School board lifts travel ban

Anthrax scares and terrorist attacks aside, Mat-Su students will still be allowed to travel out of state on school-sponsored trips.

At last week's meeting, the Mat-Su Borough School Board unanimously overturned a district ban on out-of-state travel. The vote followed the testimony of nearly two dozen parents, students and coaches who said the ban was an unfair, knee-jerk reaction.

"There are so many opportunities that are going to be lost here," Colony High basketball player Jon Elliott told the school board. "I'm asking you to not let terrorists change our lifestyles. If you do, they win the battle."

At the beginning of the month, Mat-Su Superintendent Pat Chesbro sent a memo to all principals and activity directors, canceling school-sponsored travel outside of Alaska for the entire school year in light of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

The decision would have affected everyone from basketball and football teams to academic groups such as Business Professionals of America.

Chesbro told board members that even more than direct threats to students, she feared groups could be delayed or even stranded by travel interruptions.

The ban was extended for the entire year, central administrators said, to give enough notice to athletic teams and other student groups that spend months raising money for such trips.

The decision was not made lightly, according to Assistant Superintendent George Troxel, who met with numerous parents, coaches and students following the ban. He said administrators talked with state troopers, hospitals and other emergency experts.

Such explanations, however, were not enough for some on the school board and in the audience during Wednesday's meeting.

"The policy is, I think, mistaken and offensive. It offers a small victory to terrorism," borough assembly member Talis Colberg told the board. He went on to ask, since two of the hijacked planes were crashed into the World Trade Center, if students would not be allowed into tall buildings.

"You can't anticipate everything," he said. He said all people can do is what President Bush has advised -- continue their normal lives.

"We can't all move into a bunker in Chitina," Colberg said.

Many parents faulted the administration not only for the decision itself but also for not allowing them to have a say.

"I personally feel I was left out of the loop on a very important decision," said Dr. Curt Menard, husband of school board Linda Menard. "In all my years as a school board member and my eight years in the Legislature, one of my highest goals was to allow people to have input into the process."

Some speakers conceded the ban may have been appropriate as an immediate response to the terrorist attacks, but argued that canceling all trips for the entire year was unnecessary.

"We shouldn't make a decision now that will bind us so far into the future," said Wasilla High senior Sarah Slauson. She pointed out that Business Professionals of America will not be traveling to national competitions until May, when the situation in the country could be entirely different.

Several speakers argued that because of increased security, travel today is safer than it was before the terrorist attacks. Wasilla High baseball coach Jim Ressler said he has flown out of state several times since the attacks.

"They're searching everything and everybody. It made me feel pretty good," he said.

During the school board's discussion following public testimony, member Linda Menard scolded the administration for not allowing the board or public to have a say in the decision.

Member Rob Wells, however, pointed out that this was the first meeting since the administration's decision and that the process worked as it should.

Members Bob Johnson and Mike Chmielewski said that while they believe travel should be reauthorized, they supported the administration's original decision.

"If you have a major event, there's not time to call the school board," Chmielewski said. "The decision can be . . . overturned by the board."

Chmielewski went on to caution that trips could be canceled in the future, even after groups make plans and buy tickets, if there is another attack.

"That is something we have to live with," he said.

While the board unanimously agreed to allow students to travel outside of Alaska, the administration says it will continue to monitor the national climate as it approves individual trips.

"Certainly we will continue to evaluate the level of risk associated with out-of-state travel," said Kim Floyd, public information specialist with the district. And regardless of national events, district policies will be followed.

"We do have some pretty well-defined guidelines for requirements that must be met prior to approving out-of-state travel," she said. "Nothing has changed in terms of policy."