As a rule the Bluewater District School Board trustees whip through the requests by various schools to take their students on field trips to different parts of the world.
The same held true at a recent meeting of the board until the last one came up for discussion.
Ecole Hanover Heights Community School was requesting a trip for a combined Grade 7 and 8 students group that would travel to Quebec City, January 25th to February 1st next year.
The trip would be part of an exchange with a school near Quebec City.
This time though, couple of trustees challenged what they saw as a lack of a safety management program for the students.
The challenge riled Vice Chair John Chapman who felt that responsible people brought the trip to the board and would only do so if they had the bases covered.
Chapman questioned the motives of those challenging.
He went so far as to say the conversation on the matter has taken the board to a new low.
One of the challengers was Saugeen Shores/Arran Elderslie trustee Kevin Larson who felt the board was put in an awkward spot with the tight time-line the group was proposing without what Larson felt was a safety management program for the kids.
In the end, the trip was given approval, after close to a half-hour of discussion–more time than it took to approve five earlier trip requests on the same agenda.
