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Roswell SkillsUSA teams place at nationals; flight cancellations force an overnight road return and prompt travel protocol review
Summary
Students from Roswell schools placed in national SkillsUSA competitions and returned after flights were canceled; the board directed staff to draft a travel contingency protocol for student groups by August.
Students from Roswell high schools returned to town after a national SkillsUSA competition that produced multiple top finishes and a difficult return trip when flights were canceled on the way home.
Educators and students told the board they took a team of 11 students to the national competition in Atlanta. The entrepreneurship team placed fifth nationally and the commercial drones team placed 11th; students also competed in architectural drafting and cybersecurity events. Student Christopher Velez described his team’s entrepreneurship entry as “a smart knee sleeve, which helps recovery for torn ACLs and other, ligaments in your knee,” and said judges gave the team 12 minutes for a presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A.
The return trip was disrupted when the group’s flights were canceled on Friday night. According to teachers and coaches, long delays and canceled flights left the team with limited airline options; chaperones rented vehicles and drove students home, arriving Monday night. Dr. Cottrell, who accompanied students, described the logistics work required after the cancellations and thanked staff and sponsors who helped with reimbursement and temporary lodging.
Why it matters: the students’ placements were a point of pride for district CTE and career-pathway programs; the travel disruption exposed gaps in district procedures for large out-of-state student travel and prompted trustees to ask staff to create clearer protocols.
Board action: trustees asked Superintendent Luck and Cabinet staff to draft a travel contingency protocol that would spell out immediate steps for sponsors, communication plans with families, and emergency funding mechanisms for chartered travel or rental vehicles. Board Member Kyla Sanchez agreed to coordinate a working group with athletics, school leaders and transportation staff and asked for a draft for the August meeting.
District next steps: staff said they will prepare a framework of standard emergency protocols for overnight travel (including limits on unsupervised driving hours and guidance on use of district purchase cards) and return with a proposed plan in August.
