No, Tenn. School District Didn’t Cancel All Field Trips Due to Low Test Scores. Here's What Really Happened
A school board member reportedly claimed the district scrapped field trips "due to low test scores," but the superintendent tells PEOPLE that is not the case
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A stock image of a school busA Tennessee school district has not canceled all field trips for the 2024-25 school year due to low test scores, despite what one school board member had reportedly claimed.
Superintendent Dr. Versie R. Hamlett confirmed the news in an email to PEOPLE on Tuesday, Aug. 13, citing information from a letter to families of the Fayette County Public Schools after the first week of the new school year.
The clarification comes after a Fayette County school board member shared a post on social media that suggested they had been scrapped altogether, according to CBS affiliates WREG and WKRC.
“Due to low test scores, Dr. Hamlett has canceled all field trips,” school board member Warner Speakman reportedly shared online, per WREG.
However, the letter sent to families on Friday, Aug. 9 does not make that assertion.
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The letter, obtained by PEOPLE, states that schools will “limit field trips, similar to last year” as the district enters its second year of a new academic plan. Doing so allows educators “to increase classroom instruction time.”
“We look forward to seeing these measures continue to advance our district and enhance student learning,” Hamlett said in the letter.
Some parents, and even some members of the community, were upset after hearing their children might have lost all field trips for the year.
Ashley Turner, a mom of a student who attends FCPS, believes kids are often “learning more from the field trips because they’re having fun,” according to WREG.
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She also expressed concerns about the teacher shortage’s impact on the school district’s plan to have students spend more time in the classroom.
"They don't have teachers to teach the kids so how are they going to have higher test scores when half of them,” Turner said, noting that some kids went “without a math teacher” last year.
Bart Gilmer, whose Falcon Ridge Farm is often a destination for school field trips, told WKRC it would be “a bad decision.”
"I can't see a whole lot of advantages for it,” Gilmer explained. “On a good year we'll have 6,000 to 7,000 kids come out here and experience life on the farm and get to see some stuff that they may have never seen before and may never get to see again."
The Aug. 9 letter to families asked parents to communicate with their child’s teachers or school administration team should they “have any questions, concerns or suggestions” about the plans outlined for the year.
“To our families, your support is invaluable,” Hamlett wrote. She later added, “We look forward to working together to make this year a great one for all.”
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