CATTARAUGUS — The sixth grade overnight trip to Cleveland could become the victim of efforts to increase participation in the eighth grade trip to Washington, D.C.
Cattaraugus-Little Valley Middle School principal April Preston said a survey of eighth grade students found the expense was a factor in some parents decision not to send their child on a stay in the nation’s capitol. Another reason is that some families have other plans.
Preston said it is a priority to increase participation and make it more affordable. By saving the amount spent by sixth graders on an overnight stay in Cleveland, all students would have an extra $150 when it came time for their parents to make a decision on the Washington trip.
Students participation in class fundraisers help ease the cost.
School officials said only about 30 percent of the eighth grade students have gone on the trip in recent years, and cost has increasingly been blamed on the decline. Preston said the price has been lowered to around $500, a figure he said has been higher than in previous years.
Preston said having even 50 percent of the students per class on the trip would be better than the number who are going now.
“Some of them won’t have another opportunity like this,” she added.
If fundraising for the Washington trip started in fifth grade, it wouldn’t be so much at one time for parents to come up with, Preston said.
The goal, she said, is increased field trip participation by eighth grade students.
“It’s a neat opportunity,” Preston said of the Cleveland trip for sixth graders. “But I’d rather save it for eighth grade.”
The Board of Education took no immediate action on the recommendation.
ON ANOTHER MATTER, District Superintendent Sharon Huff said demolition of the Franklin Street house the district purchased at the high school entrance is expected to happen in February.
Huff also reported that in the 2015-16 school year, 85 percent of the district’s seniors received Regents diplomas and 15 percent received local diplomas.
A Facilities Planning Committee will be scheduled next month. A possible capital project would involve heating and cooling, and elementary building infrastructure, Huff said.
The superintendent issued a timeline for the district’s 2017-18 budget and is already asking principals and other departments for tentative budget recommendations.
