At the beginning of the school year we learned that in April we would get to go on a class trip to Boston. I wanted to go, along with my friends, so we put down the $80 deposit (non-refundable), and made all of our payments when they needed to be paid. We were looking forward to the ocean air and such.
But letting us enjoy ourselves is too much for some people. They are too worried about some silly terrorist attack. They decided to run for school board. They won. They decided to say that it would be too much of a risk to let us go. They made the school board cancel the trip.
Now, because of one parent, at least fifty people are out eighty bucks. That’s $4000! Why make fifty people, some of whom are very poor and could barely afford it, lose that much money because of an unfounded fear? You can much more easily not let your child go!
All the teachers and staff are horribly upset by it, and are encouraging everyone to go the the school board and petition. It’s not gonna do anything I bet, because you’re too bent up on being a moron.
If you’re scared enough of a terrorist attack to inconvienence so many people, then you’re not ‘helping the children’ as you claim, you’re letting the terrorists win.
And I suppose that the Boston school board should withdraw all their students and send them to Anubis’s district. Y’know, cause there might be terrorists.
Eighty bucks is a big fucking deal to some people. Being out eighty bucks when I was in grammar school means we’d have to stretch one week’s worth of ramen over two.
I agree with Tars. This has the stink of some underhanded dealings. Have you considered the possibility that the $4000 lined someone’s pocket, with terrorist attacks as the convenient excuse? What happened to that money?
I’m not normally a suspicious guy, but this situation stinks in more ways than one. A class action suit might be helpful…
Seems to me that the school board owes those people $80 each. If they were forced to cancel the trip and lose the deposit because of a school board decision, the families shouldn’t be out that money. And my feeling is that the refund should come out of the pockets of the new board members.
Somebody needs to fly a plane up your school board’s ass…
Seriously, every student who’s out $80 should go have a sit-in at the school board. Have a skip-out day to protest. Paper their houses. Do not take this laying down!
Really. I’ve had a trip to Washington D.C. cancelled because of terror paranoia, but Boston?? Give me a break. Bostonians aren’t living in fear of a terrorist attack… because they’re no more at risk than you are! Hell, I live about 40 miles outside of Boston, and like to go in to the city as often as I can. Risk? What risk? Sure, I might get hit by a bus… the chances are far higher than being on the wrong end of a terror attack.
In short, hell yeah, it sounds underhanded. Demand a refund. Get action. The school board owes that $80. Don’t let it go!
Seriously, what’s the deal? Normally the party who pulls out at the last miute is the one who loses money with deposits?
WAG: the money was paid to an airline or hotel or similar, and the school doesn’t consider it their business? In which case could someone organise a trip without them?
To be fair - safety is obviously a concern. If there was a school trip to iraq, I think they’d be justified cancelling it even if parents want to go. But cancelling a n already arranged trip for no good reason? That sucks.
Absolutely. The “non-refundable” part smells. You paid money in expectation of a trip. They should either give you a trip (valued at about $80 each) or cough up your money. Just because you’re students doesn’t mean you are a cash machine for the administration. Off to court, you go.
The travel service with which this was planned is keeping the $80, not the school. Their reasoning is that they have to repay the airlines for reserving seats and costing them money.
I’m in an itty-bitty town of around a thousand people just outside of Louisville, Kentucky, called Taylorsville. I haven’t yet heard anything about what we’re going to do, though I think we might be planning to go somewhere in Lousiville instead. Which sucks.
I agree. Non-refundable MY ASS!!! The school board, who is so concerned for the welfare of the child, should reimburse the students for what they scewed up. Ya know, teach 'em a lesson in responsibility.
IMO, anyone who is hiding under their beds in fear of terrorist attack SHOULD BE DEPORTED!!!. For general stupidity. Chrissakes, you might as well check out. You stand a lot better chance being killed in a car crash, murdered by local thugs, drowing in your bathtub, getting hit by lightning…
How many days have we been on high alert status since they’ve had alert status’s??? And what has happened??? Nothing!!! It’s a ploy to sell plastic and duct tape. (I think we need to see if Ridge owns some stock)
A similar thing happened to me while I was in high school. Our marching band was invited to perform at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The school paid for the reservation deposits (the students were to make up for it when they paid the rest of the travel fees), and then the Olympic committee (or whoever was in charge of such things) decided that the high school bands invited to perform, shouldn’t, and cancelled them. They initially refused to make refunds, but I guess facing multiple lawsuits from the affected high schools wasn’t quite their cup of tea.
I don’t have all the details of what happened (I don’t think it even ever made news), but that’s about what happened. All I can say is that we were all very dissappointed.
So, I say go for it. File a claim for the money you put up, and for legal costs. They’ll pay the $80 out of court (unless they continue to be stupid).
