We have two bedrooms available for male/female students. Includes bathroom, storage, bed, desk, mirror, lighting and dressers. 3 meals a day but snacks are not part of it. Contact by e-mail at [email removed]
Thank you for your hard work. Were you successful in getting a grant? We have no buses at our school and it is almost impossible to get a field trip for that reason. It would be great to be able to hire buses so that obstacle is taken away.
Mar 09 ...See MoreJosette Bonoafino is a travel specialist who specializes in travel with students; she writes the monthly Global Travel Guru column for the Teachers.Net Gazette.
Jan. 09 Topics: Off to Bavaria & Spain! [link removed])
Feb. 09 Topics: Pre-planning tips; Travel in Iceland - Land of Fire & Ice! [link removed])
Mar 09 Topics: Tips for French Immersion experiences; Arranging for safe home-stays [link removed])
Enjoy travel with students knowing that you're well prepared for safe, educational and enjoyable travel by reading the Global Travel Guru every month - BOOKMARK [link removed]
This month we’re off to France to study French with Josette’s pointers for finding the best language school possible, and to Italy with a group of students during the time of year when they’ll get the most from their experience!
Clicking below will take you directly to this month's article. On that page, click on Archive to access past articles on these topics:
* Tips for French Immersion and Arranging Safe Homestays (Mar. 2009) * Pre-Trip Planning Tips and Traveling to Iceland (Feb. 2009) * Off to Bavaria & Spain! (Jan. 2009)
Tips for Travel to France or Italy with Students, the April column: [link removed]
I was under the impression that these incentives are patently illegal and negate fiduciary trust, especially if one is a public school teacher. Additionally, I've recently been told by a friend, who teaches at a prestigious private school, that the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) has also come out against these practices.
Where do you all think these companies get the money to pay you and give you weekends and gifts? Their own packets of a 'fund'? No! They come directly from your students and their families!
in fact, these bribes (yes! bribes) directly cut down on the overall quality of the trip for your students. The first thing to go is educational content, professional educational tour guides, better class of hotel, nutritious food, and safety.
Whom do you serve? What do you stand for? If you don't think that you get paid well enough as a teacher that you have to resort to this type of larceny, then quit. Get out! Find another profession. Become a bona fide salesperson for the tour company, rather than someone who is fronting as a teacher to represent a tour operator.
And by the way, it is just as shameful to take these payoffs as to offer them.
I've become so furious that I refuse to be associated with any of these companies.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating keeping the funds. But no teacher I've ever met is truly making money off of this. The groups would have to be so large and the number of chaperones so few that they trips themselves wouldn't be approved.
As to parents who are foolish enough to borrow money to send their students on tour, well, I'll let the stupidity of that sort of move stand on its on face.
As to other professionals, as I cited, it is most certainly not illegal or unethical for them to accept travel or reasonable gifts from companies. Why is it that so many people have this idea that it is somehow illegal or unethical to accept offers that are standard operating procedure in certain lines of work?
I agree about things being above board and the necessity for that. Any parent who asks about it, I'll be glad to disclose . . . . and send them an additional bill for the portion of the tips and incidentals the stipend DIDN'T cover that I PAID so that their child could have a nice experience.
On 4/21/09, A.M. Davis wrote: > On 4/18/09, Alfred wrote: >> >>> >>> I was under the impression that these incentives are >>> patently illegal and negate fiduciary trust, especially if >>> one is a public school teacher. Additionally, I've >>> recently been told by a friend, who teaches at a >>> prestigious private school, that the NAIS (National >>> Association of Independent Schools) has also come out >>> against these practices. >>> >>> Where do you all think these companies get the money to >>> pay you and give you weekends and gifts? Their own packets >>> of a 'fund'? No! They come directly from your students >>> and their families! >>> >>> in fact, these bribes (yes! bribes) directly cut down on >>> the overall quality of the trip for your students. The >>> first thing to go is educational content, professional >>> educational tour guides, better class of hotel, nutritious >>> food, and safety. >>> >>> Whom do you serve? What do you stand for? If you don't >>> think that you get paid well enough as a teacher that you >>> have to resort to this type of larceny, then quit. Get >>> out! Find another profession. Become a bona fide >>> salesperson for the tour company, rather than someone who >>> is fronting as a teacher to represent a tour operator. >> >> First, let me say that conflict of interest is always a >> slippery thing in every profession. If one's primary >> motivation is a set of "perks," then I think there IS >> something wrong with accepting all of this largesse. >> >> But before you paint every situation with a broad brush, >> consider this. I routinely receive large stipends which I >> promptly turn around and use (and THEN some out of my own >> pocket) to cover tour director, guide, and driver tips. I've >> been doing this for over ten years, and I know literally >> dozens of other teachers who use the money the same way. >> It's a fairly common thing for the money to be "recycled" >> this way or also to be used to pay for special events while >> on tour. >> >> Secondly, why should our profession be any different from >> others? We're not Franciscans, for God's sake! We didn't >> take a vow of poverty. Physicians routinely accept golfing >> trips, gifts, financial incentives, etc. from pharmaceutical >> companies, medical device manufacturers, and so on. We're >> not volunteers or humanitarian relief workers for crying out >> loud. I've had people say to me that it's unethical for me >> even to have my way paid when I chaparone students on tour! >> How the bloody hell do you expect me to go, then, on a >> teacher's salary??? >> >> Mull this one over: One reason teachers have such low pay is >> because we all have bought in to this notion that we OUGHT to >> be doing all this for free! We constantly subsidize our >> schools and districts by buying supplies for our students and >> classrooms, taking personal time and resources away from our >> own families, and so on. The amounts we're talking about are >> paultry in the grand scheme of things. Lighten up a bit! > > Go to Previous message | Go to Next message | Back to > MessagesMark as Unread | Print > ReplyReply All Move...Inbox > Flag this messageRe: Teacher stipend and bonuses for student > tripsTuesday, April 21, 2009 3:22 PM > From: "A.M. Davis" Add sender to > ContactsTo: "Alfred" I agree > that teachers are not being compensated properly for all the > time and effort they are putting into their students. > > And I have known a few teachers that recycle the stipends into > scholarships and other things during the course of the trip. The > teachers that I work with won't even accept a dinner invitation > from me or the tour operator unless they pay for their own meal. > Unfortunately, most teachers I have contacted in the past few > years are viewing student travel as a second income or business > and as a result, there has been a great deal of abuse. > > Can you justify a teacher getting as much as $375 per student > and other personal travel benefits (unrelated to the student > tour) on top of the free trip? Don't you find that greedy? > Consider this: Some parents take out a personal loan or a second > job so their son or daughter can travel. I am sure they would be > appalled to find out that a chunk of their money goes into the > teacher's pocket. > > Please read what the Ohio Ethics Commission (2000-4) has to say > about receiving stipdends. > [link removed].
A year later, we spent not much more to take the entire family o...See Moreerhaps Alfred you should move here. I'm dealing with this as a parent for the second time. Three years ago with my daughter we had to turn her down and she was devastated as her friends who's parents had the means spent more than $1400 to send their children to Philadelphia.
A year later, we spent not much more to take the entire family on a vacation to the same part of the country and see many of the same sites.
Now it's her brother's turn. This time the trip is to New York and the price tag is nearly $1600. Like the last time I was confused by the fact that this wasn't something the children had earned; not a competition that they had to be in New York for or something to that effect. I was also upset again by the fact that it was not "school sanctioned" and because of that there would be no fund raisers to help the kids earn the money to go. If you can afford to write the check, your kid gets on the bus. If you can't, too bad. Elitism. Which is pretty much what this school is about so not surprising, just upsetting. This time around we're in a better place so we can afford it, but I disagree with it in principle so I'm not letting him go. I also heard from a friend who used to work in the same district and has friends at our school that YES, Alfred a $375 per child stipend is not unheard of. And for my son's class trip they're expecting 40-55 children. You do the math. Someone could absolutely make a second job out of this. Or would you need that much extra cash to cover tips for a week? I've never been to Manhattan
I am not a teacher. I am a parent that recently attended an Explorica tour with 3 Spanish language middle school teachers, my daughter and 13 school mates. The trip was 1 week: Madrid, Mallorca and Barcelona. (I have traveled to Barcelona twice in recent years and to Madrid many years ago.) This was my first "tour" experience so I did not have much...See MoreI am not a teacher. I am a parent that recently attended an Explorica tour with 3 Spanish language middle school teachers, my daughter and 13 school mates. The trip was 1 week: Madrid, Mallorca and Barcelona. (I have traveled to Barcelona twice in recent years and to Madrid many years ago.) This was my first "tour" experience so I did not have much in the way of preconceptions. Flights to Madrid via Paris and back to Philly we fine. Madrid hotel was a Holiday Inn Express that, while clean and perfectly acceptable, was located in a miserable area off the expressway on the outskirts of Madrid. 1 very treacherous(pedestrian) mile to the subway and 3 trains into the city center. There were no shops or markets near the hotel. We were surrounded by car dealerships and acres and acres of macadam. Hotel in Mallorca was a resort and a short bus ride from the main town of Palma. Even though it was off season, this was our nicest accommodation and by far the best tour food. Barcelona hotel was a Travelodge and located in a desolate warehouse and convention center area. I did not see one pedestrian there - very apocalyptic! At both the Madrid hotel and the one in Barcelona we were isolated and had to rely on the Explorica provided bus or the metro. And we found out that you cannot count on getting bus transportation from Explorica. Our first day in Madrid, the bus picked us up at the airport transported us to our hotel and then that was it! We hoofed it all day to/ from the city center via metro and you can imagine what it looked like as all 18 of us were walking back to the hotel from the metro station at 10PM after being up 36 hours straight. It would have been very nice to have had a bus ride then! I think Explorica gives you a bus when you have baggage and when they are giving you a "city tour". My daughter and I were able to avoid the worst of Explorica's planning. The day before departure, our teachers were notified of an important detail, one that they had been trying to clear up for weeks - the ferry ride from Mallorca to Barcelona. Sounds lovely right? Not when it is an 8 HOUR FERRY RIDE! There is a 4 hour, high speed ferry but that was more expensive. So Explorica put our group on the slow boat with all the long-haul tractor trailers and trucks. Because I get dramatically seasick my husband bought my daughter and I plane tickets ($150/ea at the last minute). Our flight lasted 30 minutes! We actually had the Barcelona "free time" mentioned in our itinerary while our travel companions didn't arrive in port until about 8:30PM - no Barcelona free time for them and all were seasick, some drastically, due to a hail storm at sea with high winds and terrible waves. This tour was poorly organized. We often did not know from one day to the next what was happening due to "last minute" changes. There is more but basically the message is: FIND ANOTHER TOUR COMPANY.
Word to the wise. Explorica employees routinely troll through this board and even post phoney posts here. I know this because I got a call from one based on one of my posts!!!
For all I know, other companies also either attack one another or praise themselves all the time here. Caveat emptor!!!
They arranged classes, found excellent tour guides, pr...See MoreI wanted to put in a great recommendation for the Class Act Tour company. They recently took our school group on a 5 day trip to tour the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan peninsula. Everyone in the group was extremely satisfied, and I was happy to not have to do any of the planning myself!!!
They arranged classes, found excellent tour guides, prepared an educational booklet, travelled with us, and basically held our hands the entire time. There is no way we could have done anythign remotely like that trip without them. In fact, I'm about to contact them to start planning next year's history field trip!
The Wake County Wildlife Club and its wildlife conservation partners will offer an opportunity for youth to rediscover the outdoors at a half-day workshop on Friday, March 5th, 2010 following Standard Course of Study. "Project Graduation" opportunities are also being developed by mentors able to support students with wildlife stewardship, habitat and conservation topics.
Studies confirm that students lack environmental education programs that blend science with civics while meeting national education standards. "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" is designed to bridge this educational gap.
For more information and to confirm your interest:
Please reply by e-mail to: [email removed]:
* Your name and daytime contact information * Name of your school/organization/homeschool group * The age range of your students * An approximate count of students that you expect may attend * Any suggestions that you have related to topics of interest.
TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE! 30th Annual Dixie Deer Classic North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh Friday, March 5th, 2010
Students will participate in a variety of age-appropriate activities that will spark their interest in North Carolina's precious wildlife resources. All classes will be interactive.
* A Hands-on Soil Lab Students will be encouraged to form their own hypotheses regarding a variety of soil topics such as soil texture, soil permeability, soil pH, and soil nutrients. * Habitat - North Carolina's wetlands are home to many native and transient species, providing a highway for wildlife. Learn more about this fragile environment, and what you can do to protect it! * Snakes play an important role in maintaining a healthy environment. Learn more about the snakes you'll find in North Carolina and how to treat each with the respect they deserve. * What's in Your Backyard? Get to know more know the wildlife that lives in your neighborhood - birds, bats, owls, and flying squirrels to name a few - and what you can do to support them as a responsible wildlife steward. * Managing wildlife in urban settings Students will learn to appreciate the delicate balance that wildlife managers must weigh when developing plans for a sustainable fture for all wildlife. * Animal sign - Participate in a "wildlife practical" that will test your skills and teach some fundamental wildlife management principles that are key to conserving our wild friends. * Make a turkey call, then try it out! Reintroduction of this native bird is one of the best wildlife conservation success stories ever told. Get to know more about this amazing animal, then take this call home and try to talk turkey! * Endangered means there is still time. Do you know the #1 reason why most species become endangered in teh first place? Learn more about the threats to wildlife species in North Carolina today, and what you can do today to protect these species. * Wildlife Careers - Researchers, educators, foresters, park managers, and law enforcement professionals will be on hand to introduce students to these exciting wildlife careers. * Outdoor skills workshops are being considered * Up to 12 stations are planned in all. We invite your suggestion on additional topics that would be of interest to your students.
WHY IS THIS WORKSHOP IMPORTANT TO ATTEND?
Time spent outdoors offers:
* A chance to unwind, time to think, and time to reconnect with friends and family * Memories that are cherished for a lifetime * Physical exercise - a reason to stay in great shape * An opportunity to reconnect with nature, promoting conservation of North Carolina's wildlife and their habitats for all to observe and enjoy.
These are all values worth promoting. Yet studies confirm that students lack environmental education programs that blend science with civics while meeting national education standards. "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" is designed to bridge this educational gap.
Please also remember that "Target" stores and others offer educational grants for field trips! Applications are due no later than October of each year.
On behalf of the Wake County Wildlife Club Youth Day Organizing Committee, thank you for your support! We look forward to hearing from you.
Judy Gardner President, North Carolina State Chapter QDMA (919) 552-9449 (eve) (919) 998-7244 (day) [email removed])