We need your help to save Schumann and Intermediate School field trips!

The Schools need approximately $35,000 to fund planned field trips.  The PTO is asking that you pay $25 for each student you have in Schumann or the Intermediate School this year to cover field trips.  Don’t put this off - the school needs this money now to ensure it does not have to cancel field trips.  

In the past, the PTO collected fees for field trips as a service to the schools.  Last year, data privacy laws prevented the District from providing contact information for parents who opted out of sharing this information - this was about 1/2 of all elementary school families.  Consequently, in November of 2017 the PTO, with the schools input, decided to stop collecting field trip fees.  The plan was that going forward the schools would begin collecting these fees directly from parents through FeePay- similar to other local schools.  Unfortunately, the School District recently informed the PTO and the schools that a school board policy prevents the schools from doing so and asked that PTO help collect funds for field trips because the District does not have money in its budget for these trips.  

While we understand this timing is not ideal given that Read-a-Thon just concluded, it could not be avoided as we were not informed that the schools needed our help to collect these funds until September.  In the future, the PTO will ensure that any asks related to field trips occur in the summer.

Below are some commonly asked questions and answers about the situation.  If your question is not answered, feel free to reach out to any member of the PTO board.

Please use the Donate Now link below and that will take you directly to PayPal.  

Thank you for your support,

PTO Board

Donate Now

Commonly Asked Questions

Question:  If you collect more money than what is needed for field trips, will the PTO keep the extra money for other programs?

Answer:  No.  All money raised from this campaign will go to the schools for the sole use of field trips.  If we are fortunate enough to collect more money than what is needed this school year, the request/cost for each student will be adjusted in the ask next year. 

Question:  If not enough money is raised to cover field trips, will the PTO decide which field trips to cut? 

Answer:  No.  The PTO is not making any decisions about how the money is spent.  The PTO is only trying to assist the school in maintaining field trips through collecting funds to cover costs.  The schools will be responsible for deciding how the funds are allocated.

Question:  My kids already went on a field trip.  Are the field trips really at risk since they are still happening? 

Answer:  Yes.  The district has allowed the school to borrow a very limited amount of money that was earmarked for other uses to pay for these trips with the expectation that those funds will be replaced by this field trip collection campaign.  Most field trips are on hold as any field trips that cannot be funded by this collection campaign will be cut for lack of funding.

Question:  If you don’t collect enough money through this campaign to cover field trips, will you supplement with funds raised through other PTO fundraisers? 

Answer:  Probably not.  We need all of the money expected to be raised from fundraisers to fund existing enrichment programs such as the Naturalists, Art Residencies, Recess Rockstars, planned speakers on Kindness, Camp Idahupi, etc.  See our web page for more information on what PTO funds.   If a fundraiser raised much more than expected, we may give the schools some of that money for field trips, but our priority is to maintain existing programming. 

Question:  What happens if I don’t pay?  Does than mean my child/children can’t go on field trips? 

Answer:  No.  The schools will not be looking at who paid or did not pay.  All children will go on planned and funded field trips regardless of whether their family contributed.  

Question: Can I give more to help cover families that can't give?

Answer: Of course!  The PTO has always had scholarships available for the students that families were unable to contribute and we would love to continue that ability.  Please give whatever dollar figure your family is able to.

Question:  Are you going to do this campaign again next year? 

Answer:   Yes.  The PTO expects that going forward it will continue to do a check writing campaign to collect funds for field trips, but it will begin in July so the schools can know how much money is available for trips before school starts and plan accordingly.