District Cuts Elementary School Camping Trips

Last week, district superintendent Jim Hinson mandated the omission of all overnight field trips for sixth graders, specifically to outdoor, recreational overnight destinations like Tall Oaks and Wildwood, starting in the 2015-16 school year.

In the past, many elementary schools, including Prairie, Highlands and Corinth have sent their sixth-grade classes to Wildwood or Tall Oaks for an outdoor, team-building experience. Depending on the school, they may have stayed for one to five days, many times overnight.

While Hinson could not be reached, the principal of Prairie Elementary, Scott Merfen, believes the change is due to safety issues, including health concerns and allergies.

Another reason may include funding. Funds for the trip are largely raised by the sixth-grade class. However, raising sufficient money had become a challenge for each sixth-grade class and sixth-grade families.

“It is difficult for some schools to raise money for each child to go to Wildwood; fundraisers are set aside for years in advance at some schools,” Prairie sixth-grade teacher Linda Giacalone said. “In this economy, it puts a lot of hardship on families to continue to support programs when it means buying another product.”

Even if schools aren’t able to stay the night, it won’t stop all of them from attending the camp.

“We will work with Wildwood and plan field trips for day-long programs and provide our students with the Wildwood experience that has become the tradition here at Prairie,” Giacalone said.

The kids, instead of spending the night, would arrive in the morning and have classes, eat lunch, have more classes in the afternoon and then head home.

Sophomores Kate Higgins and Brena Levy agree that attending these camps was a fun, gratifying experience that they looked forward to throughout grade school.

“It helped me form really great friendships with multiple people at my school,” Levy said.

The camps are meant to build teamwork and relationships in the sixth-grade class, and Higgins thought the camp did a good job of that.

“You learn how to cooperate with people and know that not everybody is going to like you,” Higgins said. “But you still have to work together on some things.”

Students react to the decision to cut the Wildwood and Tall Oaks trips. Video by Julia Poe and Susannah Mitchell.