The Jersey City Board of Education (BOE) was adamant that, despite repeated pleas from students at multiple meetings, a ski field trip is not going to happen due to insurance coverage reasons – as well as for not being on the list of permitted field trips.
Screenshot via Facebook Live.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
At yesterday’s marathon meeting, students again approached the board asking for them to allow a skiing and snowboard field citing a previous trip to the mountain facility in the past.
The president and vice president of Dickinson High School Winter Activities Club hoped the board would approve their trip sought for early 2027 after years of rejections, hoping to create a “memorable and fun experience for students.”
“The reason for this trip is to combine our community and passion to create a memorable and fun experience for our students,” said club Vice President Janessa Audrey Martinez.
“For the two years that we had the trip, which was three years ago, it created a good sense of community since students were able to bond with their friends and even meet new people while supporting each other on the mountain.”
They said students of all backgrounds can enjoy the trip that low-income families might not normally be able to afford, underscoring benefits of the trip including well-being, positive mindset, physical and mental advantages, and academic performance improvements.
The club leadership also pointed to training and safety lessons given to attendees, chaperones from the school, and the appropriate gear needed for skiing and snowboard.
According to the students, 2,000 students showed interest in the trip over the last few years.
The students hammered home how physical activity improves academic performance, citing seven students who raised their grade levels to an “A” years ago after attending similar trips for skiing and snowboarding.
In conclusion, they reiterated how students’ families in Jersey City often don’t have the finances for these types of trips, including 75 students at Dickinson High School coming from low-income families.
Amid their pleas for the board to change course, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Norma Fernandez poured cold water on the idea, though she commended them for speaking in a “respectful and powerful manner.”
“To the students, thank you for taking the initiative to present their proposal for a school ski trip,” Fernandez said.
“We recognize the value of outdoor recreation and active physical education fosters teamwork, personal wellness, and sportsmanship, especially in an urban area where students don’t have access to a school.”
According to Fernandez, the nature of skiing and snowboarding generally precludes it from school sponsorship.
“Because winter sports, downhill skiing, snowboard involve inherent physical risk, school-sponsored trips of this nature are subject to high-risk injuries,” she explained.
“Hence, we moved to exclude those dangerous activities from the approved field trip roster based on those risk factors.”
Responding to student claims the field trip was allowed in the past, Fernandez said the location where they wanted to ski and snowboard would not assure the district students would be covered by insurance at the facility.
“We’ve also not approved contracts with the specific vendor in question because that vendor is unwilling to provide a certificate of insurance and the assurance that students would be covered when skiing at those facilities,” Fernandez revealed.
“So due to the lack of cooperation from that entity, we cannot sponsor or allow students to go on the ski trips. Maybe they can come up with another winter sport that stays closer to the ground.”
BOE President Noemi Velazquez also praised the students for the way they approached the governing body.
“That’s exactly what we teach them to do, to go out and advocate in that way they came in today. They brought in a nice huge group to support them. They were well presented, well-behaved, and their presentation was sound.”
BOE Vice President Dejon Morris later asked for clarity on if the field trip was even allowed, to which Velazquez reiterated it was not on the list of permitted field trips approved by a board vote.
“We voted on it,” Velazquez reminded the board.
Trustee Dr. George Blount noted that the students have come to nearly every meeting in recent history, but now they are hearing about the insurance issue which he felt made sense.
“This isn’t the first time we heard it, that is a clear cut reason,” he declared.
Trustee Afaf Muhammad suggested that the students could go “snow-shoeing or tobogganing,” which Fernandez approved of because “they’re on the ground.”
Trustee Melany Cruz Burgos asked that, since there had been a field trip to the skiing and snowboarding location in the past, what changed to preclude the destination now.
Fernandez told her that the site didn’t lose their insurance, but that the trip years ago shouldn’t have happened.
According to Fernandez, the trips occurred years ago without the proper paperwork, and once she gave the typical vendor contract to the skiing and snowboarding place, issues arose.
While a ski location is likely fully insured, Fernandez said the location won’t provide assurance that students would be covered.
“That was a few years back, they went without the appropriate approval, then it was rectified,” Fernandez clarified.
Cruz Burgos noted that other high schools have gone, and asked Fernandez if it was really a matter of finding the right location with appropriate insurance and a disclosure waiver, to which Fernandez confirmed the organization was the root of the district’s concerns.
