Schools now embrace international travel with a dose of precaution - Enterprise News
A decade ago, in the midst of the fear and anxiety whipped up by 9/11, school leaders across the South Shore canceled international field trips and even some domestic travel for student groups.
These days the post-9/11 landscape still colors how educators view travel, but the fear has been replaced by a growing sentiment that favors global engagement for both students and teachers.
"My attitude is that when we can no longer allow students the experience of traveling and learning about other cultures, then the terrorists have won," said Michael Devine, principal at Hull High School, which sent students to El Salvador and teachers to England last year.
"We're just living in a global society," said the assistant superintendent of Weymouth's public schools, Mary Ann DeMello. "If you're in the work force, you're working with people from all over the world and being asked to travel all over the world."
But the prospect of sending students and teachers overseas still carries risk, and school leaders now monitor world news closely before they plan a student trip.
"We have a conversation about the safety in different regions," said DeMello. "We had India high on our list and are replacing that with Ghana for next year because we had concerns about the region.."
David Swanton, the headmaster at Braintree High School, said "Safety is a priority. The information gathering that goes with that, it's much more extensive than it was pre 9/11."
Christopher Burrell may be reached at cburrell@ledger.com.
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05 Sep, 2011--
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