Parents who paid for trips are angry.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003 • By AMY UNGER • The Express-Times

The war with Iraq and subsequent heightened terror alerts have officials across the region rethinking their policies, disappointing students and angering parents who shelled out big bucks for school trips.

At Delaware Valley Regional High School in Hunterdon County, officials canceled an overnight trip to New York City set for last month and a separate trip to the Barnes Foundation in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion.

In both cases, the trips probably would have gone on were it not for the war in Iraq, said Principal Brian Fogelson.

"We're now looking at field trips on a case-by-case basis," he said. "We try to evaluate it on where they're going, when they are going. Our kids' safety is our absolute first concern. We're trying to look after their well-being and be as reasonable as we can in the process."

Fogelson said about 20 students from the gifted program had planned to spend two nights in New York and see a couple of Broadway shows.

"Our kids had all paid for the trip to New York," Fogelson said. "Our school board was kind enough to find a way to reimburse them for the show tickets. And they were able to get out of the hotel with no costs."

The threat of terrorism -- and striking a balance between student safety and school district responsibility -- has placed school officials in an uncomfortable position, said David Steffan, principal of Voorhees High School in the North Hunterdon/Voorhees Regional school district.

"If there's an imminent threat we're not going to throw our kids into the face of danger," Steffan said. "And we have to have the latitude to make that decision."

Steffan said he pulled the plug on two student trips to New York -- one to Hayden Planetarium set for last week and an upcoming trip to the Bronx Zoo.

"It was so close to the beginning of the war, I was concerned about the security of tunnels and bridges," Steffan said.

But members of the high school band left Saturday for Orlando, Fla., and were due to return Tuesday.And, for now, about 200 students are signed up for a senior class trip to Williamsburg, Va., that is still set for June.

In both cases, significant deposits were placed -- and those going stood to lose the money, Steffan said.

"That (Orlando) trip was a result of over a year of fund raising, a lot of hard work and competition," the principal said. "I polled the parents the weekend before and sent a letter to each. Virtually everyone responded they wanted to go. I thought the parents should have had some input."

Steffan said as of this year, parents are required to sign a waiver warning that the district reserves the right to cancel a field trip regardless of the amount invested in it.

"I think districts have a terrible responsibility," he said. "I certainly would rather make a decision not to go on a trip and have nothing happen than to go on a trip and have something happen."

War protests in New York compelled officials at the Brass Castle Elementary School in Washington Township to reschedule a class trip to see "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway, a school official said.

Originally scheduled for early April, the theater permitted the school to reschedule and attend the musical in June.

Officials in the Oxford Township school district canceled a March 28 class trip to New York because of the war.

The district also canceled a May class trip to Washington, D.C. Another class trip will take place in May, a school official said, but a destination has not yet been selected.