Our Outers program has existed at our high school for 53 years. A lot of kids have done some very serious wilderness tripping during that time. The program culminates each June with a lengthy wilderness trip. For many years, it was a 14 day trip, but the Board of Education has slowly eroded the length to 7 to 8 days now. New regulations that are often difficult to meet, combined with the continual search for funding has made it a labour of love to continue operations.
This June was the first time in 53 years we did not have a spring trip, due to the Covid stuff. I was thinking over the past few days that regular trips will probably not be allowed to run for a long time. We use large prospector tents, so there are usually 10 to 13 boys in one tent and 7 to 10 girls in another. On the longer trips, if someone has a cold, everyone has it by the end of the trip. In large groups on canoe trips, it is very difficult to socially distance. I was envisaging 30 one man tents, and then laughed to myself, as we would be hard pressed to find any campsites that could accommodate ten tents.
My prediction is that this will be the end of our club. Our Board of Ed advertises our program as a flagship of good things going on in schools, but at the same time, the new bean counter there tries his best to prevent trips from happening by insisting on War and Peace sized piles of paperwork, and tries to micro manage the whole process, even though he has never been on a canoe trip in his life. I'm fairly sure he will seize the opportunity to put the final nail in the program.
Even if the Board is supportive, the cancellation of a program for a year will probably be enough to prevent its resurrection.
I suspect this will be a similar situation played out across Ontario.
I wonder if I'm being a realist or a pessimist.
This June was the first time in 53 years we did not have a spring trip, due to the Covid stuff. I was thinking over the past few days that regular trips will probably not be allowed to run for a long time. We use large prospector tents, so there are usually 10 to 13 boys in one tent and 7 to 10 girls in another. On the longer trips, if someone has a cold, everyone has it by the end of the trip. In large groups on canoe trips, it is very difficult to socially distance. I was envisaging 30 one man tents, and then laughed to myself, as we would be hard pressed to find any campsites that could accommodate ten tents.
My prediction is that this will be the end of our club. Our Board of Ed advertises our program as a flagship of good things going on in schools, but at the same time, the new bean counter there tries his best to prevent trips from happening by insisting on War and Peace sized piles of paperwork, and tries to micro manage the whole process, even though he has never been on a canoe trip in his life. I'm fairly sure he will seize the opportunity to put the final nail in the program.
Even if the Board is supportive, the cancellation of a program for a year will probably be enough to prevent its resurrection.
I suspect this will be a similar situation played out across Ontario.
I wonder if I'm being a realist or a pessimist.