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Orchard Middle School

New Field Trip Process Lets Parents “Opt Out” Instead of “Sign In”

New Field Trip Process Lets Parents “Opt Out” Instead of “Sign In”

The "Opt Out" procedure only applies to trip involving over 100 students from a school. Most elementary school trips will continue to sign permission slips as they have done in the past.

Wenatchee School District is implementing a new field trip procedure to streamline the process. Parents will no longer need to sign permission slips for their child to go on some field trips. Instead, only those parents who do not want their child to go on a field trip will contact the school’s main office before the trip.

“As we continue to move towards students having more experiences outside the classrooms, we need a way to make it simpler for kids to go without the burden of additional paperwork,” explains Mark Helm, Executive Director of Student Services.

This "Opt-Out" process will only be used for trips that involve over 100 students, are during the school day, use District transportation, and stay within Chelan and Douglas counties.

Parents will be communicated with at least twice informing them of upcoming field trips. The first notice will be at least two weeks before the trip. That communication might be a School Messenger phone call to the telephone number parents have on file with the school district, a written notice sent home with students or mailed home, or some other direct contact. 

A parent wishing to opt-out their student from attending the field trip must contact the school’s main office before the field trip and inform the office administrative staff or the student's teacher, either in writing or verbally, of the their decision.

The exception to the new procedure is field trips that that the school principal has determined to have a high risk to student safety. Water activities like swimming, boating, waterslides; snow sports like skiing, sledding, ice skating; jumping activities like trampolines, bouncy houses; bicycling, skateboarding, horseback riding, target shooting, rock climbing, or similar activities will continue to require written parent permission ahead of time.
 
“Field trips are a great way to give kids hands-on experiences,” says Helm, “and we want to make the process as simple as possible.”

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