'A moral decision to make': Manitoba school division considering international trip changes

A Manitoba school division is considering changes to its international field trip program.

The Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine recently conducted a survey of teachers, administrators and parent advisory councils in its division on the future of the program, which sees kids primarily in Grades 11 and 12 travel overseas on educational trips.

“Fifty per cent wanted to go on with the travel, while 50 per cent were against,” said Alain Laberge, division superintendent.

Laberge says one of the primary concerns with the program is the cost to parents. The trips cost anywhere between $4,000 and $6,000 per student, which can prevent some students from being able to attend.

“A lot of parents told us, ‘I'm going to pay for it, but, you must know that the $6,000 will probably make a change in our daily plans and what we eat, what we do in everything else,’” he said.

“Especially if you have two children that are in Grades 11 and 12. It's like $12,000; it's a lot of money, especially nowadays with the inflation prices that are going up everywhere.”

The possibility of missing education time was also brought up as a concern, Laberge said, with a possible solution brought up is taking the trips during spring break.

The division is looking at options, including fundraising for the trips years in advance, to make it easier for families.

“We need to make sure that we are coming up with a decision that will make everybody happy,” Laberge said. “I know it's really hard, but the bottom line is that we have a moral decision to make, about do we want to include everybody or not. We don't want to be a two-tier school system.”

Laberge said another survey will be sent out around spring break, and a decision will likely not take effect until the 2025 school year.