C500 

CORPORATION-SPONSORED TRIPS 

All Western Wayne Schools (“Corporation”)-sponsored trips for students, including field trips, extracurricular, and athletic trips, must be planned in advance, be under the supervision of a professional staff member, and be part of the Corporation’s educational program. 

The School Board recognizes that field trips, when used for teaching and learning integral to the curriculum, are an educationally sound and important ingredient in the instructional program of the schools. Properly planned and executed field trips should: 

A. supplement and enrich classroom procedures by providing learning experiences in an environment outside the schools; 

B. help students relate school experiences to the reality of the world outside of school; C. bring the resources of the community - natural, artistic, industrial, commercial, governmental, educational - within the student's learning experience; 

D. afford students the opportunity to study things and processes in their actual environment. 

The Board shall approve those field trips and other Corporation-sponsored trips that take students out of State and/or keep students out of the Corporation overnight or longer at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the scheduled trip. 

The Superintendent or his or her designee shall approve all other such trips. 

Students may be charged reasonable fees for field trips, but no student shall be denied participation for financial inability, nor shall nonparticipation be penalized academically. 

Students, employees, and chaperones/volunteers on all Corporation-sponsored trips remain under the supervision of this Board and are subject to the Corporation's policies, administrative guidelines, and student code of conduct. All chaperones/volunteers who are not Corporation employees must pass a background check prior to attending a Corporation-sponsored trip. An expanded criminal history check will be required for any chaperones/volunteers on overnight field trips. 

Privately Sponsored Trips 

The Board does not endorse, support, or assume liability in any way for any staff member, volunteer, or parent of the Corporation who takes students on trips not approved by the Board or Superintendent. No staff member may solicit students of this Corporation for such trips within the facilities or on the school grounds of the Corporation without Board permission. Permission

to solicit neither grants nor implies approval of the trip. Such approval must be obtained in accordance with the Corporation's Administrative Guidelines for Extended Trips. A Corporation employee who promotes, organizes, or provides supervision for an activity involving any Corporation student that is not sponsored, endorsed, or conducted as a Corporation activity, shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the privately sponsored trip or activity does not interfere with Corporation property or the instructional day. A Corporation employee who promotes, organizes, or supervises an activity involving any Corporation student that is not sponsored, endorsed, or conducted as a Corporation activity, shall notify the student and student's parent/guardian in writing at the time that student participation is sought that: 

1. The activity/trip is not Corporation or Corporation sponsored, endorsed, or supervised. 2. The name[s] and address of the sponsors of the activity. 

3. Funds paid are not received or accounted for by the Corporation. 

4. The Corporation can play no role in mediating or resolving disputes concerning funds or activities. 

5. The Corporation is not responsible for any losses or injuries. 

6. Corporation disciplinary rules, policies, codes of conduct, and due process procedures are not applicable at any time during the trip or activity. 

7. Participation will not result in academic credit. 

The Superintendent may prepare administrative guidelines for the operation of Corporation-sponsored trips which shall ensure: 

A. the safety and well-being of students; 

B. parental permission is sought and obtained before any student leaves the Corporation  on a trip; 

C. each trip is properly planned, and if a field trip, is integrated with the curriculum,  evaluated, and followed up by appropriate activities which enhance its usefulness; 

D. the effectiveness of field trip activities is judged in terms of demonstrated learning  outcomes; 

E. each trip is properly monitored; 

F. each trip is properly insured.

A professional staff member shall not change a planned itinerary while the trip is in progress, except where the health, safety, or welfare of the students in his/her charge is imperiled or where changes or substitutions beyond his/her control have frustrated the purpose of the trip. 

In any instance in which the itinerary of a trip is altered, the professional staff member in charge shall notify the administrative superior immediately. 

If the student must leave the trip early for any reason, including but not limited to a violation of Board policy or code of student conduct, the parent or guardian shall be required to assume financial responsibility for any additional costs. 

Pursuant to State law, school busses may be used if the trip originates from a place within the geographical limits of the Corporation and does not involve more than 200 miles out of state. 

I.C. 20-27-9-3 

Western Wayne Schools, Wayne County, Indiana 

Revised: July 13, 2009 

Revised: June 3, 2013 

Revised: [ ] 2019