The members of a high school group in Moncton, who were busy repeating and raising funds for a trip to New York for months, discovered nine days before leaving that the trip was canceled.
The school district indicates that the decision was made due to the political climate in the United States, in the midst of the current trade between this country and Canada.
But parents and students of the School The Odysée says that they have never been consulted about the decision and are disappointed with the cancellation.
“It started when our son jumped into the vehicle when I picked him up after the rehearsal and he said:” Trip is canceled “and knowing that it was April 1, I said:” Oh an April joke “?” “Said Andy Peterson, whose son Erik is a 10th year student in the group.
“And no. In fact, the opening line of the music teacher’s email was:” It is not an April fish joke. “”
The email sent to the parents said that the trip had been canceled because the provincial government has decided to cancel all non-essential school trips to the United States.
Asked about this, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education told Global News that no directive of this type had been published and that travel decisions were taken by the superintendent of each school district.
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“Given the climate in which we are politically and as we have had no apprehension because we know how much planning has been made,” said Peterson.
“We know how much experience their music teacher has to do it and preparation.”
In an email sent to parents on Wednesday, the superintendent of the French-speaking school district, Monique Boudreau, said that the decision had been made with the support of the Minister of Education and that in the current socio-political context in the United States, the security risks of the district.
In the email, which was written in French and translated by Global News, Boudreau also said that they did not want to expose students to “potentially unpredictable situations, especially at the border”.
Peterson says that he and other parents want this decision to be canceled and more transparency in the district.
“Take responsibility, meet parents, browse us with your thinking process,” he said.
Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the school district told Global News that the decision to cancel the trip was a “precautionary decision” after discussions with the Department of Education.
Geneviève Chiasson wrote that the district provided for receiving directives from the province after suspending non-essential trips to the United States.
“Knowing that the departure of the group (from the school group) approached quickly, we chose to act quickly – with the ministry’s agreement – to inform the families affected before the official publication of these directives,” she wrote.
“However, following our announcement, the government finally decided not to go ahead with the travel guidelines this week.
She continued by saying that it is no longer possible to reprogram the trip.
When they asked them if they made similar decisions on American trips, a spokesperson for the Anglophone School District East said that the directives were established by the province.
And a spokesperson for English-speaking School District West said that he did not approve of any new trip to the United States, but trips that were already reserved and approved “before the current situation” will occur for the rest of the school year.
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