Parents Sound Off On Cancellation Of Wilmington Middle School Field Trip

WILMINGTON, MA -- Wilmington Middle School officials are working with parents to come up with an alternative plan for the eighth grade field trip to Washington, D.C., which was canceled in June after the two teachers who led it said they would no longer serve as volunteer coordinators of the trip. Lynda Spinazola and Missy Simmons, who have taken about 250 students to Washington every year for the past nine years, said in a letter to the Wilmington School Committee that they had been attacked "in the community" and on "numerous social media sites” by a handful of parents who “put the needs of their own child ahead of the needs of the group.”

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The decision to cancel the trip, which most parents and students didn’t find out about until they returned to school in September, sparked a new round of online debate about whether the teachers were justified in canceling the trip or whether a majority of students were being punished for the actions of a handful of parents. On Wednesday, interim Wilmington Middle School Principal Kevin Welch updated the Wilmington School Committee on the issue.

Welch said parents had been asked to complete a survey and that he met with parents last week. The group plans to establish a committee to look at alternatives for the trip. That committee would likely include include parents, students, teachers and administrators, Welch said. Interim Superintendent Paul Ruggiero and Welch also confirmed that there was a group of parents looking to organize a non-school sanctioned trip to replace the canceled Washington, D.C. trip.

The letter that sparked the controversy was sent to the school committee in June. Spinazola and Simmons said in recent years they had grown frustrated with parents of students. In their letter, Spinazola and Simmons said a parent who lost a deposit after pulling their child from the trip called them "a disgrace." Other parents had called the school office when their child was on the trip and needed an aspirin or didn't get a doughnut when the trip went to a doughnut shop. The two also said a nurse had been "verbally abused" after disciplining a child on the trip.

Wednesday night’s school committee meeting did little to appease many parents, who remained upset about the decision to cancel the trip. During the public comment portion of the meeting, three parents spoke and said the school had shown poor communication by waiting until September to tell them the trip had been canceled. School Committee Chairman Stephen Bjork said the reason for the delay was that Welch wanted to make a second effort to find teachers willing to take over leadership of trip. When no teachers volunteered, parents and students were told there would be no trip.

"I went on the eighth grade field trip...I remember what an amazing experience it was," Bjork said. "I don't think anyone is [more] disappointed than the parents. Honestly, I empathize. I really do."

The parents who spoke at the school committee meeting also noted that the alternatives that had been proposed were shorter day trips and didn't have the same appeal as the overnight trip, which has been a tradition for eighth graders for nearly four decades.

"There are many questions that still need to be answered," said John Poulos, who has a child who will not be going on the trip. "While the decision has been made, I think it is important we look at the issues that led up to the cancellation of the trip."

Photo by Wilmington Middle School.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851