School tour aborted, kids now due back at 2:30am. Overreaction?

[Encolere]

My 16 year old is on a school trip. They left on Sunday and were due back tomorrow evening. They were having a great time. After dinner this evening they were told some (unnamed) kids were caught with illegal substances and they were all to pack up immediately to be shipped home. They are a 5 hour drive away and will now get in at 2:30 am. I, and most other parents, have to be up a few hours later for work.

AIBU to think this is an extreme reaction? It was a small number (I presume) of the 40 or so kids on the trip. There was no mention of any of the other students being in danger nor were the police involved as far as we know. If the schools previous MO for dealing with incidents like this are to go by, this will never be mentioned again and the kids involved will remain anonymous.

It is probably revelvant that this school group have been trouble from their first year in secondary. Despite the majority of the group being well behaved they are always (all) in trouble because of the actions of those few who are lacking in the cop on department.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Will the school report the incident to the police back home?

They can't be in another country can they, as then they'd have smuggled drugs across borders (and back again probably) which is a different level of incident altoegther.

I don't suppose the school will want all the admin associated with a police investigation. Do they have a choice?

But, maybe this is the last straw for the pupils concerned and, the beginning of the school handing over administrative responsibility for their misdeeds to other agencies.

[AlexaAmbidextra]

Brexit is not going to help.

So tedious, having to work Brexit into everything. 😴

[BrizzleMint]

I'd be furious if this happened in a school trip that my dc were on. the ones with the drugs AIBU not the school.

[Bluelonerose]

Back in my day it was alcohol you snuck on school trips. now feels 100

I feel sorry for everyone in that situation except the trouble makers.
I hope the school are not going to sweep it under the rufg

[Shadowboy]

About 7/8 years ago we took 60 students to the Alps for a week. Whilst there one of the lads got really drunk- it meant staying up in shifts to keep an eye on him (he’d packed vodka in his suitcase!) we called the parents who had decided to go on holiday that week because he wasn’t home!!! It doesn’t matter what parents sign regarding behaviour- if they are not home to collect or don’t answer the phone- as a member of staff it’s a nightmare.

We couldn’t take him home because of staff ratios.

It may be that either the accommodation have sent them home or staff don’t feel other students are safe due to the poor behaviour of others?

[clairedelalune]

It is really not very unusual for accommodation to ask a whole party to leave if some members of said party have caused a problem..... most likely scenario.

[JenniferJareau]

Also, I don't think this is a punishment for the innocent ones, it's simply a consequence of what the guilty ones did. That's not the same thing at all.

It is actually. I hated the times I was punished by activities being stopped just because the troublemakers did something wrong. They didn't get punished individually, we all did. Those troublemakers didn't give a shit about the rest of us, they thought they were 'cool' and just carried on.

[LellyMcKelly]

I’d be surprised if they had a choice. They venue may have asked them to leave, escorting home the culprits might have made staff student ratios untenable, and they don’t know who has taken what and if the culprits were dealing. TBFgiven any one or two of those I’d have done the same. Rubbish for the innocent ones but most teachers would have considered what was safest for the group as a whole.

[Sleepyblueocean]

The school won't know for sure who has drugs or has taken drugs and the safest thing is to bring everyone home. Some children staying and some going home would also mess up staff ratios. I've been on a trip where there were alcohol issues and it wasn't cut short but drugs are a different ball game.

[Splodgetastic]

Possibly the owner of the premises asked them to leave as the owner would also have liability in this situation.

[Splodgetastic]

Sorry, I think I’ve just twigged that this was not in England, but I assume that there may be similar laws in other countries about a premises owner knowing that there are drugs on the premises.

[wombat1a]

Those in charge probably had no option, if they can't get the parents to pick up the kids, if they can't send the kids back with a teacher because of staff ratios, if the venue says you have to leave then what other option is there?

If just one of these kids parents refuses to collect their kid then the teachers are stuck, not just stuck but stuck with kids that may be taking drugs while they have responsibility. It's a wonder any school trips happen now days at all.

[Reastie]

Agree it could be that the accommodation asked them to leave.

As a teacher I was surprised to read they were all taken straight home. I would have thought if there was sufficient staff one should stay with this group at accommodation or similar whilst everyone else did the fun stuff during the day by way of punishment and some kind of punishment when they got back to school (if expulsion isn’t an option than at the very least being excluded either within the school or at home) for a period of time.

[Tixywixy]

I doubt very much that the guilty ones owned up so it's an impossible situation for the teachers. They're not police investigators.

I completely agree that it shouldn't be swept under the carpet though. I'd be tempted, if I were the school head, to bring in the police just to interview the children at the very least to put the frighteners on them. If they can narrow down the group, I'd ban them from all future trips. It may be unfair to the innocent ones who might be sharing the room where the drugs were found but at least limits the punishment somewhat.

It's a bit of a problem if they are no other local schools as I imagine the school cannot expel the children for legal reasons (depriving them of an education?). But the school should be able to impose some sanctions - a week's exclusion, having to write a letter to apologise to staff and all other pupils, being banned from any other trips for instance. I would write to the school demanding this as a minimum. You can be understanding of their position without agreeeing that they should collude with these pupils going forward.

[Tixywixy]

That is if they can be identified!

[havingtochangeusernameagain]

Don’t you think hauling them home at significant inconvenience to parents is exactly the sort of response that might get the culprits’ parents to do something about this behaviour

How does inconveniencing other parents and children achieve this?

Also, I don't think this is a punishment for the innocent ones, it's simply a consequence of what the guilty ones did. That's not the same thing at all

Of course it's a collective punishment. No need to send all the kids home. Get the parents of the culprits to collect their offspring/call the police, the rest carry on and enjoy the trip.

[echt]

Haven't RTFT but the teachers are probably bound by rules not of their own making, so have to end the trip.

My other guess us that parents of pupils who have been bad 'uns since Year 7 and are still so at 16, have no grip whatsoever so would not turn up to collect their spawn.

[Springisallaround]

This happened on my dd's school trip. It isn't that unexpected an occurrence. The police came to the hotel, and the offenders went home. Everyone else stayed and had a lovely time. I wouldn't be annoyed at missing half a day, if it is was most of a paid for trip I would be extremely annoyed as it is quite predictable that under 18's get up to stupid things, alcohol, cannabis, on trips.

[Yougotdis]

I used to manage an activity centre with a zero drugs policy for staff and guests. If it was just their group staying on site I may have been allowed to let the group stay if the offenders left. If other schools were there the entire booking would have to be cancelled

[Canshopwillshop]

It’s a shame the group have ruined it for the rest and I agree that only those pupils should be affected but that may be very difficult logistically. I think the school should take some responsibility for allowing a group of known trouble-makers on the trip in the first place. At my DC’s school the misbehaving kids don’t get chosen for trips.

[Fishwifecalling]

Yes concentrate on getting the school to ensure that the good ones don't miss out in the future. What's done is done on this one.

[ReanimatedSGB]

I'd also be advising the school not to use that venue again if they think it's OK to throw people out at 2am FFS. If some individuals (ie the ones with drugs) were rampaging, call the police and have them removed to the cells. But expecting designated drivers to embark on a 5 hour trip, with other people's kids, on next to no sleep? That's more dangerous than fucking drugs...

[echt]

But expecting designated drivers to embark on a 5 hour trip, with other people's kids, on next to no sleep? That's more dangerous than fucking drugs

That is exactly what teachers are expected to do.



NOT

[Brilliantidiot]

I never thought about the accommodation asking them to leave. That is possible. I would have thought they'd have called the police though in that case (my school did that to scare some students when I was at school - it terrified me, I'm not sure it had much impact on the guilty though)

I work in a hotel and we have a 2 strikes and you're out policy for smoking in rooms and for drugs. I have thrown a whole group out at a party once, they were supposed to be staying, set the fire alarm off smoking dope in the room and then caught them in the toilets later doing lines on the only flat surface available. They were kicked straight out, and anyone who tried to argue was told the police would be called if they didn't leave immediately.
It puts the license for alcohol and entertainment at risk if you don't act hard and fast. Calling the police though is usually a last resort because all these incidents are recorded and if there's a few then the venue can have conditions put on the license, or have it totally removed, or refused renewal. Things are a lot tighter than they used to be.
So it's in the best interests of the hotel to get them out and out fast.
I also think it's fair enough that the teachers don't want to deal with it, they shouldn't have to, and as others have said, if parents can't be contacted to collect and sending a staff member with them means the wrong staff/pupil ratio then they've got no choice but to all leave if the trouble makers have been kicked out.

[Adversecamber22]

Two pupils were expelled around this time of year in their GCSE year for bringing drugs on to school premises at DS school. I’m wondering what the repercussions will be for those directly involved.

Annoying for the majority but understandable.