Committee to review trips abroad program

Winthrop High School World Languages teacher Michael Nickerson has coordinated international travel trips for WHS students since 2012.

For the first several years he ran the trips, they were sponsored by the school department. However, they are currently run through an outside educational travel agency.

At last week’s school committee meeting, Nickerson praised the job the most recent company has done in running the trips, but said he was looking to have the trips once again fall under the umbrella of the public school district.

Nickerson said that running sanctioned international trips would allow them to be promoted within the schools, which they currently cannot be when run by an outside company. School-sanctioned trips would also mean that the students who take part would have to abide by the school district’s conduct policy.

Typically, the international trips rotate between Spain, Italy, and an additional European country such as Greece or Ireland. Nickerson told the school committee that while some of the trips, such as Italy and Greece, fill up quickly, trips to some other countries would benefit from promotion within the schools.

Nickerson also noted that while the trips take place during school vacation week, there are sometimes departure flights on school days just before the vacations begin. Because the trips are not sponsored by the schools, the students who take part are not able to have their absences excused.

“Mike runs a very, very tight ship, and I think the committee just needs to get feedback on if there is any reason to not (do it),” said Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard.

School Committee Chair Layne Petrie moved the discussion to a future meeting of the Winthrop School Committee’s athletics and extracurriculars subcommittee.

“Whether it is for Italy or for 2027, I just want to get it on the books again,” said Nickerson.

Currently, the trips do not have to come before the school committee for approval, but if they once again do, the committee will have to sign off on the trips as it does for all official district overnight travel.