School district chair to propose banning school trips to US after Trump ban
By Kyra Hoggan
The chair of the local board of education is going to be suggesting, at the SD 20 board’s next meeting, that school-related trips to the US be disallowed due to the trump administration’s travel bans.
Teri Ferworn, chair of the SD 20 board, said such a policy may not even be the purview of individual school districts.
“There may be some kind of word from high about (how we have to handle this),” she said, adding that, until or unless that happens, she thinks there should be a moratorium on trips to the States.
“The concern is having any of our students potentially detained at the border because of their ethnicity or their perceived affiliations,” she said. “It’s very frightening to think they would be able to detain all of the students on our bus because of one person.”
She added a situation like that would likely be humiliating for the student in question, and the board has a responsibility to every single student one the bus … including making sure no student has to go through something like that just because they participated in a school trip.
“To be clear, I haven’t discussed this with the rest of the board at all, yet,” she added. “This is just my perception.”
She said any motion she makes will likely be referred to the board’s Policy Committee, and its recommendations brought back at a later meeting for discussion. She also said it’s her understanding that the BC School Trustees Association is looking at developing a policy as well.
“People are really concerned,” she said. “I know I don’t want my grandchildren going there (Stateside).”
Ferworn said she intends to introduce the issue at the board’s upcoming meeting on April 10.
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