In years past the agenda would announce the trip and make note of the transportation cost. This year, for whatever reason, the trip was announced with a price tag of $60,000.00 plus transportation. This is what the agenda says:
RESOLVED, that the Plainfield Board of Education approve for eighty (80) seniors and six (6) chaperones to attend the 2012 Disney World Educational Activities from Friday, May 18, 2012 to Wednesday, May 23, 2012, not to exceed $60,000.00. Transportation to Philadelphia Airport will be provided by Queen City Bus Tours, at a rate not to exceed $3,200.00 and charged to account 15-190100018-500A-25-0000Nowhere is there a notation that the funds have been raised by parents and students, which is what I have been told happens every year.
(PHS Principal Field Trip). The cost of transportation (airfare) and lodging will be charged to Plainfield High School General Fund. The availability of funds for this item have been verified.
So, to end the speculation I sent a simple question to Plainfield school district's Business Administrator:
--Is the PHS senior trip to Disney Word financed by parents and students this year or is it being paid by the school board with taxpayers' funds?
To which he responded (big letters are mine, and no, I am not screaming, I just wanted to make sure the answer was not lost due to the small font I normally use):
The Disney trip is being paid for by parents and students.
I hope this solves the concerns on who is paying for this trip. At the next post I will write about some of the challenges parents and students have when fundraising at our Plainfield public schools.
10 comments:
Ut oh you ruined it for them with the truth.
3:22,
I didn't ruin anything, I just went ahead and sought the information that was missing by asking an official source. Why the agenda was not clear is still a mystery. Thanks.
I know I was in high school too many years ago, but we had to raise the money for our trip and the parents also had to pay. The school didn't pay anything for the trip. I hope that is the case here. I don't want my taxes paying for this when many students don't even have text books. Thanks, Maria, let's get the straight, tradition be damned.
The is the standard language that has always been used. Lord knows you have enough copies to verify that. One should ask for clarity next time and stop the accusations. It makes for a much more mature conversation.
Bob,
The trip, according to the district's Business Administrator, is being paid by students and parents with monies raised several ways. I am requesting that the language gets clarified at the next agenda, let's see what happens. Thanks.
10:48,
My response to you is at the next post. Thanks.
My very own post. Thanks, but you assumed I was talking about you when it fact it was about the person who provided a copy of the resolution in the 1st place. Unless you are one in the same.
1:42,
Ah! You didn't clarify. Anyway. Let's be "mature" and close the argument in good terms. Thanks.
If it says out of "General Funds" that would suggest that the system is underwriting the trip. The spoken word may not be factual.
"on" good terms.
Is the BOE going to provide a detailed accounting of the amount of money raised so far for this trip so far broken down by finding activity source? If they have not raised all of the funds yet, what do they plan on doing. If they pass the resolution as written, they could technically provide the difference (whether it is $1,000 or $59,000) from the general fund instead of by money raised by parents and students. Given that this BOE already departed from past practice of spelling out that only funds used from fundraising will be used calls into question what they are trying to do here. In order to clear the air here, the BOE should inform the community about the details of this trip and the status of the fundraising so far at the next BOE business meeting. This presentation needs to detail what fundraising activities have taken place so far, how much was raised by each activity, how much is left to raise, what activities are planned to raise those funds and last, but not least, what will happen if the goal is not met? Is the school district going to be on the hook for providing whatever money is not raised by others? We need to know because we are constantly being told that there is not enough money available to educate our children. If some of the money is going to be diverted by this BOE to pay for a trip to Disney, then we deserve to know about that.
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