About SB Charter - Parent Handbook

Before the Field Trip

• Please make sure that evidence of your insurance is on file in the office.
• Please check with your child’s teacher before bringing an extra adult or sibling on a trip. The number of tickets or drivers needed may be affected by the extra people.
• If money is due, please make sure that the teacher has received it by the stated date.
• If you have any requests about the make-up of your carpool, please let the teacher know in writing in advance. Last minute changes disturb the balance of other carpools and make it difficult for the teacher to keep track of children.
• If your child is usually on contract but plans to attend a particular field trip, please let the teacher know in advance as it affects the number of drivers. Similarly, if your child is regularly scheduled to attend school on this day, but doesn’t plan to participate in the field trip, please let the teacher know in writing.
• If you only plan to drive one way, the teacher must know in advance.
• If you have children in two classes and wish to drive them both, arrangements must be made in advance. While we will try to make allowances for children to join siblings, we will generally not allow them to bring an additional friend over to the other classroom because it is too hard to keep track of the students.

On the Day of the Field Trip

• Please arrive at the agreed upon time. Children and parents have unfortunately been left behind because they were late.
• Please do not plan to meet the group at the field trip site because it is more convenient for you unless you have cleared it with the teacher.
• Keeping track of more than 20 individual schedules is impossible and most teachers are reluctant to have children coming and going.
• Please do not call and say that you can’t drive. Your cancellation may in fact force the teacher to cancel the entire trip.

Drivers and Chaperones

• Each child must have their own seatbelt. Children should not be double buckled.
• Each child must be in the car of the driver to whom they have been assigned. Teachers must be able to keep track of the children.
• Please actively supervise the children who are in your car throughout the trip unless told to do otherwise by the teacher. Children should stick close to the group.
• We hope that adults will find the field trips educational and enjoyable, however, please remember that you are role models so please minimize social conversations which interrupt a program, speaker, or your ability to supervise.

General Conduct for all Field Trips

• We are ambassadors for our school every time we go on a field trip, so it is important that we make a good impression.  Children should be courteous and behave as is usually considered reasonable and appropriate in a given setting.
• Please encourage children to be respectful of people and property. They should not be allowed to climb on buildings or furniture.
• Please insist that children not violate fences, gates, or signs.
• Children should move and speak as is appropriate in given settings.

When the Field Trip is a Performance

• Chaperons/drivers should sit with their own group. Ideally, there will be an adult on each end of an aisle.
• Children and adults should file into seats in order. There should be no empty spaces in a row. All of the seats are usually needed and it is best not to break up classes as later arrivals clamber over the first seated.