Regional school board officials say everything is still a go for all approved international student trips for the remainder of the school year despite the recent deadly terrorist attack in Brussels.
“The board has looked very closely at this situation for quite some time. It is cause for continued concern just around the whole notion of international travel,” said Kurt Sacher, the superintendent of schools for the Chinook's Edge School Division, adding none of the approved trips are going to Brussels and there has been no Canadian government advisory against European travel. “Nothing has been changed, but they (board) will continue to monitor right up to the day before the trip to ensure that foreign affairs has not indicated an elevated status from a safety point of view.”
The approved Chinook's Edge trips for the remainder of the school year include one by the Cremona School band to Anaheim, Calif.; another by Carstairs' Hugh Sutherland School students to Germany, Poland, Austria and Czech Republic from April 17 to 26; Innisfail High School students to New York City from April 18 to 22; Olds High School band trip to Seattle from April 28 to May 2; students from Olds High School to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland from April 15 to 25; and a Didsbury High School trip to Spokane, Wash. from April 29 to May 2.
On the morning of March 22, three coordinated nail bombings occurred in Brussels – two at the airport and one at a metro station. The attacks by three suicide bombers resulted in 32 deaths and more than 300 injuries. The attack followed another in Paris on Nov. 13, which killed 130 people and injured 368. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for both attacks.
The Paris attack triggered a bulletin from the Alberta School Boards' Insurance Exchange, an organization that provides insurance for provincial school districts, that the murders should prompt all school boards to re-evaluate whether planned or pending student international trips should go ahead.
The Chinook's Edge's student trips this spring could be the last approved by the public school board. Last January, Chinook's Edge cancelled three pre-approved student international trips outside Canada and the United States for the 2016-17 school year.
“That is the board's intention at this time, yes,” said Sacher of the possibility the school board will no longer be directly involved with international student trips outside Canada and the United States. At their January meeting, the board accepted an administration recommendation to have the communities within the school board's jurisdiction take full responsibility for student trips to Europe.
“Our relationships with our communities is important,” added Sacher. “For people that still want to go under their own devices they are free to do that as a community group. Nobody can stop them from doing that. From the board's perspective, then they get to make the call whether they cancel or don't cancel a trip.”
Meanwhile, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools reviewed its student international trip policy following the Paris attack and decided against major changes, although it continues to monitor any European incidents, such as the deadly March 22 bombings in Brussels.
Paul Stewart, associate superintendent for the Catholic school board, said three international school trips involving students at Red Deer's École Secondaire Notre Dame High School all went ahead immediately following last month's Brussels attack -- one to Spain, France and Italy; a second to Germany and Switzerland; and a third to Boston and New York. There is another trip scheduled this July to Greece for students of St. Dominic Catholic High School in Rocky Mountain House.
None of the trips included plans to go to Belgium, said Stewart. He said all student groups departed to Europe and the U.S. within three days after the Brussels attack, said Stewart.
“This year after Paris in November the board wanted to review, and after Brussels they reviewed it again. They (board) are cautious the whole time,” said Stewart, noting the board met on March 22, and that he discussed the Brussels incident with Paul Mason, the superintendent of schools. As well, on March 22, the school board sent emails to parents whose children were set to leave on the two European trips.
“Some parents phoned us for clarification and they allowed their children to go,” said Stewart. “No parents pulled their kids. They were good after the emails.”
Kurt Sacher
"Nothing has been changed but they (board) will continue to monitor right up to the day before the trip to ensure that foreign affairs has not indicated an elevated status from a safety point of view."
