Gower Parents Urge School Trips

Citing tradition and along with various benefits, a dozen parents urged the Gower School District Board of Education to continue the sixth grade trips to White Pines Ranch.

“I think that trip is invaluable for more than one reason. It’s not just the academic experience that’s provided while there,” parent Julie Albert said Tuesday. “There’s more to it than that. It’s the social component, it’s the bonding of the class. For many of these children its’ the first opportunity they’ve had to go away or be away from home. The learning goes beyond the academics. It’s an individual growth.”

For more than three decades the sixth-grade students at have taken a three-day trip to the Oregon, IL camp as part of the outdoor education curriculum. However, recent reviews of the curriculum by the sixth grade team indicated some changes could be made to make the program better, Superintendent Steve Griesbach said.

“We still want to have an outdoor education program, but we’d like it to be different,” he said.

A two-day program program at Harvester Park in Burr Ridge is proposed and could eliminate the overnight component of the outdoor education experience.

According to Rebecca Laratta, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and innovation, between 15 and 20 percent of the sixth grade class does not go on the White Pines trip. Among the reasons are cost, concerns about spending two nights away from home, family events/schedules, competitions as well as cultural or religious reasons.

“There is a comparison between kids who go on the trip and kids who do not,” she said. “We do try to make sure that we have a parallel experience for the students who don’t go.”

In addition, the overnight trip means the students and teachers are losing three days of instruction time in the classroom, she said.
Laratta, who served as principal of the middle school until this month, said the sixth grade team asked if it could make “this program here locally even better so that all students can participate and the units are more closely aligned to our district curriculum.”

The first day of the proposed program at Harvester Park focuses on the environmental themes and includes labs from the science curriculum. The second day focuses on a “survival” problem and draws from several learning areas.

“This ties best to 21st century learning,” Laratta said of the proposal. “This schedule has really those skills as well as science curriculum and a reading/language arts common core thread.”
Resident Butch Baudhuin said the trip to White Pines provides experiences the local area can not.

“There’s only so much a textbook can do, there’s only so much you can do on a day trip or field trip to Harvester Park,” Baudhuin said. “It’s something I think that’s real important to the kids.”
Parents said it would be a disservice to change the program because students look forward to it.

“I think taking away a lot of these activities will do these kids an injustice because so many of them have older brothers or sisters who have gone through this program and they know what to expect,” parent Seka Kaplarevic said. “They can’t wait to get to sixth grade because they know White Pines is waiting for them.”

Several board members expressed support for the White Pines trip. Board member Richard Grunsten also said the trip offers something the local program does not.

“The thing is, that trip (to White Pine) combines learning with something very positive and exciting and motivating...,” Grunsten said. “I think it would be an experience where kids can see fun and learning go together.”

Vice President Jennifer Planson said White Pines is valuable, but the program needs to be fixed.

“I think the content can be enriched to get to the common core,” she said. “I think that needs to be implemented.”

Board member Sebha Khan said whether the students go to White Pines or not, the board shouldn’t dismiss what the teachers are trying to say.

“If you’re going to fix something, don’t fix what is the marquee of the sixth grade year,” board member Mark Timko said. “That’s not where that improvement should be.” 

The board took no action on the matter Tuesday, but instead directed Laratta to work with the sixth grade team to determine if Gower curriculum could be worked into the lessons and activities at White Pines.