smoother with some better communication.

We also do lots of air travel, often on SWA when it is domestic. On a scheduled flight, for sanity's sake, we work with the airlines to board the kids first and get them all in the back if possible, with a phalanx of chaperones in front of them, so that they do not inconvenience other passengers. This is where the no-alcohol/no sleeping pills rule for the chaperones gets important, because some folks have issues flying without a certain amount of chemical assistance.

 

[luvsJack]

Y’all make me ver thankful for our good kids on our trips. The worst behavior was getting a little bratty a time or two.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I feel like the majority of kids on these trips, just like in school, are well-behaved, and act responsibly under adult supervision. However, it’s understandable for the school to take precautionary measures.

As someone mentioned above, even if they stay in the rooms at night, it’s possible to get into trouble. DS went on one trip, where a group of boys (not him) apparently trashed their hotel room and broke a couple of lamps. I don’t know all the details, but they were sent home immediately, the parents had to pay for damages, including extra cleaning, and “appropriate disciplinary action” was taken. It was the only incident on an otherwise successful trip and most of the other students were not even aware of what happened.

 

[mummabear]

From a Scout camp perspective when we send out the information looking for parent helpers we tell them what they would be signing up for: You ste coming as a help on the camp not as a support person for your child, while they may find it comforting to know you are around, you may be running activities that your child isnt on (such as in a round robin), or on other duties such as in the kitchen. You may also not sleep next to your child. You are committing to attending a camp briefing and arriving/departing camp an hour either side of camp hours.

Then at the meeting we discuss alcohol, language, rules like 2 adults must be with a child at any time (I.e. in a room alone)

 

[tvguy]

Those of you whose trips included the door being taped—had they had issues with students leaving their rooms before?

We didn't have doors taped on the High School Baseball trip to Las Vegas. We stayed at Circus Circus and they did have a guard in the halls of the sections that the players were staying in. But this was Easter week, and there were 55 high schools in town for an annual baseball tournament and there was also a girls softball tournament going on, so I don't know if there had been problems in the past, but Circus Circus at the very least wanted to make sure there would not be issue.

 

[mummabear]

I’m surprised schools mix kids and chaperones in the same room. I would not be comfortable sharing a room with students.

Our trips hired a security person to patrol the hallway to be sure kids stayed in their rooms after lights out and that was good enough for me.

I think this depends on the age of the students and the layout.
For example at Scouts we go to 2 different camps annually, one is a large lodge, bunk rooms, internal hallways.
The other is single cabin blocks in a bush setting.
My age group is 5-8 year olds, we sleep 2 adults to a room in both, no males in the female rooms. We are still dealing with nightmares, bedwetting, not confident of what they would do in a fire or earthquake.
The next age group up doesnt have adults in rooms in the lodge but does in the cabins.

For my school we havent gone yet but were brainstorming an overnight for what would have been 8 students, we could get a 10 bunk room, there were 7 girls, one boy and when I spoke to the Senior leader who approves our safety action plan he told me that we could all sleep in the same room, adults by the door, male student top bunk with male teacher.

 

[wgeo]

I think the mixing chaperones and kids is very dependant on age and group. Scouts or other camps for younger kids is very different than a school sponsored trip for 16 year olds. Also size of groups seem to play a large part here as well, things have to be layed out differently if its 20 kids and 3/4 adults then if it is 175 kids and 20+ adults.

 

[mousefan73]

Thanks, lots of specifics here.

I have not heard of the GroupMe app. I'll look into it. One of our problems with group texts is that sometimes they would be delayed. A staff person sitting next to me sent a text to the group and it was delivered 3 hours later. The first night I was woken up 4 different times with text alerts that it turns out were just delayed texts coming in. One of the kids in my husband's group responded immediately every time husband texted him, and yet husband never got the responses until hours later.

That most likely is not app related but more provider related. Whatsapp I can recommend.

 

[KristiMc]

I have chaperoned two band trips. Our director has a meeting with the chaperones and gives a list of expectations. The first trip to WDW was much more enjoyable than the trip this past March to NYC. The kids were for the most part great on both trips but the WDW trip was much less stressful.

 

[wgeo]

I have chaperoned two band trips. Our director has a meeting with the chaperones and gives a list of expectations. The first trip to WDW was much more enjoyable than the trip this past March to NYC. The kids were for the most part great on both trips but the WDW trip was much less stressful.

Do you have a general idea what made the NYC trip more stressful? Was it the itinerary or other factors?

 

[KristiMc]

Do you have a general idea what made the NYC trip more stressful? Was it the itinerary or other factors?

The itinerary. Our days were packed. The kids had to stay with the chaperones at all times (understandably because of location). On the WDW trip, we were still busy but had more time for everyone to do what they wanted. Kids didn’t have to stay with chaps. They had to check in via text at certain times throughout the day and then had a meeting spot at the end of the night.

 

[MrsDuck]

I teach high school and only teachers chaperone overnight trips.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I teach high school and only teachers chaperone overnight trips.

How many kids are involved. When our high school band/choir/orchestra travels, that's about 150 kids. The band parents association is definitely needed.

 

[MrsDuck]

How many kids are involved. When our high school band/choir/orchestra travels, that's about 150 kids. The band parents association is definitely needed.

When we take our DECA students to compete, we take 5 or 6 charter buses. So, about 300 students give or take the year; teachers all still chaperone. Maybe it depends on the school district's policies.

 

[tvguy]

I teach high school and only teachers chaperone overnight trips.

The high school baseball trip I mentioned, 19 students, 1 teacher. About 6 parents.

 

[mjkacmom]

The itinerary. Our days were packed. The kids had to stay with the chaperones at all times (understandably because of location). On the WDW trip, we were still busy but had more time for everyone to do what they wanted. Kids didn’t have to stay with chaps. They had to check in via text at certain times throughout the day and then had a meeting spot at the end of the night.

Back when I was in high school, we’d have a lot of field trips to NYC (day trips). For broadway shows, the kids (HS) were allowed to go off alone for lunch. Some would go to bars, some peep shows... This was in the 80’s, is wasn’t very safe. Now, my kids have been taking the bus to Manhattan as young as 14 with friends.

 

[HopperFan]

I recently went on a 5 night school trip that unfortunately had problems with both student and chaperone behavior. Ignoring the student issues for the moment, I'm trying to think how the school can avoid chaperone issues in the future. My first thought was that they didn't set up very clear expectations about chaperoning beforehand.

Does anyone's school actually provide informational sheets/guidelines specifically aimed at the chaperones? We had a quick 10 minute meeting after the mandatory parent/student meeting where we could ask a few questions but that was it. I think if people went in with more appropriate expectations it would help. The staff has asked me to provide an idea of things that would have been helpful from the chaperone standpoint and I'm just looking for any feedback or ideas that other schools might provide. Thx

I do want to say - we had 16 chaperones and 12 were amazing but not always on the same page, but they worked their tales off and I just don't want to seem like I'm disparaging them - even though they'd never read this.

Our district no longer allows for parents or non-school employees to be chaperones. They would rather pay for substitutes. As a parent I would like it that way, especially since I've seen the damage that can be done by parents with "issues" [had an alcoholic Mom try to detox on overnight ... and ended up carted away in ambulance] and those that are trying to be the cool parent [seen dads play games that left property with damage]. They might still let them on day trips, although those are far and few between and ALL volunteers with the kids have to have full background checks. But that doesn't catch ill behavior.

 

[luvsJack]

The problem with only using school personnel in our district is that not only do they have to hire subs for way too many classes but they also have to find these subs. They have a huge sub shortage, especially appropriate subs. I mean they can hire "classroom sitters" any day of the week but when a trip is a week or more long, that isn't fair to the students not on the trip. Plus too many actual teachers out, can mean more troubles at school than they are likely to have on the trip.