Wallingford school leaders told the Board of Education on May 29 that students are participating in hundreds of field trips and that families who cannot afford fees are supported by building funds.

Board member Missus Reinis raised concerns that some families believe field trips have been withheld and asked for district data and process clarity. Administrator Missus Latour provided the figures and said field trips resumed after COVID and the district moved to an electronic approval system.

Latour said the district recorded about 164 field trips between December and the end of the previous school year and had 244 field‑trip requests submitted so far this year. She supplied a school‑by‑school breakdown for the current year and warned that the request count can undercount some repeat dates because a single form may cover multiple outings.

Latour also said the district maintains building‑level funds to cover costs for students who cannot pay. "No. ... we have accounts at each building for families who have some financial constraints and we, absolutely supplement those costs for them," she said when asked whether any child was denied participation due to cost.

Board members and administrators discussed why the district no longer runs certain long overnight programs such as Nature’s Classroom. Latour said the program was paused after COVID for logistical and budgetary reasons: high per‑student cost, difficulty finding chaperones, and the need to provide comparable in‑school experiences for students who did not attend. Since the pandemic, the district has emphasized local and state trips; administrators said international trips were suspended because of refund and logistical challenges during COVID and have not been resumed.

Administrators encouraged families with concerns about field‑trip frequency to contact classroom teachers and building principals; they noted that many in‑school enrichment experiences are alternatives to bus trips and that high school clubs and classes naturally run more outings than elementary classrooms.