Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 18:32:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gene Thompson <gthompso@ccsf.cc.ca.us>
To: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: field trips and the Exploratorium
In-Reply-To: <343D99A2.826@infinex.com>
What's going on over there?
As I have done in the past, when I called to set up a field trip to the
Exploratorium last month, I also applied for a fee reduction (since
my school is notoriously poor), as I have done in the past. Why is a
fee waiver necessary? We don't have money for substitutes for field
trips (so I have to bring all 160 students every time), we don't have
money for transportation, we don't even have money for field trips for
regular students. I teach ESL, so there are some funds, but not enough
for full price ($2.50 each) for 160. Given that it's 160 kids, I can't
afford to make up the difference between what my dept can pay and what the
Exploratorium asks (about $250).
I've gotten fee waivers in the past. But this year I had to have my
principal sign off on the request for a fee waiver (which is a little
insulting to begin with, and shows an ignorance of what school politics
are like). I get a message at home a week later that there's a problem
with the request and that my principal needs to call the person
responsible for granting fee waivers to answer some questions. This
really causes problems now. But it gets better. My principal takes time
to call 5 times without getting through except to a machine, leaving
messages. I call as it gets closer and closer to the date to see if I can
get through and I do and I am told that my principal never called, that
another group from my school went last March and paid full price (special
ed -- another funding source), and when I explain that I'm told that it
shows that my school doesn't care about ESL. Then the person abruptly
terminates the conversation and hangs up on me, after having yelled
"You're welcome".
So the date of my field trip is approaching and I don't know yet if I can
afford to go. Given my kids need to do their thing with permission slips
and I need to give them bus route information, etc. this is causing a real
problem.
But the bigger problem is I do not feel welcome. I teach science to ESL
students in a poor high school in San Francisco and feel quite
strongly that I've been told in no uncertain terms that, unless I can
afford to pay full price, my students and I are not welcome at the
Exploratorium. All of which brings me full circle -- what's going on over
there? Are the education people and the money people not in agreement
over the mission of the Exploratorium?
Ellen Koivisto
George Washington High School
gthompso@ccsf.cc.ca.us