Background
The Board of Trustees of Grasslands School Division will allow staff to advertise and organize educational and cultural trips, beyond Alberta, after receiving permission and only within these specific expectations for approval, communications and operations.
Guidelines
There must be a rationale for any curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular trip presented for consideration.
All trips must adhere to guidelines as set out in AP 845 Planning Safe Student Activities as well as AP 855 Field Trips
Board expectations include the submission coming forward with a detailed plan addressing all required components of Grasslands travel guidelines and approval granted before any trips are advertised, and the balance of the planning requirements addressed before any group travels.
Procedures
The approval application includes:
- Rationale for this specific trip
- Risk assessment, including any travel advisories issued by the Government of Canada (for international trips)
- Site familiarization and/or research regarding the site
- Itinerary details
- Learning outcomes
- Relevant qualifications of supervisors, and related experience where appropriate
- Supervision – student / teacher ratio
- Volunteers and the assignment of responsibilities to them.
- Names of supervisors who are receiving subsidized or without charge travel
All plans will reflect an adherence to school and division expectations for conduct and behaviour.
Staff involvement will be specified in the approval request.
It must be clearly established with any group that any approval may be rescinded, without cost to the Board, at any time.
All travel projects must be able to submit evidence of satisfactory insurance coverage, in the format required, and on the timelines required. The Board may require travel insurance be purchased through the Board's insurance broker with the cost being recovered from trip participants.
These projects are expected to be cost neutral, including the cost of substitute teachers, to the Board.