Scratch London, Paris and Rome off the list. Vancouver, Quebec City and Halifax may be the popular destinations this year for school trips.
More schools are restricting their travel to within Canada because of concerns following the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11.
Palliser Regional Schools superintendent John Bolton said the board is not allowing its 4,100 students to travel outside Canada on school-sponsored trips because of liability. The southern Alberta school district was told by its insurer that it wouldn’t back such travel.
Bolton said if students were overseas and could not fly back on the planned day, teachers would be responsible for finding and paying for hotels and meals, and would have to phone parents back in Canada to advise them of changes in plan.
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Bolton said there will be disappointed students because the division has typically had several European trips during Easter break.
“Expectations are built up and money is being saved. We wanted to let people know now.”
The superintendent said trips within Canada that have already been planned, such as an exchange with a school in the East and a marine biology field trip to the West Coast, will proceed.
The United States is also on the restricted list because of the perceived risk. But a mid-October trip to play football in the U.S. was allowed because the students would have lost $1,000 each.
During last year’s concern about Europe’s foot-and-mouth livestock epidemic, the Palliser district allowed travel, with some changes suggested by veterinarians.
“Obviously things went well,” said Bolton.
Keith Thomas has been talking to several schools about the travel issue. As risk manager for the Manitoba Association of School Trustees, Thomas is advising some changes.
“Life is not going to come to a complete stop here, but risk avoidance can be done.”
For example, a school band is taking a bus to a competition in Chicago, Ill. Thomas said driving is better than flying because the students would be able to get home easily if something happened. He also suggested the group stay away from the Sears Tower, which, as a tourist highlight, could be a target for terrorists.
“My best advice is ‘maybe you don’t want to go overseas.’ Instead of France, go to Quebec or Saint Pierre and Miquelon.”
Some students may be upset because they have been fundraising for a couple of years for a special trip to Europe. But Thomas said when they graduate and look back they’ll remember “it was the trip itself, not the destination. You spend 10 days with your friends.”
Trips are also being cancelled by Saskatchewan schools. Craig Melvin, executive director of the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, said boards have a few more options.
They can also decide not to officially sponsor a trip, which means the individuals involved bear the liability, or they can run trips under the SSTA insurance for two more months.
That policy runs out the end of January and Melvin expects trip insurance costs to soar then. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia are the only school board groups that run their own insurance plans, he said.
In the other provinces, trustees go to the marketplace to get coverage.
Melvin also expects travel within Canada to increase. He said insurance concerns may raise the idea of whether schools should be in the travel business at all.
He said with band and athletic competitions it is easy to justify travel, but other cultural trips may be questioned.
