Mad Micromanaging Disney Mom

[clarabellej]

Should I take issue with the fact that a teacher’s boyfriend has joined on my daughter’s school trip to Disney?

The trip was getting on my nerves anyway, because the teacher in charge did not see any point in arranging initial FPs for the kids.

So they are now having to stand in the long Spribg Break standby lines to ride anything.

They secured a FP for Splash Mountain day of, but were told that “water rides are dangerous” and forced to cancel the FP.

Then last straw, I find out that the boyfriend has joined the teacher along with some other friends the students do not know.

How would you handle this situation?

This is a group of High School kids.

So I am torn between staying out of it or being totally ticked off.

After all, we paid for our kid’s trips and the inefficiency of planning, is a waste of our money.

A side note: Rumor has it, the boyfriend will propose to the teacher. Why am I not charmed by this??

 

[mousehockey37]

That's pretty remote. If he was another teacher in the district, he wouldn't be there as "her boyfriend". He would be there as "another teacher".

The OP didn't really go into detail, nor have they really been back to address anything. So the bf could still be another teacher, maybe from another district (who knows what he does). Whatever the case, if he's going, he's going. In actuality, at least he's known now... before the trip. As long as the kids aren't sleeping in coed situations, who honestly cares what the adults do? They're adults.

 

[Muffinpants]

OP your kid is in HS.. by now your rules and lessons will be taught and they will be fine on the trip. Dont make it more stressfull on them for no reason. Just keep in touch via cell phone

 

[GholsHost]

I wouldn’t care about the boyfriend being there but I’d be annoyed if I the trip was being spent as a vacation for teacher & boyfriend vs them chaperoning the kids as they are supposed to.

I really don’t understand why in the world they would make high school kids cancel a Fastpass and not let them go on splash mountain though. I don’t know how groups trips to disneyworld work though. I went to Disneyland in high school and we were pretty much let go on our own with scheduled meet-ups.

Yeah, forbidding rides on Splash Mountain seems to be overkill for high schoolers.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Do you feel confident in your parenting? If so, she'll be fine. You raised a good kid.

Being 2019 doesn't make it any more moral than it was in 1945...

Morals haven't changed too much, but interpretation and execution certainly have.

 

[Shouldigo12]

I think it was pretty unprofessional of the teacher to bring her boyfriend, especially if this wasn't run by the parents first. Not because they were unmarried, that's not a big deal. But because it's too likely it would interfere with her job. IMO, trip chaperones are there to make sure the kids don't run into trouble. They're not there to have a romantic trip with the SO. Call the school and tell them what's up, but just focus on the teacher part. The school probably will not care that your daughter had to stand in lines, but they may be bothered by what the teacher did. I would also ask around and see if any other parents are bothered by it.

 

[Patcheslee]

I think it was pretty unprofessional of the teacher to bring her boyfriend, especially if this wasn't run by the parents first. Not because they were unmarried, that's not a big deal. But because it's too likely it would interfere with her job. IMO, trip chaperones are there to make sure the kids don't run into trouble. They're not there to have a romantic trip with the SO. Call the school and tell them what's up, but just focus on the teacher part. The school probably will not care that your daughter had to stand in lines, but they may be bothered by what the teacher did. I would also ask around and see if any other parents are bothered by it.

Heck my kids school doesn't even allow chaperones for field trips without a background check, finger prints on file, and a 4 hour training course on proper chaperoning. I don't know how common the class portion is but definitely not something I remember when I was in school.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

You can’t stop the guy from going to WDW independently.

 

[Shouldigo12]

You can’t stop the guy from going to WDW independently.

Very true. I guess my questions would be 1. Was there another chaperone to watch the kids while the teacher was with the boyfriend? And 2. Was he hanging out with the teacher while she was chaperoning? If they were meeting up during the teacher's "down time" then that's not too bad.

 

[bostonpayne]

I understand your point about the boyfriend part and I understand it is 2019 but this is a trip for the students not for the chaperones.
It should be professional.

She is going to Disney world. I’m sure everything will be fine.

If the students had to pay for this trip I think they should be able to pick what they want to do or try.

 

[Shouldigo12]

If the students had to pay for this trip I think they should be able to pick what they want to do or try.

On the group trips like this, when they're organizes by the school, its usually a requirement that the kids stay in groups. It's not really feasible to let the kids pick out the itinerary, since even if they're split into groups of, say, five kids each, that's going to be five different opinions on what they should be doing and five sets of parents mad that their kid wasn't able to do what they wanted. I know on my schools trip to New York the students were given some time to explore (in areas that were approved by the chaperone) but for the most part they had to stick to the activities that school planned.