Unofficially, the bureaucrats knew that anytime students left a school,
anything could happen, and so they made the clerical aspect of getting
permission for a trip onerous.
All New York City principals are aware of the dangers of school trips,
but as educators, they are also aware that it is the responsibility of their
schools to expand the horizons of their students. Those outside of New
York may assume the students in its schools are urbane. They are not.
Most know little about the city outside the confines of their immediate
neighborhoods. Their experience traveling the subway is usually limited
to the route taken to and from school.
Mr. Chen knew all this when Drama Club advisor Ms. Rouge asked for
blanket permission for her students to attend Broadway and off-Broadway
shows on a regular basis. As Ms. Rouge was an experienced teacher who
worked well with students, there was no question about giving permission.
Likewise, trips to the Metropolitan Museum, the Joyce Dance Company,
the Museum of Natural History, and other venues all had his enthusiastic
endorsement. However, the dangers of more long-distance trips were
made very real to Principal Chen through two incidents.
It is a tradition in almost all middle and high schools that graduates go
on a memorable trip to celebrate their upcoming graduation. At Principal
Chen’s Brooklyn high school, seniors traditionally took a trip to Orlando.
This occurred during the mid-winter recess (presidents’ week), so no class
time was missed. Because the cost could be a hardship for many families,
students and their parents saved for months prior to the event. To reduce
costs, the students went by bus, not airplane. The different coordinators
of student activities (COSAs) who ran the trip were all very competent
and always managed to convince many staff members to chaperone (that
is, get little or no sleep for several days). Except for one year, all went
without incident.
That year the COSA called Mr. Chen at home to inform him that one
young lady was missing. She went to Orlando on the bus, she was with
the students for three days, but today she had not returned to the bus or
to the hotel. The COSA was attempting to contact the parents, using the
numbers provided on the permission form, but had so far been unsuccess-
ful. What should she do? The principal directed her to speak with any
students who were her friends and to keep trying the parents’ numbers
and then call back within a few minutes. If the girl was not located nor
78 Chapter 6