Orchestra director outlines planned Germany trip; board hears three vendor bids and fundraising plan
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Summary
Okemos High School’s orchestra director presented a long-standing reciprocal exchange with a German sister school, described three tour bids, fundraising steps and a proposed March 23–31 travel window to preserve a homestay, and trustees asked about price locks and bid parity.
Okemos High School’s orchestra director described plans to resume a reciprocal student-exchange trip to Ludwigshafen, Germany, and presented three tour-company options and a fundraising plan to the board.
Lede: The high school director said the exchange program with a German sister school began in the 1990s and that three tour providers — including the company the district used previously — submitted proposals; families have already paid deposits to the preferred vendor but the board must approve the trip under district policy.
Nut graf: The director requested board guidance after securing multiple bids: the recommended option includes a homestay with the German partner school and a March 23–31 travel window so students arrive during the German school’s spring break. The director said deposits already collected would be refundable if the board did not approve the trip.
The director told trustees the program is a three-decade tradition: Okemos and the Theodor‑Heuss Gymnasium (Ludwigshafen) have exchanged visiting students and ensembles for decades. He presented three bids — he named WorldStrides and EF Tours (Sound of Europe) and another company identified as “KI” — and said the WorldStrides and the third vendor both offered homestays while one itinerary (EF Tours) did not include a homestay component.
He explained that he originally contracted with the company that brought the German students to Okemos in 2023 and that some families have begun paying deposits; he said the contract he has with that provider includes a refund clause should the board decline the trip. He also described student fundraising (cookie-dough sales and presentations to community groups such as Kiwanis) and said raised funds are held in student-specific accounts to offset each participating student’s cost.
Trustees asked whether prices were locked in for families who had already paid. The director said the vendor that already received deposits had locked the price for those families; he said he subsequently requested matched itineraries and pricing from the other two vendors. Trustees asked whether the RFQ information was distributed evenly; the director said he had shared the WorldStrides itinerary as a template and asked other companies to provide comparable proposals.
Ending: Trustees thanked the director for obtaining multiple bids and noted the advantage of early fundraising to make payments more manageable for families. The board did not take formal action at the meeting; trustees requested further follow-up and confirmed the district’s practice of accepting multiple bids to comply with board policy.
