Gridlock shuts down St. Thomas class trip

By Patricia Bogumil

Editor

      Eighth-graders from St. Thomas Aquinas School in Waterford, and St. Mary’s and St. Charles schools in Burlington, are learning a living lesson in American Government, with their long-planned school trip to Washington D.C. postponed due to the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

      Principals from the three schools are now working with the travel company to try and figure out a Plan B trip in a different timeframe, St. Thomas Principal Pam Kramer said.

      “There’s nothing definite at this point,” she said last week, hours after the shutdown began.

      Sixty-four eighth-graders were supposed to leave for Washington D.C. early Oct. 2, with everyone meeting at St. Charles by 4 a.m. to board a bus to Mitchell Field in Milwaukee.

      From there, they were to fly to Baltimore International Airport, and then travel into D.C. to view the monuments and museums, many of which are now shuttered until Congress comes up with its own Plan B to keep government services functioning.

      “We have some very, very disappointed students here with long faces,” Kramer said.

      Planning for this year’s trip began last March, Kramer said, with students raising funds through various projects, like selling brats and pizzas outside local markets, and volunteering to work at church festivals like the St. Thomas Country Fair.

      “Everything’s been all paid for,” Kramer said.

      The schools’ eighth-grade trip to Washington is traditionally held the first week of October, she added. “The plan now is to postpone it to another time,” Kramer said.

      Depending on the length of the government shutdown, and the availability of school and student scheduling for Plan B options, the trip could be reset for as soon as next month or as late as the spring.

      Or not.

      “There are three schools involved. When would (a reschedule) happen?” said St. Mary’s Principal Loretta Jackson. She added that all three schools – on three different weeks in October – are scheduled for their Archdioceses of Milwaukee and Wisconsin Religion Independent School Association accreditation visits.

      For many of the disappointed students, this was to be their first airplane flight, and their first trip away from their family, Kramer noted.

      For some, it’s a kind of family rite-of-passage they’ve seen taken by an older brother or sister.

      Chaperones always include the schools’ eighth-grade teachers and principals and sometimes an added teacher or two, depending on the number of students going.

       “It’s one of the highlights for the eighth-grade class, with lots of good bonding between the students,” Kramer said.

      Brightspark Travel is the tour operator for the trip. On its website, Brightspark said one of its greatest strengths as a company is managing contingency plans.

      “We have handled this situation successfully before, when the government shut down in 1995,” the site notes.

      Brightspark said it is not cancelling tours to Washington, D.C., but will make modifications to itineraries as needed.

      Updates for families and schools are available in Brightspark online communities at:

      • Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/BrightsparkTour;

      • Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/brightsparktravel; and

• Brightspark Forum, http://www.brightsparktravel.com/forum/