The Burnaby school district has rethought field trips to the United States over concerns about travel bans proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We're not outright, policy-wide banning all trips,” assistant-superintendent Roberto Bombelli told the NOW, “but if there is a trip being planned to the U.S., the question we're asking is, why we would go into the U.S. where you may be automatically excluding some students from being able to participate? And we're asking teachers to plan to reroute those for a similar experience not in the U.S."
Already a Burnaby South band trip planned for Seattle in May has been rerouted to Nanaimo and Victoria, according to Bombelli.
"A couple of our schools looked at their trips and were able to reroute for the same kind of experience,” he said.
The Toronto school board decided last week not to approve future trips to the U.S. despite the fact Trump’s most recent executive order banning foreign nationals from six majority Muslim countries has been suspended pending the outcome of court challenges.
Trips that had already been planned will go ahead, but if any student or staff member with proper documentation is denied entry to the U.S., everyone on the trip will return home.
That won’t be the case for Burnaby trips, according to Bombelli.
For the few remaining U.S. trips that have already gotten final approval for this year, he said organizers have been directed to have a contingency plan in place if a student should be turned away at the border.
In each case, the plan involves an adult being on hand to stay with the student until their parents can get them, according to Bombelli.
"They've, of course, met with parents for all of these trips, have discussed all of these issues,” he said. “The feeling from parents is to continue to go."
As for future trips, they’ll be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on whether the experience gained from trip could be gotten elsewhere.
A B.C. Provincial School for the Deaf trip to Vancouver, Wash. earlier this month for an American Sign Language competition, for example, would have been considered, he said.
"If that came today, we would look at that,” he said. “The only place they could get that experience is there."
Bombelli said the district has tried to strike a balance in its approach.
"All of our trips should be available for all of our kids to enjoy. Having said that, a straight-out ban might actually hinder some opportunities for kids, so we want to be able to look at each one and be flexible on when can it work, when should it work."
