Mansfield School Committee Says No to Foreign Exchange Program

If a Mansfield High School student wants to go abroad, they’re most likely on their own for now.

Unable to find a way to protect the school from any potential liabilities or concerns raised by parents, the school committee voted 5-0 not to support an effort to conduct a French foreign exchange during the 2013-14 school year.

The vote is a blow for the effort to bring back a program that has not existed in Mansfield since the 2011-12 school year. The unanimous decision was made after Superintendent Brenda Hodges recommended not bringing back the exchange program.

“I do not believe the school needs to take on this liability. If parents want this experience to their children, they need to go to the companies themselves,” Hodges said.

During a 2012 exchange trip in Spain, several incidents of misbehavior including some involving alcohol according to Hodges, put the future of the program at risk. Seeing no way to protect the school district and town from threats of litigation during the fallout of the trip, there were no exchange programs during the current school year.

Instead of a school sponsored trip, the committee recommended that parents should directly book the trip from companies that specialize in foreign travel. Similar to the Travel Club, students would stay in hotels with an adviser or chaperone that would spend most of their time with the students.

With conflict over whether this would be an excused trip based on the state guidelines on what defines an excused absence, Superintendent Brenda Hodges pointed out that this type of trip could be done over the summer when school is not in session.

Despite the vote, committee member Lynn Cavicchi questioned if this could replace the experience of an exchange program.

“This is not really an exchange program where you’re going to get that immersion. This is a trip,” Cavicchi said.

To help parents find a someone to book a trip with, the committee suggested bringing in a group of companies that specialize in the trips during an evening and invite interested parents and students. The committee would not make any endorsements concerning which company parents should pick.

“You invite 3-4 companies in, parents figure out who you want to choose,” Michael Trowbridge said.

Committee Chair Kiera O’Neil agreed, hoping a potential information session would be useful for those looking to travel abroad.

“I would rather bring it in as an information session than a few web links to go to,” O’Neil said.