PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Parent Susan Bossi spoke about not letting fear win and be a reason to cancel students’ international trips.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — After hearing from several parents, students, and teachers Thursday night, the School Committee decided to leave the decision of whether or not to cancel three separate international field trips in the hands of individual families.
Amid recent acts of violence, the committee was considering either canceling the trips or looking at options for them to be held at alternative locations.
Students, teachers and parents spoke in opposition at a special meeting held Thursday. The committee voted unanimously to take no action and allow the two trips planned for April and one trip for June as long as the Turkey portion of one of the trips remained off the table.
Students attending the April trip to Italy and Greece were originally supposed to briefly travel to Turkey but the decision was made to remove that portion of the trip prior to the meeting, said Richard Lavoie a history teacher at Saugus High School.
“I’m delighted to hear that Turkey has been taken off the table,” said School Committee member Peter Manoogian. “It’s slightly north of a country known as Syria.”
Lavoie and language teacher Angela Morando are running the April Italy and Greece trip, which is planned to explore both cultural and governmental aspects related to what the students have been learning in class, he said.
“I have been teaching for 40 years and I have taken 15 trips, mostly in Europe,” said Morando. “To see my past students come and support these trips … it was very touching.”
“These trips are one of the good things that we do (in Saugus Public Schools),” Lavoie said to the committee. “I don’t want you to take that away from us. I’m passionate about it.”
During the other international trip planned for April, students will travel to London and the surrounding area, he said. It will be theater-themed and students will visit the sights of London and attend several shows. It will be organized by Theatre teacher Steve Black.
The third trip will be held in July. Students will visit France, England and Spain. Spanish teacher Chelsey Weaver is organizing the trip, Lavoie said.
Parent Susan Bossi said she dropped her children off for their first day of preschool on the same day as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As a teacher, she also said she knew teachers who worked at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“We can’t let fear win,” Bossi said.
She described the experience two of her children had with international field trips to be moving and unlike anything else.
“The four walls of a classroom just can’t contain it,” she said.
“The world is a dangerous place but so is walking down the street,” said Aymen Rajeh, whose daughter Dalia is signed up for one of the April trips. “As a parent, I worry. All parents worry about their kids.
“Them having the opportunity to go on these trips is tremendous,” he said. “It opens their eyes to things we would not see.
“With all due respect, the decision should be ours to make,” Rajeh said.
“If you change (the trip) to Disney (World), who is to say it’s not going to happen in Disney,” said his wife, Reem Rajeh. “We didn’t get to enjoy (traveling) as kids. We want her to get to enjoy it.”
“Last year I went on the trip to London, Paris, and Amsterdam,” said Alexandria Lembo, a junior at Saugus High School. “Three months prior to the trip there was an attack on a Paris newspaper company.
“The EF tour guide knew exactly what he was doing and I felt completely safe,” she said. “We shouldn’t let the nerves of other people get in the way of our education.”
“If not now, when (will they get the opportunity to travel),” said parent Brian Dion. “Statistically they are safer there than they are here right now.”
Others wrote letters to the committee, which Acting Superintendent Matthew Malone read aloud for the group. They contained phrases including “do not let the terrorists win, this is what they want” and “Cancelling these trips tells the kids it’s ok to let terrorists win.”
Representatives from the travel agency through which the trips have been scheduled, EF Tours, also attended the meeting to address concerns.
Diana Ryan and Kerryann Driscoll explained that the insurance many students purchased covers pre-tour issues, medical, property damage, and on-tour emergencies. If the district were to decide to travel and individuals chose to cancel, they could be subject to cancellation fees.
“At this point, we have put in a tremendous amount of work with Saugus Public Schools,” Ryan said.
There is also a Peace of Mind option, which could allow the district to chose a different destination. Peabody chose to enact the option, she said.
In the state of Massachusetts there are a handful of districts that are having discussions with the agency about possibly making changes to their plans, said Driscoll.
Committee member Elizabeth Marchese stressed the importance of making a decision solely based on safety and not based on money that could potentially be lost. Other committee members, parents, and teachers agreed.
Ultimately, the committee decided to take no action. It was also decided that the policy subcommittee will review the policy currently in place for international trips.
“This leads me to the opinion that the School Committee should not be in the business of canceling trips,” said Committee member Arthur Grabowski. “It should be up to the parents. I don’t want to be responsible should something happen. If we disapprove, parents will be upset.”