High school students stuck in Paris rack of $50K bill, mostly on choir directors credit card

[Liberal_in_LA]

LOS ALTOS, CA (KGO) -- The volcano-induced worldwide travel nightmare is causing a major problem for some Bay Area parents. Their kids are stuck overseas, they can't get back from a school trip, the tab is running, and it is costing a fortune while they wait for flights.


The group should have been home last Friday, but instead, they're waiting it out in Paris -- which is not cheap. After six days, they have racked up a bill of about $50,000.

Some Mountain View High School parents are very stressed. The school's traveling choir has been stuck and it is costing $8,000 a day to house and feed all 54 people on the tour.

"The finances are worrying me a great deal because it's quite a bill to run up on all of our credit cards," said Mt. View choir director Jill Denny.

Denny in charge of the group and the bulk of the bills are on her credit card. In the short term, parents feel they need to get the charges off of the director's credit card.

There was an emergency brainstorming session called Wednesday night to find a way to pay off this massive bill, which won't be easy. Most of the kids couldn't afford the trip to begin with. They held fundraisers and applied for scholarships to pay for it.

"It's a lot of money, we're a public school and don't really have funding from outside sources so once again, we're trying to do the best we can," said parent Pearl Garvin.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=7400115&rss=rss-kgo-article-7400115

[htuttle]

1. Yeah, but they're in Paris!

The school should cover the director's card in the short term. It probably can't, but they should have some sort of provision for force majeure events on overseas field trips. Insurance, perhaps?

But at least they're in Paris.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Yeah, way to suffer.

:sarcasm:

[CTyankee]

10. Didn't they have some kind of insurance?

I always take out insurance on any trip I take. I can't believe a school didn't do this, also...it just makes sense. You never know what can happen...you HAVE to hae insurance, even if it is a kid's broken ankle. Please...

[virgogal]

22. I've always had travel insurance also. Can't imagine a school trip not having it.

[Hekate]

24. Insurance co's are going to claim it's an Act of God. I'm sure the school DOES have insurance...

... but in the first place it wouldn't pay up now, and in the second place, I'm sure that it's going to be very difficult for the school to get money back. Those kids are going to have to hold a LOT of bake sales.

Hekate

[izquierdista]

2. $150 per kid per day??

Somebody is not a frugal traveler.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. I agree

[htuttle]

7. But, they're in Paris!

[dflprincess]

34. That's what I say

It could be worse, they could be the 45 French kids (don't know where they were from in France) who got stuck in Minneapolis. Oh sure, it's a nice area and people did reach out to entertain them with trips to the zoo and such but there are more interesting cities to be stuck in for a week.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Exchange rate for the Euro is exorbitant.

[jberryhill]

37. Taken a look lately? $1.30.

[KittyWampus]

15. It's Paris. That actually sounds pretty damned reasonable, especially if it includes food

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Boy..they are lucky the choir director had a high credit limit....

It sure does seem like alot of money....even for 54 people. That is almost $1000 per person.
6 days $160 per day...Wow!!!

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Somethings not right here. Thats $150 per person per day.

4 kids per room? They couldn't find cheaper accommodations/food?

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. Paris is expensive... especially the food.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. I have been several times. They don't need to stay on the Champs-Elysées and have private rooms.

There ARE frugal ways of making this work. School leadership made some bad decisions here. Likely mis-underestimated how long they would be grounded, but still.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. probably last minute rush to find housing.

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. They should have kept looking then :p

I have sympathy on the group travel thing. They surely don't want to split the kids up and have them flying alone with who knows how many connections back to CA (and rebooking that many is likely a HUGE pain in the ass), but I still think there were bad decisions made by the adults in the group.

[uppityperson]

18. Housing is at a premium with rates very high due to many stranded people

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. If you have 50+ kids needing a bed, you negotiate

Much stronger position than 2 people.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

21. If there are vacanies. They weren't the only ones stranded.

It is April in Paris, after all.

[JVS]

30. Actually, having 50+ kids may put you in a weaker negotiating position

You need to find a place large enough to host that many people.

[XOKCowboy]

31. If you've got 50+ kids most hotels are not willing to negotiate when demand is HIGH

Why negotiate a large portion of their hotel over to your teenagers when business travelers who are also stranded will pay full price or more and expense it. Your argument doesn't make sense in a situation like this.

[uppityperson]

38. Not necessarily. Reason beds are at a premium is most of them were full

Many travelers got stranded and many place would not have beds for 50+ extra people. Even if it wasn't a time of many stranded travelers, finding a hotel that has that many empty beds at the last moment, during spring break in Paris, can be quite difficult.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Wonder how DUers feel about bailing that out now?

:rofl:

[bluestateguy]

11. Los Altos?

Their parents can afford to pay the bill.

[REP]

19. Mountain View High School; not all of MV is wealthy, especially across Central Expwy

I've lived either in Mountain View or very near it all the time I've lived in CA, and trust me, not everyone in MV is rich.

[Liberal In Texas]

12. Put those kids to work!

Damn freeloading kids!








(just kidding if you couldn't tell.)

[Hekate]

23. That's a lot of bake sales.

[sfwriter]

25. THIS IS NOT UNREASONABLE...

Just did a quick check and $153 was the best rate I could get for next week through two websites. They had three rooms rated at 2 stars. So lets assume you want to keep 40+ teenagers together. I'm betting you pay a bit more than the fleabag location. The average price was way over $270 a room.

I'll bet they have stayed in the same hotel they originally booked. They need to arrange something else to be sure, but you can't ask 40+ kids to rough it in hostels and at B&Bs without supervision.

What a nightmare...

But as has been said over and over... It's a nightmare in PARIS.

[SoCalDem]

26. $155.00 per day per person is actually very fair for Paris

Mountain View is a very wealthy community (think Google's hometown)..

surely someone there can hold a benefit & pay the tab off:)

[JI7]

27. individually it's not that much , can't they do a performance once back in the states to raise

money to pay it all off ?

add some bake sales, maybe an auction.

reading the subject line i thought it was a small group of 5-10 kids who ran up the bill that high.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

33. Maybe Maury Sline can book them at the Palace Hotel.

But he will need a taste of the gig.

[Igel]

28. And are these excused absences? n/t

[dem mba]

29. they'll always have Paris

mainly because they can't leave it.

[saltpoint]

32. Money matters, yes, and of course, and surely. But.

For every second they are there, let these young folks breathe in as deeply as they can the considerable magic of a world city.

[JI7]

35. exactly, i do hope they are taking advantage of the time there

to enjoy it as much as they can rather than worry about money and other things they have no control over.

[saltpoint]

36. Hi, JI7.

Yep.

They're young. They're in Paris. It's spring time.

Works for me!