In recent months, there has been discussion among school board members regarding the future of foreign travels. This comes after students violated school rules on alcohol while on the 2005 German trip. The thought of eliminating, though no decision has been made, has drawn controversy among foreign language teachers as well as students and parents.

“Most people have thought about this issue that foreign travel is a very good learning experience for who ever it is that travel,” Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Craig Kautz said.

Tamara Cecrle, HHS’ only French teacher, addressed the board regarding family stays and the possibility of eliminating them at July’s school board meeting. She said the value of the experience is too much to give up.

“I just think that the trips are too educational for the students in using the language and learning the culture first hand,” Tamara Cecrle said. “When students take the trips, they are putting what they learned in class to use.”Others who attended school board meetings speaking on behalf of the program included parents with students who have attended or who plan on going in the future.

“I don’t think that it is everyone’s fault, the families should have had better responsibility over the kids and not let them have alcohol,” said sophomore Jessica Owens. “The rest of us shouldn’t be blamed for what a small group of people did.”

Kautz says the inappropriate acts of a small group of students unfortunately led to discussion about risks and how risks can be eliminated. One way of doing that is eliminating foreign travel. The foreign language department and the school board have yet to meet on this issue. The purpose of the meeting would be to set a perimeter around foreign travel, yet the maintaining the ability to create meaningful foreign language trips.

“The thing that has to be understood here is, we wouldn’t let students play football without helmets. We need to make sure that we are not sending students to foreign countries exposing them to a greater risk than necessary,” Kautz said.

Cecrle says in other classes you might learn things that you may never apply. The overall experience of the trip is to see the culture and to be able to compare it with the United States’ culture - to be able to apply the language skills.

“Students learn a lot more about themselves, and become more open minded to other cultures,” Cecrle said.

The latest meeting held on August 15 ended with no definite conclusion. Speculation points to September or October to being the earliest time for a decision to be made.

All meetings will be at the City building that is located at 3rd and Hastings Avenue in downtown Hastings.

“I hope that they continue to offer the trips to students,” Cecrle said.

“I want to be able to say that I have gone to another country,” Owens said.

“I’m going to carry out whatever the boards desires are,” Kautz said.

The program that HHS coordinates the trips through is ISE (Intercultural Student Experience) based in Minnesota. The company has been doing exchange trips for 30 years.

The main role of ISE is to organize the trips through applications. The school chooses the city and country, as well as transportation and accommodations when traveling, then ISE goes to work and creates an itinerary.