PJ19 Field Trips

General Provisions

The superintendent or designee may approve field or activity trips that are strongly connected to the district's curriculum and instructional goals. The Superintendent or designee may also approve trips that are non-educational in nature, provided that they have been defined and structured as part of the educational environment and meet requirements outlined in administrative procedures.

Definitions

For the purposes of this administrative procedure:

"Student Activity " means extracurricular and co-curricular trips sponsored by school activity clubs, co-curricular programs, sports teams, or trips that are non-educational in nature and are used to reward academic, athletic, or behavioral accomplishments.

“Field trip” means a school-sponsored trip for students, which is a first-hand educational experience that supplements the curriculum and instructional goals away from the campus.

“A day trip” means a one-day trip that requires no overnight stay and from which students return to campus immediately following the event.

A“ long student trip” means a trip outside the city limits of Albuquerque that lasts more than two days and requires at least two nights' stay in a hotel or alternative housing.

A“short student trip” means a trip outside the city limits of Albuquerque that lasts one to two days and requires at least one night's stay in a hotel or alternative housing.

A “trip sponsor” is any certified teacher, certified instructor, or licensed coach who organizes and executes a field or activity trip.

A “chaperone” is an APS-sanctioned volunteer or staff member (with an appropriate background clearance) who is attending a field or activity trip to support the supervision and learning (if applicable) of the students.

“Pre-approved destinations” means any travel destination that the superintendent has determined to be in alignment with the instructional goals of the district.

Trip Sponsor Responsibilities

Trip sponsors are required to be certified teachers, certified instructors, or licensed coaches currently employed by the Albuquerque Public Schools. No other individuals are authorized to be a trip sponsor for an APS field or activity trip. Trip sponsors are responsible for providing supervision of students and oversight of chaperones throughout the trip. They are required to attend the trip in its entirety and must remain with the students at all times, including during transportation to and from the trip.

Trip sponsors are responsible for the overall planning, oversight, and coordination of the trip, including:

Identifying the number of chaperones needed as the types of clearance(s) needed
Recruiting chaperones and ensuring they have the appropriate clearance

Short trips may utilize chaperones with either an unsupervised or supervised background clearance. Any chaperones with a supervised background clearance must have non-stop, line-of-sight supervision from an APS staff member.
Long trips can only utilize chaperones with an unsupervised background clearance.

Gathering parent/guardian permission via a completed field trip permission form, including any health or medical information that will need management during the trip.
Coordinating any health or medical management needed through the school nurse, including obtaining needed delegation training. Students with health needs or disabilities may not be excluded from field trips; the field trip must be canceled if the student cannot be supported during the field trip.
Managing the logistics of the trip
Providing supervision of students
Coordinating and ensuring and/or providing oversight and supervision of chaperones

Special attention must be paid to chaperone clearances. If a field trip or student activity includes ANY chaperones with only a supervised clearance, the name(s) of the APS staff (who are not Food & Nutrition staff) responsible for constant line of sight supervision of the supervised volunteer must be identified on the Field or Activity Trip google form.*

Adult to Student Ratios

In order to ensure sufficient supervision and reduce the risk of student injury, accident, or other incidents of/with students during trips, Principals and Trip Sponsors should proactively identify the number of adults needed to provide sufficient supervision of the students. In planning, staff should consider factors such as the ages of the students; length of the trip; the number of transitions within and between locations; other the number of community members who may be at the location(s), implementation of learning activities (for field trips); the number of and needs of special needs students (including those with reduced mobility, mental capacity, have medical needs and/or medication administration during the trip, or have behavioral issues or requirements), etc.

The following are the minimum adult (staff and chaperone) to student ratios for general education students:

Elementary School - 1 adult for every seven (7) students
Middle School - 1 adult for every ten ( 10_ students
High School - 1 adult for every fifteen (15) students

Trips that include students with disabilities and other factors that increase safety risks to students require a higher adult-to-student ratio. Some students may need 1 to 1 supervision or a nurse or other staff person trained to administer medication to be present.

Chaperones and Chaperone Management

All chaperones attending a trip shall be at least twenty-one (21) years of age. Any non-APS staff (e.g.parents/ legal guardians, community members) who chaperone a field trip or student activity must be approved APS volunteers with a current and appropriate type of clearance (supervised or unsupervised) for the trip.

It is the trip sponsor’s responsibility to inform chaperones that non-school-aged children will not be allowed to attend the trip

since chaperones will need to provide full attention to the students who are participating in the trip..School principals, volunteer coordinators, and trip sponsors should recruit chaperones in advance of each trip or activity, gather information about current chaperone clearance expiration dates, and coordinate with the school site volunteer coordinator to ensure that chaperone clearances are current prior to each trip.

All non-APS staff chaperones shall be responsible for understanding the provisions of the administrative procedure for Volunteer Programs and must:

Have a current background clearance and be an approved APS volunteer
Serve as a chaperone under the direction of assigned teacher, coordinator, and/or school administrator
Complete a required district volunteer training program and a school site orientation prior to serving as a chaperone.

Chaperones for Overnight Trips

If a trip requires an overnight stay, there must be a minimum of one male and one female chaperone on the trip to ensure the needs of all students on the trip are met. All chaperones for overnight trips must have a current unsupervised background clearance.

Trip Approval and Deadlines

Principals shall review and approve the list of chaperones, ensure they have a current background clearance, and approve the staff member(s) responsible for supervising any chaperones with a supervised background clearance prior to each trip.

Trip Sponsors will submit a Request for Field Trip form and all related trip documents (e.g. list of Chaperones, confirmation of current clearance {by type}, list of staff who will provide non-stop line of sight supervision of Chaperones with a supervised clearance,, etc.) to the Principal, Activity Manager, and Risk Management, based on the following timelines:

Trips Within APS District Boundaries:

At least five (5) business days prior to the date of the trip.

In-State (But Outside of District Boundaries):

At least ten(10) business days prior to the date of the trip.

Out-of-State:

At least fifteen (15) business days prior to the date of the trip.

Out-of-Country:

At least twenty (20) business days prior to the date of the trip.

Justification and Approval of Travel

To receive approval for a field trip, the sponsor must ensure that it complements the classroom curriculum and/or the district's instructional goals.

Field Trip Request Forms and related documents must be submitted to the district within the time frames stated in this procedure. Upon approval from the district Activities Manager, it is the responsibility of the Trip Sponsor to do the following:

Distribute parent permission forms and all related trip documents to the participating students
Collect parent permission forms and related documents from all participating students prior to the trip
Arrange approved transportation
Coordinate the required documents related to the use of personal vehicles and Parent/Guardian transportation
Notify the school nurse of the trip and, provide a list of participating students, obtain needed delegation training for any needed support of student health conditions.
Notify the Cafeteria Manager of the trip and request box lunches for participants, if needed.

Parent/Guardian Permission to Attend Trips

Students who do not have written permission to attend a field trip or student activity are not permitted to attend the trip and will be provided with alternate assignments and supervision. It is the trip sponsor’s responsibility to arrange for supervision and alternate assignments for students who did not provide signed permission forms.

Attendance

Students who attend a district-approved field trip or student activity will be counted as “present” by the school site administrator in the student information system, provided that they are participating in activities connected to the curriculum and district's overall instructional goals.

Students can only have a maximum of ten (10) absences per year for student activities that are social, cultural, athletic, or music-related. Instructional field trips are excluded from this limit.

It is the trip sponsor’s responsibility to ensure that all teachers participating record student attendance on the day of the trip. A list of participating students, as well as students who did not provide a permission slip, will be provided to the front office and any other staff member who will support the teaching and supervision of students remaining at the school.

Transporting Students

All Trip Sponsors shall document the mode(s) of transportation for students during the approval process. If the trip is approved, the mode(s) of transportation must be adhered to. If the approved mode(s) of transportation and associated requirements cannot be met during the trip for whatever reason, the trip sponsor must contact the Principal immediately.

For trips within APS District boundaries: The preferred mode of transportation is a contracted bus.
For in-state (outside of APS district boundaries): The preferred mode of transportation is a contracted bus.
For out-of-state and out-of-country travel: The required mode of transportation shall be a commercial carrier. Upon reaching their destination, commercial carriers shall continue to be the preferred mode of transportation. Airport/hotel shuttles may be utilized for transportation to and from the airport. Rental cars may be allowed, provided optional liability and loss/damage insurance is purchased for each vehicle; each vehicle is driven by an approved chaperone, and the vehicle has a sufficient number of seat belts for all passengers. Each staff member/Chaperone who will be driving a rented vehicle will obey all local traffic laws and have a valid driver’s license. Vans that seat more than nine passengers are not allowed. A signed release from each parent/guardian authorizing their student to ride in a rented vehicle driven by a licensed staff member/chaperone is required. All of these requirements will be verified by the principal and trip sponsor prior to departure of the out-of-state or out-of-country field trip.

In the event that a contracted bus is not available or a viable option for travel within district boundaries or in-state, the use of private vehicles is permitted by staff and chaperones under the following circumstances:

The adult(s) driver(s) has a valid driver's license and current vehicle registration;
The vehicle is insured and in safe operating condition;
The vehicle carries, at minimum, liability insurance for bodily injury and property damage (as required by state law)
The adult(s) obeys all traffic laws
The vehicle has available seat belts or child restraint devices, and they are used for all students transported during the trip(as required by state law)
The adult(s) signs a certification of compliance with the above requirements be kept on file by the principal or other administrator in charge of the activity. APS Form INS for 72E should be used for this purpose.

When transporting small groups of students in-state but out of district boundaries, small groups limited to twenty (20) persons, including students and chaperones, are allowed to take up to (4) four private vehicles.

The use of passenger vans (9 passengers or greater), Uber, Lyft, or other ride-sharing platforms to transport students is prohibited.

Parents/Guardians may transport their own student to and from pre-approved trips within an 800-mile radius as long as they have completed the APS liability release form for each trip.

Travel Pertaining to Athletics and Activities

In-Season Athletics & Activities occurring during the school year:

In-District Travel: The preferred mode of transportation is a contracted bus
Out-of-District/Out-of-State Travel: The mandatory mode of transportation is a contracted bus or commercial carrier.

Out of Season Athletics and Activities outside of the school year

In-District Travel: The preferred mode of transportation is a contracted bus
Out-of-District/Out-of-State Travel: Parents/guardians may transport their own child to and from a field or activity trip within an 800-mile radius (including out-of-state) once they have completed a form releasing APS from liability. Parents/guardians may not transport students other than their own child.

In the event that an athletic team or activity group becomes stranded during their trip, they should immediately notify the school principal and the APS Activity Manager for assistance.

Field Trip and Student Activity Expenses

In the event that participation in a field trip or student activity is mandatory for a class requirement and a student may be excluded from participating due to lack of sufficient funds, the trip sponsor shall utilize fundraising sources and/or assign that student with an alternative assignment that will take the place of the field trip or student activity. Alternative assignments shall consist of useful work related to valid instructional goals; they shall not be punitive or burdensome in length of time or type of work required.

Expenses for student participation in a field trip or student activity to any state, District of Columbia, or a foreign country authorized by the district cannot paid with school district funds.

Expenses (including incidental expenses for school district transportation.)for APS staff and chaperones supervising students during a field trip or student activity may be paid from school district funds with appropriate approval.

The district is not liable for field trips or student activity expenses that do not have prior authorization as part of the trip approval/authorization process.

International Travel

The purpose of out-of-country field trips must be to familiarize students with the language, history, geography, natural sciences, and other studies relative to the district's course of study for such students. If student field trips involve awarding of credit, follow the administrative Procedural Directive regarding Alternative Methods of Earning Credits.

International travel approval is subject to United States Department of State travel advisories and warnings. Travel warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. No district-sponsored international travel will be approved if warnings have been issued for the specific country or countries of travel or if a worldwide caution has been issued at the time of the request l. The trip will be canceled if warnings or cautions to specific areas are issued between the approval date and the trip's departure.

Unauthorized Travel: Commercial Trips

The school district shall not sponsor commercially promoted and/or managed student trips. Commercially promoted and/or managed student trips are defined as those sponsored by commercial travel firms for profit. Such trips fail to meet the criteria for field or activity trips and, therefore, shall neither be supported nor sponsored by the Albuquerque Public Schools.

District employees or students who choose to represent companies promoting student trips through a commercial travel firm shall be considered agents of that company. Companies and their agents that promote student trips shall not be permitted to use school resources (e.g. communications systems other than PeachJar, staff time, facilities that have not been rented, etc.) to promote such trips. They will receive approval from the Communications Office prior to distributing any solicitation materials. A company or its agent(s) sponsoring student trips shall be responsible, and hence liable, for any and all accidents, injuries, and lawsuits, et al., resulting from its student trips.

Administrative Position:

Deputy Superintendent of Leadership and Learning
Chief of Schools
Chief Academic Officer

Department Director:

Senior Director of Athletics and Activities
Risk Management
Executive Director of Student, Family, and Community Supports

References

Administrative Procedure Cross Ref.:

Forms Cross Ref.:

NSBA/NEPN Classification: IJOA

Revised: May 1995

Revised: April 1996

Revised: June 1997

Draft: November 2002

Approved: November 2002

Revised: December 2004

Revised: September 2005

Reviewed: August 13, 2014

Reviewed: May 2024

Revised: May 2024

This page was last updated on: December 9, 2009.