July 10, 2008 at 7:06 pm · Filed under Travel_Trip
1. Always keep these helpful items in your vehicle at all times especially for those last minute road trips: maps, jumper cables, charged cell phone, flares, flash-light, first aid kit, blankets, an auto club card if you break down, and some spare cash hidden in your vehicle.
2. Be sure to plan your route carefully. Use websites like mapquest (http://www.mapquest.com)and google earth (http://earth.google.com/) to plan your route. Also note the places you want to stop for breaks and gasoline fill-ups. This allows you to know which are safer than others.
3. Always park in well-lighted areas, if you plan to arrive or leave after dark.
4. Don’t park in an isolated or visually obstructed area near walls or heavy foliage.
5. Use valet parking or an attended garage, not a vacant one, especially if you’re driving alone.
6. As you walk to your car be alert to suspicious persons sitting in cars near yours.
7. Ask for a security escort if you are alone at a shopping center. Don’t worry, it’s not an inconvenience on their part, it’s their job.
8. Watch out for young males loitering in the area (handing out flyers, trying to start a conversation, selling something etc.) Be sure to make eye contact with them.
9. If someone tries to approach, turn back into the establishment you just came from, (store, restaurant etc.) and ask to be escorted out or call someone from the store’s phone or your cell phone to meet you there.
10. Always tell friends or loved ones where you are going and check in with them when you have arrived.
By following these car and road trip safety tips, you can effectively protect yourself and keep safe.
Michelle Annese, “The Diva of Defense
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May 27, 2008 at 5:15 pm · Filed under Travel_Trip
1. Take along a medical professional
If your budget allows for it, and you need another chaperone on the trip, consider asking your school nurse to go along on the trip with you. Other alternatives could be the parent of a student that is a nurse or physician. This person often will get a free or at least reduced cost on the trip, but in return you will not have to worry as much about what to do if a student gets sick after you leave. Suggestion: if at all possible take the school nurse. They have liability coverage through the school just in case something goes wrong.
2. Plan ahead and make sure your chaperones are kept busy during the trip
Taking more chaperones on trip than you need is not necessarily a good thing. Sometimes adults can be even more of a pain than the students can, especially if that adult sees the trip as a vacation for themselves rather than as an educational experience for the students.
3. Ban alcohol on your trip
I’m not talking about just students, I’m also talking about adults. Our local band parent’s organization passed a resolution several years ago which forbids any adult on the trip from consuming alcohol even if no students are around. First, it sends a good message to your students. Second, it is a good safeguard against a parent calling your principal and complaining because their daughter told them that their chaperone was down drinking in the hotel bar last night.
4. Provide your chaperones with a guidebook
Make a planning packet specifically for your chaperones that spells out your expectations, their duties, and a more in-depth itinerary than the one you give to the students. Also included in this guidebook should be a roomate listing, airline flight assignments, travel agent emergency numbers, and cell phone numbers for you and your trip nurse.
5. Always have an emergency plan in place
Give each participant a wallet sized card with cell phone numbers, hotel numbers, and other important information to use on the chance that they get seperated from the group. If traveling in a country that does not speak your language, include on the card a sentence or two in the native language explaining how to contact you. Tell your participants to present this card to only to a police officer or someone they believe they can trust and only use it if needed.
About The Author
Chad Criswell is a well regarded high school music teacher. He has over a decade of experience planning and coordinating trips for school and non-profit groups of all sizes. He is a respected resource person for band, choir, and other activity groups across the country.
Mr. Criswell hosts a web site dedicated to music education topics for students, parents, and teachers located at http://www.musicedmagic.com
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