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Students and teachers urge district to restore overnight outdoor school; administrators cited new supervision rules
Summary
Ash Creek fifth graders, teachers and community members described social and emotional benefits of overnight outdoor school and said district supervisory requirements implemented last fall have limited other schools from offering overnight trips.
Fifth graders from Ash Creek Elementary, their teachers and community members told the Central School District 13J board at its June meeting that overnight outdoor school produced measurable social and emotional benefits, and they urged the district to make it easier for other elementary schools to offer similar overnight experiences.
“Outdoor school gave us the opportunity to develop those leadership skills and to practice those skills over the course of three days,” said Emily Bettger, a teacher who introduced the Ash Creek students. Student speakers described cabin activities, ziplining, evening programs and games they said helped them build friendships and confidence. “Overnight outdoor school helped me make friendships, conquer my fears, and have fun,” said a student identified as Kailani.
Several teachers and community members described barriers. Sean Beam, a veteran district teacher who helped run overnight trips, said Ash Creek has managed to return to multi-night programs by accessing the Outdoor School Education Fund, a state lottery-supported fund created in 2017 to provide outdoor experiences to fifth- and sixth-grade students. “We were able to access this money,” Beam said, adding the fund covered camp fees, charter buses, extra staff hours and materials.
Beam and other presenters said district administrators introduced new supervisory and staffing requirements last fall that many schools cannot meet, including a district requirement that staff members be present in every cabin — a standard they characterized as more restrictive than typical outdoor-school practice, which usually relies on parent chaperones or trained high school volunteers to staff cabins.
“It’s my understanding that the other elementary schools are no longer even given the option for overnight outdoor school,” Beam said. Presenters said they had not been given a specific reason why the district implemented the cabin-staffing rule.
Several speakers — including Nathan Mutai, who spoke about his experience attending camp after an accident that left him in a wheelchair — described the overnight stay as formative, improving students’ social skills, confidence and ability to trust adults. Mutai and teachers said the students’ reported memories focus on cabin activities and friendships rather than bad weather or logistical problems.
Board members asked questions and said they would follow up. One board director, Jan, said she would investigate the supervisory-level expectations and suggested the topic could be on a future professional learning community (PLC) agenda so the district could evaluate supervision rules and how to expand overnight opportunities.
Presenters described Ash Creek’s 2022 overnight experience at Canyon View Camp (outside Silverton) as an example of how district use of the Outdoor School Education Fund can cover nearly all program costs. The board did not adopt new policies at the meeting but directed staff to consider the community input and to raise the issue at the June 20 retreat and future PLC discussions.
The students’ presentations and teacher testimony emphasized that overnight trips contribute to social-emotional growth, school-community bonds and student confidence, and presenters asked the district to reconsider supervision requirements that they said prevent many schools from offering overnight options.
