Trifling over field trips does disservice to teachers, kids

You’d think the state Ethics Commission would have better things to do than kick already beleaguered public school teachers and take educational opportunities away from public school kids.

There is nothing gifty about being responsible for a pack of kids thousands of miles away from home, half of them crying about missing rice and the rest so excited that they’re constantly forgetting stuff on the bus. It is not a vacation. For the teachers it’s often harder work than the hard work of the classroom.

Case in point:

For the last seven years, Christine “CJ” Hill, U.S. history teacher at Kapolei Intermediate, has chaperoned the eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. She has organized it for the last five. Hill has a binder the size of a civil defense disaster plan to manage all the minutiae of the seven days.

The kids visit George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Va., the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Zoo, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, WWII Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where last year they were allowed to present a wreath. They go to the Capitol and meet with both senators and both congressional representatives from Hawaii — and that’s just the first half of the trip. The activities bring to life the things they’ve been studying all year.

“A lot of the kids have never been off the island,” Hill says. “Last year we had a parent who had never ridden an airplane.”

This trip is a big, big thing in their lives.

Hill runs all the fundraisers, which include Cookie Corner sales all year, Zippy’s chili at Christmas, two booths at the school’s Fall Fest, an after-school snack sale four days a week, See’s candy and various car washes. None of the money raised goes for her ticket. It’s all for the kids. About 65 kids go on the trip every year.

(Hill tells me all this as she’s correcting papers on Sunday at the Kapolei Denny’s. This is the week before intersession, and she’s so busy that if I want to talk to her, I have to drive out and catch her during a grading break. She has two plastic tubs of essays next to her and a plate of blueberry pancakes she’s slowly working on. She comes to Denny’s on weekends when she has five classes’ worth of projects to grade because there’s air conditioning, few distractions and someone to bring her caffeinated beverages. Her longest stretch at Denny’s was 15 hours. But that’s beside the point.)

The point is that the trip would cost her $2,700 if she had to buy her own ticket. “That’s almost a whole month’s salary for me to go work for a week,” Hill said.

Plus, she has to use five personal days while she’s gone.

Some travel companies offer teacher incentives, like $50 for every student they sign up, or points toward future trips. Those policies don’t sit right with Hill. Every year, she gets estimates from three different travel companies and picks the one with the lowest price that offers the most activities. Horizon Travel, the company she’s used for the last several years, gives one free teacher ticket for every 10 student trips, but that’s it. No extra trips for later, no money.

For now the Kapolei trip is on hold. But, Hill says, “I’m not on hold.”

Hill has an idea to fix this. If the state can vet three or four travel agencies and get them preapproved, then teachers will still be able to choose which of those travel packages best fit their curriculum. She’s contacted her area representatives, the HSTA and the Ethics Commission. Now, it’s waiting, waiting, waiting.

The kids are bugging Hill every day. They want so badly to go.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.