A Bellerose student trip to Europe has been cancelled due to coronavirus.
On Tuesday, some 28 students found out their 10-day social studies trip to Germany and Italy had been cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Marianne Barrett, associate superintendent of program and planning, said they had to make the decision to cancel due to a travel advisory for northern Italy.
“It was a really difficult decision because we knew families were looking forward to it, we knew the work that the staff had put in, we knew kids were really looking forward to it as well,” Barrett said.
The trip was for kids in grades 11 and 12 and was social studies oriented. They were going to travel to places like ancient Rome, the Vatican and Tuscany and were slated to leave on March 15.
“Unfortunately, we were put a position where the health and safety of our students needs to be paramount,” Barrett said.
The Canadian government has issued a travel advisory for northern Italy, advising residents to avoid all non-essential travel to the region.
Barrett said the advisory forced the school board to cancel the trip just weeks before they were slated to depart.
The school board considered altering the course of the trip to visit different locations in Europe, but because of the travel chaos being caused by the coronavirus, it was impossible to arrange.
The school board is expecting close to a full refund for all of the disappointed young travellers.
Barrett said the travel advisory is a big factor in the students getting a refund.
“If we did cancel and there was no travel advisory in place, then the refund is limited,” Barrett said.
“We were glad when we received that news from the insurance company that because a portion of the trip was scheduled for Northern Italy then they saw it as a travel advisory cancellation.”
The associate superintendent said the trip cost each student around $5,000 and some worked hard through their high school years to save up.
The school district has several other big student trips planned before the end of the year and they will be monitoring the coronavirus situation closely to decide if they will continue to go forward with them. Most of the trips are domestic and heading to places like Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City and Vancouver Island but they do have one international trip left to Washington.
The Greater St. Albert Catholic School Division and the Sturgeon School Divison have not had any trip cancellations due to the coronavirus.
