What should the role of chaperones be on trips?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Experience taught the administration at my kids’ school that the kids actually behaved better, and there were fewer problems without the parents. This is mostly on the entire grade trips.</p>

<p>Talking about CTY, I remember my kid coming home from a summer program between jr and sr year, she was one of the older kids at the program. There was a lot of counselors rousting couples out of the shrubbery. Her favorite classmate was a 14 year old French boy who, on the first day class when asked to tell about yourself and why you were attending, answered “I am here to have zee sex with the zee Americaine femmes”. Not sure why he was her favorite…</p>

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<p>Right Cangel :rolleyes: stop looking at the boots</p>

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<p>I’m surprised that so many have never heard of him. </p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Cowboy[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Cowboy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>He’s been a Times Square regular for many years. If getting a picture taken with him is the worst your kid does in New York, consider yourself lucky. :)</p>

<p>The schools my kids have attended do several regular big trips every year with various and assorted groups of kids. There is always a contract to be signed prior to the trip, by both student and parents, outlining the rules of expected behavior and the consequences if those rules are broken. There’s never been any major problem, and no parent has been called and told that their kid is being sent home (at their expense!) for an infraction. No searching of bags and no taping doors.</p>

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<p>I’m a high school teacher who chaperones one to two trips per year. Never a problem on any trip I’ve chapped. (I’ve heard some stories from about 15 years ago, though, and a trip I didn’t chap ended up having an alcohol incident this year–but it was quickly taken care of by the chaperones on duty and punishments (including suspension from school) were delivered.) Yes, we have a behavior contract that puts the burden on the parent to pick the child up if we have a problem. Only on the out-of-state or over-seas trips is there a security guard in the hallways, and on the grade-level trips we have no parents. Actually, we have had more discipline problems with the parents not following the behavior contract then we have had with the kids.</p>

<p>Do I ever stay up all night? Absolutely not. I have to chaperone these kids when they’re awake, too. And I cannot do it if I’m exhausted.</p>