Policy committee sends proposed revision to school-trip rule to full board

The Union County Public Schools policy committee voted June 16 to send a proposed revision to Policy 5-16, the district’s school trips policy, to the full school board for review at the board’s July meeting.

Ms. Elliott, a district staff member, presented the proposal and told the committee the existing policy requires a curricular connection for school trips that remove students from the academic environment but does not clearly address summer camp or enrichment trips that occur outside the regular school day. "The policy does provide for a requirement for some type of curricular connection when we have school trips that are taking place in the context of the school environment," Ms. Elliott said, and staff proposed an edit ‘‘that clarifies that while those trips are not necessarily required to have a direct curricular connection, they are required to comply with all other board policies, guidelines, and approval processes as a school trip.”

Committee members moved and seconded a referral of the edit to the full board; the motion carried by voice vote. The motion did not record individual member names in the transcript; committee members answered "I" in the affirmative when the chair called for the vote.

The committee also approved the meeting agenda and the open-session minutes by voice vote early in the meeting. The chair closed the session with a brief message to the community, congratulating seniors and district educators and reminding families to be safe over the summer. The committee announced its next meeting for Aug. 18, 2026, and then adjourned after a final motion that passed by voice vote.

Next steps: the proposed edit to Policy 5-16 will be considered by the full Union County Public Schools board at its July meeting; the transcript records staff recommending that referral but does not specify the exact July meeting date or the names of committee members who moved or seconded the motion.