MONTVALE—Under pressure from parents and an Italian teacher at Pascack Valley High School, Pascack Valley Regional High School District school trustees decided Oct. 11 to table a resolution that would have cancelled student trips scheduled next year to Italy, Greece, and France.
The board next meets at Pascack Hills High School Auditorium on Monday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m.
The vote to pull the resolution was unanimous, following public comment and trustees’ discussion. Most trustees said they needed to do their due diligence about the planned trips, Covid conditions abroad, student and staff safety, and the risks involved.
At least eight parents and a teacher appealed to school trustees to hold off voting on the resolution cancelling the 2022 trips, the earliest departing for Italy and Greece on Feb. 18, 2022 and three trips after that to France (April 14) and Italy (May 26).
Several trustees pointed out concerns with students possibly contracting Covid while abroad and being prevented from reentering the United States. In that case, trustees said, the district would be required to leave two teachers with the student abroad until the student recovers from the coronavirus and tests negative.
Another concern for trustees was a deadline for cancelling the earlier February trip by an insurance deadline of Nov. 15 so that parents would be able to recoup their airfare and lodging costs if the district decided to cancel due to Covid conditions abroad.
Interim Superintendent Daniel Fishbein said if parents purchase the “highest end” insurance available (approximately $500), trustees could likely hold off making a decision until up to four days before the trip is scheduled to leave, and parents could still get a full trip refund should they decide to cancel due to unsafe conditions linked to high Covid cases/rates of transmission abroad.
Should any foreign trip be cancelled, the cost of insurance is non-refundable, said parents.
Trustee James Stankus suggested that they consider hospital capacity available in foreign cities to be visited to ensure that Covid cases were not overwhelming local healthcare and students would be able to be seen for non-Covid-related illnesses or injuries.
Trustee Michael Fronte said “We don’t want to make a decision too early” and that the decision should be based on protecting health and “all things to take care of students and staff” traveling abroad.
“If we have to cancel a trip at the last minute, safety will be our goal, try to have an open mind about it,” he said.
Trustee Gini Varghese, a nurse practitioner, said “We should have patience and see what happens before we cancel these trips.” She said trustees should “wait and see what happens with the Covid spread” and that it may be possible for the trips to occur.
Stankus noted that should someone catch Covid while abroad and be delayed returning to the U.S. due to Covid protocols, this will impact students at Pascack Valley whose teachers do not return to teach their classes.
He asked how many parents have the insurance that allows trustees to make a decision up to four days before the trip is scheduled to leave and asked whether the board could make such insurance mandatory.
Bob Axe of Hillsdale told trustees that Covid cases in Italy were running about 50% of New Jersey’s Covid rate. “It’s safer to be in Italy than New Jersey,” he said, wondering how trustees could make a decision to cancel travel abroad so far in advance.
Francesca Silvano, an Italian teacher at Pascack Valley High School, said that her high school class and a high school in Italy were starting synchronous classes.
She said she considered the cultural exchange component to be “more of a necessary travel” due to the students’ involvement in a class that they needed for their graduation.
“So really having this journey come to a happy ending for so many children who’ve been deprived of so much for the past two years… and I have seen the losses and all I can say is they need a little bit of a reward,” she said.
Other parents urged trustees to consult with insurance officials for updates on travel conditions abroad, along with relying on data and recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hillsdale resident Steve Hirschkowitz said Covid is likely to be around for more years and that the question to be considered is why the district would cancel a trip in 2021 with mostly everyone who plans to go on the trip vaccinated.