Overnight school trips - Chaperones

[luvsJack]

I’m surprised schools mix kids and chaperones in the same room. I would not be comfortable sharing a room with students.

Our trips hired a security person to patrol the hallway to be sure kids stayed in their rooms after lights out and that was good enough for me.

For our trips, it was dd’s bff that stayed in the room with us. She practically lived with us anyway so it was no big deal. Her mom was in the adjoining room with 3 girls and her mom’s boyfriend was in a room with another dad and 2 boys.

On other trips, the kids stayed 4 to a room and the chaperones stayed either two to a room (like me and dh) or 4 moms would stay in one room. There were a couple of dads on the trip too and I think they stayed together.

I never really knew why the same choir director changed up the rooms like he did. He stayed with his wife and kids.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

You tape the adult’s rooms?

No but if the adults ever misbehaved, I'm sure they'd start.

 

[LovesTimone]

WOW! I’m impressed. You have strength! I don’t know if I’d be able put up with a third of all that.
Homeschooling sounds so pleasant after reading this.

I will say that a lot of my friends thought I was crazy.... and at time's I more than likely was crazy... LOL... being with my DD... watching her, being there for her, cheering her on, watching her grow as a person, her senior year she was captain of her team which comes with responsibilities, and dealing with others, lots of good life lessons, being part of a team, as well as then becoming the leader ... she was always proud to let everyone know that I was her mom, and that I was team mom.... As well I knew all her friends and friends parents... which is always a good thing.... When I go home to visit, I run into some of these girls who are now women with families of their own.... and they always say... hi Mom! and I get a huge hug.... which is rewarding...

I look back and there is not one single second that I would change... I honestly loved every second... It was totally worth it every minute....

 

[msjprincess]

I'm not sure about my daughter's upcoming trip. But when my son went to DC a few years ago on a trip the hotel room doors were taped at night and there was a security guard in the hallway.

 

[Libbysmom2000]

My daughter went on school sponsored extended trips in middle and high school. Theconly chaperones were teachers and other district employees, along with a nurse. Parents were only allowed to chaperone day trips through middle school. I think that makes things so much easier. There isn't preferential treatment of certain students and their friends by some parents.

 

[luvsJack]

Those of you whose trips included the door being taped—had they had issues with students leaving their rooms before?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

"Does anyone's school actually provide informational sheets/guidelines specifically aimed at the chaperones? "

Our band parent organization didn't.

I don't think we ever had problems with the chaperones or the kids. But there were no written guidelines.

 

[mjkacmom]

Those of you whose trips included the door being taped—had they had issues with students leaving their rooms before?

I have no idea, based on what I know they’ve been taped for decades.

 

[msjprincess]

Those of you whose trips included the door being taped—had they had issues with students leaving their rooms before?

I have no idea when or why they started doing it.

 

[yoopermom]

My parents chaperoned trips back in the dark ages of the late '70s, and I remember them talking about taping the doors, and hiring an overnight security guard even then.

Terri

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Those of you whose trips included the door being taped—had they had issues with students leaving their rooms before?

Nope. And we tape the doors because we're not going to be the first ones with students leaving their rooms.

 

[luvsJack]

Nope. And we tape the doors because we're not going to be the first ones with students leaving their rooms.

And I get it. But on 4 trips with 50 or so kids each time, we never had the problem of anyone leaving their room, so I was just curious. I am sure our trips were small compared to most and that would make a huge difference. I just hate the idea of not trusting them when they have given no reason not to.

 

[wgeo]

And I get it. But on 4 trips with 50 or so kids each time, we never had the problem of anyone leaving their room, so I was just curious. I am sure our trips were small compared to most and that would make a huge difference. I just hate the idea of not trusting them when they have given no reason not to.

We had a large trip and 99% of the kids were extremely well behaved. One poor freshman opened his door to complain about noise in the hallway without realizing that would break his tape and he would get grilled in the morning. Fortunately he was very trustworthy and a chaperone nearby heard the commotion at the same time. However we did have one girl decide to take leave her room and the hotel and utilize uber to pick up some "things" she had not brought with her. First time in decades that has happened - it only takes one kid to screw it up.

 

[mjkacmom]

And I get it. But on 4 trips with 50 or so kids each time, we never had the problem of anyone leaving their room, so I was just curious. I am sure our trips were small compared to most and that would make a huge difference. I just hate the idea of not trusting them when they have given no reason not to.

We had issues even after taping, maybe out of a window?

 

[luvsJack]

We had a large trip and 99% of the kids were extremely well behaved. One poor freshman opened his door to complain about noise in the hallway without realizing that would break his tape and he would get grilled in the morning. Fortunately he was very trustworthy and a chaperone nearby heard the commotion at the same time. However we did have one girl decide to take leave her room and the hotel and utilize uber to pick up some "things" she had not brought with her. First time in decades that has happened - it only takes one kid to screw it up.

Yeah it’s really a shame. Most kids just want to enjoy the trip.

One of the reasons I enjoyed the trips so much is that it always included kids who had never gone much of anywhere before. They always had such a good time.

 

[luvsJack]

We had issues even after taping, maybe out of a window?

Wow. We were always several floors up so not something they would have tried.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think that pro-active door-taping has kind of become a standard practice for a lot of groups because it is an easy way to compel compliance and limit liability, but you are right, it does smack of a lack of trust. We don't do it, but again, the chaperones are mostly in-room with the athletes, so it would take a lot of nerve to get up and sneak out while the chaperone is asleep. (We have in the past had a few kids who sleepwalked; the chaperones in those cases used alarmed doorstops.)

Honestly, our kids are so flat-out exhausted at the end of a competition or travel day that they are normally out cold very quickly after lights-out. They get very little free goof-off time, because they also have practice sessions and study hall while they are traveling. (On long bus trips, we routinely book a practice facility at the overnight halfway mark. They arrive at the hotel at dusk, eat, go to their rooms to do homework, lights out at 9, and then get up before dawn at the hotel, eat, drive to the local practice facility for a 3 hr workout, and then get back on the bus (with a catered box lunch), to continue the journey so that they will still arrive in daylight, because we would have to hire & accommodate more drivers if the buses are scheduled to travel too many hours at a stretch. They tend to sleep every chance that they get. (For the younger kids we sometimes rent an extra room for after check-out as a group napping space if the final day will go long. They end up in a puppy pile on the beds, LOL.) Most of them have been doing this regularly since age 7, so that the hotel part is no longer a novelty once they get to be 16 (overseas trips are different, of course; those stay exciting forever.)

 

[wgeo]

I think that pro-active door-taping has kind of become a standard practice for a lot of groups because it is an easy way to compel compliance and limit liability, but you are right, it does smack of a lack of trust. We don't do it, but again, the chaperones are mostly in-room with the athletes, so it would take a lot of nerve to get up and sneak out while the chaperone is asleep. (We have in the past had a few kids who sleepwalked; the chaperones in those cases used alarmed doorstops.)

Honestly, our kids are so flat-out exhausted at the end of a competition or travel day that they are normally out cold very quickly after lights-out. They get very little free goof-off time, because they also have practice sessions and study hall while they are traveling. (On long bus trips, we routinely book a practice facility at the overnight halfway mark. They arrive at the hotel at dusk, eat, go to their rooms to do homework, lights out at 9, and then get up before dawn at the hotel, eat, drive to the local practice facility for a 3 hr workout, and then get back on the bus (with a catered box lunch), to continue the journey so that they will still arrive in daylight, because we would have to hire & accommodate more drivers if the buses are scheduled to travel too many hours at a stretch. They tend to sleep every chance that they get. (For the younger kids we sometimes rent an extra room for after check-out as a group napping space if the final day will go long. They end up in a puppy pile on the beds, LOL.) Most of them have been doing this regularly since age 7, so that the hotel part is no longer a novelty once they get to be 16 (overseas trips are different, of course; those stay exciting forever.)

We had kids stay 4 to a room, and chaperones were in different rooms. We also flew - took up most of 2 planes and there were a number of kids that it was their first time on a plane. Very fun and exciting to watch the kids have such a great time, just hard when you get a couple of less than stellar chaperones tossed in the mix.

Oh well, water under the bridge now, next time should be smoother with some better communication.

 

[skyblue17]

Honestly, our kids are so flat-out exhausted at the end of a competition or travel day that they are normally out cold very quickly after lights-out.

My high school senior class trip took place right after junior year ended. It was two busloads of 16yo girls heading up to Quebec City from Connecticut. I remember my room of friends briefly were in hot water because we fell asleep before the chaperones came for room check! They thought we weren't back but luckily came back to knock again after all of the other rooms were checked and we heard that time and got up to confirm we were there.

As far as I remember, there were only a few adults on this trip. The big scandal was that we were supposed to dress according to a guideline (nothing too strict) and someone had snuck a tube top into the bus and like five different girls passed it around and wore it to various site-seeing areas. I also distinctly remember me and my best friend leaving our hotel during our "free time" where we were allowed to wander on our own to got REALLY far away to a music store we had found. I can't imagine some parents losing their minds about this, but, at the same time, a year and a half later, we were in college and on our own, so.

 

[EMom]

I have no idea, based on what I know they’ve been taped for decades.

The few who would’ve surely sneaked out were stopped by the tape. And some would’ve.

On a NYC trip DD went on, one girl went AWOL during the day/evening and turned off her phone location function. Her mom had joined the trip, but not as a chaperone. Mom realized she was gone and couldn’t find her. She eventually showed up and the school told the mom the girl was no longer a member of the trip, she was kicked out of her room and had to sleep with mom, and the school washed its hands of her. I think she was kicked off the team. Had her mom not been on the trip, she would’ve been sent home at the family’s expense. She’d been trouble all year and even with her mom along, wouldn’t behave.

The chaperone moms made it clear they were done with her.