The Granite Board of Education refused Tuesday night to step into the fray between Taylorsville High School and a group of dissatisfied parents objecting to the school's new student travel policies.
"We want those decisions made at the school level," said Board President Denis Morrill.Larry and Chris McDonald found that frustrating. "We were told that an appeal to the board was our only recourse," said Larry McDonald. He and his wife complained that parents had not been involved in the decision to radically curtail overnight travel for Taylorsville students.
The McDonalds said their daughter, a senior, has been put in the position of choosing between two trips, one for choral music and one for drama, both of which are important to her. The new Taylors-ville policy limits students to one trip per school year.
"The policy subverts successful programs," said Larry McDonald. "Kids who excel often excel in more than one area." They argued that any student who is doing well in school should be allowed to take whatever trips are involved in his or her study programs. The father suggested the issue might be worth a court test.
Taylorsville Principal Michael B. Cannon defended the school's decisionmaking process and said a three-hour meeting had been held to allow for parent input. He said teachers favor the revised policy because it limits the amount of time a student is out of class. Travel is disruptive to many classes when significant numbers of students are absent.
"I have reservations about the school's responsibility to sponsor travel outside the school," he said. He would favor a total ban on travel, but the one-trip-per-student position was a compromise.
Board Member Patricia Sand-strom sympathized with the parents' position and said that as a teacher she had found trips to be valuable educational experiences for her students. But she did not suggest any board action.
Sandstrom related the cutback on out-of-school activities to the drain that fee waivers have created on school finances.
"Schools can't afford to pick up those costs," she said.
A court order this summer mandated school compliance with rules that require waivers for students who can't afford the fees related to school activities. Many high schools have experienced significant revenue losses related to waivers. Trips are expensive activities that some schools have decided are expendable.