March 30, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Curriculum Committee Meeting

Summary of the Briefing:

• Our Costa Rica trip is scheduled for July 8-July 18

  • Presentation

  • Trip Agreement

  • General Terms & Conditions- Click 2020 Season (this is the original contract)

• The total cost of the trip is $2999

• As of March 30- there are 99 days until the departure date

• Corinne Buzzine, our EF Tours representative, indicated that the cancellation fee would be $500 and the non-refundable items ($95 deposit and $165 insurance) for a total of $770 prior to April 30th. Fees may increase after that date.

• All students who are not on the payment plan are supposed to be paid off by March 21st. As of March 15th, we have 4 students who have completely paid for their trip. Those that are on the payment plan have a couple more months to do so. We have advised all families to stop paying until further notice.

• We have 14 juniors enrolled, 10 sophomores, and 2 freshman. 

• Linked here is information on the EF Tours website regarding options. Some important things to note: 

  • Vouchers for the full amount are offered and valid until September 2022

    • Move the existing tour to another date (EF will honor the current tour price)

    • New tour and new date (price may increase if the cost is more than our current trip)

    • Future Travel Voucher and Programs

  • If families want to cancel after receiving the voucher, they will receive money less $1000 (due to investments made prior to the departure)

  • Options for the Peace of Mind program (all of our students are enrolled in this) include:

• If a student cannot join a rebooked tour, he/she can use the full amount of their voucher toward any other Future Travel Voucher programs

• The voucher is also transferable to anyone in the student’s family or school community.  *We need to be careful about this.*

• Based on the website and what the representative indicated, a full refund is not an option due to unrecoverable costs (even though there is a Level 4- Do Not Travel Advisory).

• We surveyed families regarding different options they have (below).  We will share the data once we have it.

  • Postpone the Costa Rica trip until next summer (our current juniors will be allowed to attend)

  • Postpone the Costa Rica trip until April break 2021

  • Reschedule the trip to a US destination

  • Cancel the Costa Rica trip (each family may lose up to $1000 in cancellation fees)

  • Don’t make a decision yet. We may still be able to go on the trip this summer.

• We are also making contact with CASBO to find out if other districts are in a similar situation and if there is anything we can do collectively across districts if we decide to cancel.  We will share that information on Monday when we have it.

Due to COVID-19 and social distancing rules, this meeting is being held virtually and broadcast live on BEtv for public access, if you wish to speak during audience participation, you can do so by calling into the video conference using the number and meeting ID below:

Dial:  +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)      

Meeting ID: 932-022-266