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School trips to Mexico, Greece scrubbed over safety concerns

Canadian Foreign Affairs concerns about Greece and Mexico are thwarting trips organized by schools in Chinook’s Edge School Division. The board denied this week a trip request from River Glen School, which involved a trip to Italy and Greece during spring break 2013. Travel concerns to Greece were paramount.

Canadian Foreign Affairs concerns about Greece and Mexico are thwarting trips organized by schools in Chinook’s Edge School Division.

The board denied this week a trip request from River Glen School, which involved a trip to Italy and Greece during spring break 2013. Travel concerns to Greece were paramount.

Olds Koinonia Christian School was also turned down for a mission team to travel to Mexico next March.

Foreign Affairs reports that more than 1.5 million Canadians travel to Mexico each year, the vast majority of them without incident, but there are cases of high level violence due to organized crime. People are being told to exercise extreme caution when travelling outside urban tourist areas.

The Canadian department has an official travel warning for Mexico, but not for Greece.

Foreign Affairs reports that general strikes and demonstrations have been taking place more frequently in Greece recently due to the imposition of additional austerity measures.

Division Supt. Kurt Sacher said that the door is not completely shut on these trips.

The schools may come back with alternative areas within those countries so that students will still be able to go, he said.

Safety is paramount, Sacher said.

Olds Koinonia Christian School could still go to the specific area it wants, but it would not be a board-sanctioned trip, he added.

River Glen School also called for a trip to California in February, but that trip was denied because it didn’t have a strong school curriculum link and the request was too close to the departure.

“There should be an educational reason for going,” said Sacher.

The school board also approved setting aside $100,000 for a new or used 72-passenger bus for the 2012-2013 school year, if necessary.

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com