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Board approves student overnight trips including theater fest, Model UN and national competitions
Summary
The board approved several student travel requests for the school year, including Theater Fest at Illinois State University, Model United Nations at Northwestern, leadership conferences and national competitions for VEI and DECA.
The Elmwood Park Board of Education approved multiple student travel requests for the 2025-26 school year, including optional and qualifying overnight trips for Elmwood Park High School students.
High school principal and staff presented a slate of student opportunities and described which trips were optional and which required student qualification. The board approved travel for Theater Fest at Illinois State University (January 8-10), the Operation Snowball CGTI winter and summer leadership conferences at Bloomington-Normal and Eastern Illinois University, Model United Nations at Northwestern University, Virtual Enterprises International in New York City and DECA's competition in Atlanta.
Presenters said optional trips (for example, Theater Fest and Model UN) are paid for by students and fundraising; qualifying trips (such as DECA and VEI) are funded by the district when students earn spots through competition. For Theater Fest, presenters said the district typically sends 12 to 25 students, with a maximum allowed of 36 seats imposed by the festival host. The board discussed whether the district should offset some costs when trips are open to a wide group of students and asked staff to review existing travel guidelines, which had last been examined in January 2022.
Each trip was brought separately for approval. The board moved and seconded motions and recorded votes for each request; the meeting transcript records the board chair announcing each motion carried.
