Board cancels ‘Dots’ trip to Haiti

South Adams High School’s annual Dots in Blue Water mission trip to Haiti has been canceled. 

South Adams School Board decided to rescind its approval for the trip at its meeting Tuesday, citing a travel advisory from the United States government. 

Dots in Blue Water is a South Adams group that has traveled to Haiti every year since 2011 to provide water purification systems. 

The board initially gave its approval for the trip, tentatively scheduled for June 4 through 11, at its Feb. 12 meeting. Two days later, the U.S. State Department issued a Level 4 travel warning discouraging citizens from traveling to Haiti. According to the advisory, there is a risk of crime, civil unrest and kidnapping because of violent protests throughout the country.  

At Tuesday’s meeting, superintendent Scott Litwiller recommended the board cancel the field trip. 

Jeff Lehman, a health teacher at the high school and one of the co-leaders of Dots in Blue Water, told the board that the group did not believe they would be any less safe than in previous years. He said if the trip is canceled by the school, the mission will continue, but only with adults. 

“Dots in Blue Water will graciously respect and honor whatever decision is made by our school board,” Lehman read from a prepared statement. “Dots in Blue Water will still pursue the opportunity to further our mission by traveling to Haiti as planned with only the Dots in Blue Water leaders, the graduating seniors who already planned on joining us and possibly several other adult guests.”

About a dozen underclassmen were planning to go on the trip, Lehman said. 

Board member Mitch Sprunger praised the group, calling it “uniquely South Adams.” But he agreed that the risk to students was too great to condone the trip. 

“Safety is first and foremost, let alone the cost if something would happen,” Sprunger said. “We’re a public school and I feel like we have to do what the State Department is asking us, or directing. … It tears me up.” 

The board voted unanimously to cancel the trip. 

South Adams will not have any liability for the group of adults still planning to go, since the school has officially rescinded its approval. It will return money donated for the trip to donors or transfer it to those still going on the trip. It will also not provide any additional assistance, such as transportation to the airport. 

In other business, board members Arlene Amstutz, John Buckingham, John Mann, Amy Orr, Landon Patterson, Julie Mansfield and Sprunger: 

•Learned that there will be a parent technology night at 6 p.m. May 20. Parents will get a preview of the school’s new online registration form for the 2019-2020 school year. There will also be door prizes, a cyber safety talk, childcare and snacks for sale. 

•Tabled a decision on where to draw the remaining $54,000 needed for construction of the baseball concessions building. 

•OK’d the summer school curriculums. 

•Approved several field trips. State qualifiers from the auto service and machine trades classes will go to the SkillsUSA State Contest in Indianapolis April 19 and 20; the high school seniors will visit Cincinnati, Ohio, and Newport, Kentucky, on May 8; and 20 Project Lead the Way students will visit Kings Island, Ohio, for Kings Island’s engineering day on May 10. 

•Accepted the resignations of Lana Shoaf, a high school English teacher; Lori Ness, a custodian; Luke McClung as boys soccer coach; and Chad Mitchell as girls soccer coach. 

•Hired Janine Fights as a part-time special education aide for the middle and high school intense intervention classroom and Jeff Turner as a paid softball coach. 

•Accepted the retirement of Kathy Turner, who has been the elementary school’s guidance counselor since 1987.

•Renewed a one-year lease agreement with Head Start for use of a classroom in the elementary school for $600 a month. 

•Voted to allow the Swiss Days committee to use the auditorium and two classrooms July 24 to 28 for rehearsals and performances of “Hello Dolly!” Performances are scheduled for July 27 and 28. 

•Approved a first reading of several new and updated policies. Coaches will complete heat-related medical training; there is a new requirement to assess elementary school students for dyslexia; staff will need to complete human trafficking training every two years; and there were updates to the student suicide awareness and prevention policy. 

•Accepted donations of $100 from Jay County REMC for refreshments for the machine trades open house and $100 from Christlike Services for tools for the machine trades program.