Posted on 05/15/2003 1:38:04 PM PDT by 2Jedismom
Students Left On Bus While Chaperones Gambled In Casino
The Oklahoma City School Board said it is investigating after several Capitol Hill High School students were allegedly left in a casino parking lot during a non-sanctioned field trip while the adult chaperones gambled inside, Eyewitness News 5 reported Wednesday.
The students were left with a bus driver in a casino parking lot on two occasions, said Brittany Taylor, who paid $250 for the field trip, which was promoted as a six-day college recruitment and recreational outing.
The trip's itinerary included a professional basketball game, a New York Yankee's baseball game, and a tour of colleges in three states.
One parent said they learned about the trip's unscheduled detours after their child got back.
"I'm not against gambling. I am against the fact they took my child and left him in a bus with a bus driver and one person in charge a bus load of kids and went gambling," said one parent, who she wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation against her child.
The students said they attended the basketball game, but missed the baseball game, and only visited one of the colleges they were scheduled to tour.
"On the sheet there was a bunch we were supposed to go to, but Mrs. Leggins said we were a day behind," Taylor said.
The field trip was organized and led by Capitol Hill High School Principal Herlena Leggins, but was not approved by the district superintendent.
"No part of this trip sanctioned by the Oklahoma City Board," said Dr. Pam Powell of Oklahoma City Public Schools. She said the school board was never asked about the trip.
Capitol Hill High School activity funds helped finance the trip, but the expenditures were made without board approval, officials said.
The district said it is investigating the field trip.
Powell said that she understands that some parents are upset.
"They ought to be," she said. "If that was my child left on the bus while adults went in to a gambling casino, and I had entrusted the school district and those adults who were acting as chaperones ... I would be most upset."
A copy of an audit of the trip completed by the school board indicates thousands of dollars were spent on the field trip out of the school's activity fund.
It also identifies several people, including the principal and the principal's family, who went on the trip, but were not required to pay the $250 that the students were required to pay.
Leggins could not be reached for comment.
Kidding. Let's run this one down - an unsanctioned, three-day interstate trip at $250 a mark - er, "student" - the chaperones desert, park the kids at a casino, gamble, and the upshot is that only one of three colleges were visited. Breathtaking. I'm thinking Principal Herlena Leggins has some 'splainin' to do...
The whole bunch of the "adults" involved sound like a typical bunch of RATS playing "pass the blame". Unbelievable. I'd be furious!
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