Friday, November 10, 2006
Nebo rejects a N.Y. trip for Payson drill team
Cost exceeds the district limit of $600 per student
SPANISH FORK — Twenty Payson High School drill team members will be unable to compete in New York City in March after the Nebo School District Board of Education rejected their travel request Wednesday night.
School board members said that the travel request did not follow policy because the cost was $230 more per student than the district's $600 per student limit. The board changed the travel policy in July.
Parents protested the board's decision saying that they would help the girls raise the additional $230, and had already raised $4,500 at a golf tournament in September.
The trip to New York means more than a drill team competition, the parents said. The trip is also about widening the students' experiences beyond what they normally see in Payson.
They would see people from all over the world, interact with professional dancers, and receive some education at the Statue of Liberty and other historic places, parent Charn Burton said.
"It's not just a dance competition," Burton said. "To me, it's an educational experience that they perhaps will never again get to experience."
Prior to the regular meeting, board of education members said that if they made an exception for the Payson drill team, they would have to make other exceptions.
"If it's good for the child to go to New York (parents should) take them, for heaven's sake," board member Bonnie Palmer said. "That would be wonderful."
There's no way parents could take their children to New York City for $600, parent Chris Haskell argued to the board.
The travel policy was changed over the summer. Previously, the limit for travel was $400 per student, but parents and booster clubs frequently raised additional money, board member Debbie Swenson said.
The policy was changed because travel costs have increased. But it's expensive for the district to pay for trips of students who qualify for fee waivers. And out-of-state trips increase the liability for the district.
"Truthfully, as a board we get a lot of complaints by the chamber of commerce that they get hit up a lot" for donations, Swenson said.
Board president Kaye Westwood opposed the majority who voted against the trip. "My feeling is that this (policy) is in the first year and perhaps we did not get the education of this policy and its ramifications down to everyone that was impacted by it," she said.
By Laura Hancock
SPANISH FORK — Twenty Payson High School drill team members will be unable to compete in New York City in March after the Nebo School District Board of Education rejected their travel request Wednesday night.
School board members said that the travel request did not follow policy because the cost was $230 more per student than the district's $600 per student limit. The board changed the travel policy in July.
Parents protested the board's decision saying that they would help the girls raise the additional $230, and had already raised $4,500 at a golf tournament in September.
The trip to New York means more than a drill team competition, the parents said. The trip is also about widening the students' experiences beyond what they normally see in Payson.
They would see people from all over the world, interact with professional dancers, and receive some education at the Statue of Liberty and other historic places, parent Charn Burton said.
"It's not just a dance competition," Burton said. "To me, it's an educational experience that they perhaps will never again get to experience."
Prior to the regular meeting, board of education members said that if they made an exception for the Payson drill team, they would have to make other exceptions.
"If it's good for the child to go to New York (parents should) take them, for heaven's sake," board member Bonnie Palmer said. "That would be wonderful."
There's no way parents could take their children to New York City for $600, parent Chris Haskell argued to the board.
The travel policy was changed over the summer. Previously, the limit for travel was $400 per student, but parents and booster clubs frequently raised additional money, board member Debbie Swenson said.
The policy was changed because travel costs have increased. But it's expensive for the district to pay for trips of students who qualify for fee waivers. And out-of-state trips increase the liability for the district.
"Truthfully, as a board we get a lot of complaints by the chamber of commerce that they get hit up a lot" for donations, Swenson said.
Board president Kaye Westwood opposed the majority who voted against the trip. "My feeling is that this (policy) is in the first year and perhaps we did not get the education of this policy and its ramifications down to everyone that was impacted by it," she said.
By Laura Hancock
# posted by William : 12:23 AM
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