The Philomath School Board adopted an interim student travel policy Tuesday night that creates a category for trips the district acknowledges but does not sponsor. The board then used that new category to approve a proposed student trip to Costa Rica.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the revised policy, “District Student Travel, Field Trips, and Special Events,” with three amendments made during the meeting. The board then approved the Costa Rica trip 5-0.
The trip has been proposed for March 18-26, 2028, during spring vacation.
Board chair Tom Klipfel said the district’s existing policies did not match how the district has handled student travel or what the board intended. One policy dealt with academic field trips, he said, while the other essentially prohibited all other student travel.
Superintendent Susan Halliday drafted the new policy, which revises a version adopted in 2019 and incorporates another from 2020. It sorts all student travel beyond home-to-school transportation into three categories — district-sponsored, district-acknowledged and non-school-sponsored.
The superintendent or a designee may authorize district-sponsored field trips when they contribute to educational, social or cultural goals. Overnight trips require the superintendent’s approval. Out-of-state travel requires board approval, which depends on an acceptable plan covering travel arrangements, parental involvement, orientation for students and supervisors, and support from the appropriate administrators.
Written parental permission is required before departure, and the district keeps signed forms on file for one year. Conduct rules for district-sponsored trips include zero tolerance for alcohol, tobacco and unlawful drug use.
The new middle category covers trips organized by third parties, parent-teacher organizations or approved student clubs. The district recognizes the educational or enrichment value of these trips but does not take on legal sponsorship, liability, direct management or financial underwriting.
Students and groups on these trips may fundraise on school grounds and use school communication channels, with approval from the principal or site administrator. Fundraising materials must state that the money is for the specific trip, not general district or school operations.
All flyers, permission slips, fundraising requests and trip communications must carry a prominent disclaimer. It must say that the trip is district-acknowledged rather than district-sponsored and that the district assumes no liability or financial responsibility. The superintendent or a designee must approve on-campus fundraising and logistics in advance. The district can revoke its acknowledgment if a trip fails to maintain safety standards or aligns poorly with district values.
For trips run entirely by outside organizations, the district provides no sponsorship, endorsement or money and has no role in selecting the programs. Students may not fundraise for those trips on school grounds or use school supplies or facilities. School names may appear in promotional materials only if the sponsor is clearly identified as an outside entity unaffiliated with the school.
Staff members are prohibited from using their relationships with students to recruit for summer, holiday or private travel that involves their supervision of students. They also may not advise parents on the quality of outside tours. School offices may keep third-party pamphlets available for parents.
Board members made three changes to Halliday’s draft before adopting it:
- Wording: Hering objected to a sentence saying students are encouraged to “profit from” carefully planned learning experiences. “To me, that suggests monetary gain, which is not the subject,” she said. The board replaced the phrase with “benefit from.”
- Sponsor description: The district-acknowledged section required trip materials to identify the organizing sponsor as “an independent or affiliated group.” At Klipfel’s suggestion, the board struck “or affiliated.” “They’re not affiliated with the school district,” Klipfel said. “That’s the whole point.”
- Advertising: Klipfel proposed a new section on advertising and recruitment. It allows organizers to promote trips to students through school newsletters, public address announcements, classroom announcements and flyers. All such communication must clearly state that the trip is not sponsored by the district.
Klipfel said he wants standard liability language, obtained from the district’s lawyers, that trip organizers could insert into their materials. He wants the policy reviewed by PACE, the property and casualty coverage program for Oregon school districts.
Klipfel called the adoption a stopgap. The policy is on the agenda for the board’s Oct. 27 policy committee meeting. It will then come back to the full board.
“I think we’re probably 90% there,” Klipfel said. “This is very much a one-off because we’re overdue to get this approved.”
With the policy in place, Klipfel said the Costa Rica trip “fits very well” as a district-acknowledged trip. He noted that the district has sent students to Germany and the Caribbean in the past. Board members said they believed a group had traveled to Costa Rica years ago.
