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Friday, March 21, 2003

By Carmen J. Leeand Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writers

Some school officials in the region have started canceling school-sponsored student trips because of concerns that war with Iraq might trigger terrorist attacks in this country and abroad.

Other districts, however, are leaving most of their travel plans intact, choosing to wait to see how the situation develops before making many changes.

Yesterday, Pittsburgh Public Schools officials notified all city schools that out-of-state and out-of-country student trips had been canceled.

District spokeswoman Pat Crawford said "for the safety of the students," school officials plan to wait until the situation in Iraq is less volatile before they consider resuming such trips.

The issue of school trips came up during a school board agenda review meeting Wednesday night, when board members debated whether to allow 18 Carrick students to go to Germany next month as scheduled.

The West Allegheny school board decided last month to cancel all trips and exchange programs that would take students out of the country for the rest of the school year, said West Allegheny Superintendent Charles Hughey.

As long as U.S. Homeland Security officials set the terror alert at orange or higher, overnight and out-of-state trips are also canceled, he said.

Should the alert status stay at orange into next month, however, when regional and state competitions start for spring sports, school officials will allow parents to decide whether to permit their children to go on overnight trips because some students' scholarship chances could be affected, Hughey said.

Shaler Area school officials have canceled high school trips that had been planned for the next two weeks to Washington, D.C., New York City and Ohio, said Shaler Area Superintendent Donald Lee.

But school trips scheduled for next month, including one to Canada, have not been affected at this time, he said.

The district had no international travel planned.

Last year, Mt. Lebanon school officials canceled school-sponsored international travel. Plans remain unchanged for some high school students to participate in academic games in Georgia and for a band trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"Our sense is right now that those trips will continue, said Mt. Lebanon Superintendent Glenn Smartschan.

In Woodland Hills, only an eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C., that was scheduled for this weekend has been canceled. School officials said it was too early to make decisions about other trips.

Riverview Superintendent Charles Erdeljac said school board members in his district will discuss whether to permit any overnight or out-of-county field trips at its education committee meeting Monday.

By then, Erdeljac thinks more will be known about the war situation.

Last fall, the board approved field trips to Montreal for the French and Spanish clubs, but Erdeljac said the approval was made "with the understanding that we would remain observant of the world scene and the issue of safe conditions."

Some other trips also are still being considered.

"These decisions have to be made with safety as the absolute primary value that is at stake," he said.

And in the North Hills School District, the senior high school band just performed in the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City, said spokeswoman Tina Vojtko.

The school board on Monday approved a trip to Dayton in May for the ham radio club. She said parents have the option not to send their children, but there have been no across-the-board restrictions.

"As the terror alert continues to rise, they may review that again," she said. There are no school-sponsored international trips scheduled.

Carmen Lee can be reached at clee@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1884. Eleanor Chute can be reached at echute@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1955.