SD73 European spring break trips cancelled as a precaution due to COVID-19

KAMLOOPS — Despite stating earlier this week that there were no out-of-country trips booked for School District 73 students over spring break, the district now confirms there were trips planned but they have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a news release Friday (March 6), the school district says, out of an abundance of caution, it has cancelled school group tours for students planning to visit Europe during spring break.

The decision is being made due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 and travel advisories. It affects 38 staff and students from Clearwater Secondary, Valleyview Secondary and Sa-Hali Secondary who had planned to visit different regions of Europe starting March 13.

“Unfortunately, this year we are faced with a global challenge with the outbreak of COVID-19,” said Bill Hamblett, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools in the release. “Due to the risk of harm for students and staff travelling to regions of Europe, we had to make the call to cancel these trips.”

South Kamloops Secondary students will still travel to Costa Rica as planned, but SD73 will be monitoring the situation.

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“We are currently working with travel providers and individual schools to see if trips can be refunded, rescheduled or rerouted. Schools and trip organizers will communicate directly with affected students and families about the next steps related to refunds,” Hamblett said.

On Wednesday (Mar. 4), School District 73 administrator Trish Smillie, speaking on behalf of the district, told CFJC Today that there were no international trips planned.

“Luckily not this year. We have none on the works, so it was just Canadian trips we were looking at this year, which is different than usual,” Smillie said.

Speaking to CFJC Today Friday, Hamblett says Smillie was referring to board-approved trips, of which there are none outside of country this year. Hamblett says the trips cancelled today were not approved the Board of Education.