HUNTINGTON -- The president and vice president of Southside Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Organization told the Cabell County Board of Education on Monday evening that two educational field trip requests have been snubbed, and they aren't sure why.

Robin Mankins and Sheryl Ketchum said Dennis Caldwell, the administrative assistant for Elementary Education, had denied two requests for a fifth-grade field trip that were to focus on the chemistry of water. The first proposal was for Monday, May 24, to the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park in Cincinnati. They said that was denied two weeks ago, despite approval from Principal John Hanna and notice that the school's fifth-graders went there last year.

But Ketchum presented a second option, Friday, May 14, to CoCo Key Water Resort, another indoor park in Columbus.

"We think it's great because it's a two-hour guided program on chemistry and water management," Ketchum told the board. She said Hanna also approved that trip.

Neither Hanna nor Caldwell could be reached for comment. But according to Todd Alexander, the administrative assistant for Secondary Schools, the protocol for approval starts with the principal, then to the administrative assistant and, finally, the school board.

The two women, both mothers of fifth-grade children, said they have been planning an end-of-year trip since the start of school. But it wasn't until January that they started setting dates and budgets. More than $5,000 has been raised through student-led fundraisers to cover the cost of meals, travel and educational programs.

Part of the problem, they said, is that Southside will end its school year Wednesday, May 26, so that teachers and staff have time to pack up and move into the new school down the street. Mankins and Ketchum said that limited them on scheduling because the teachers cannot go if it's past that date.

Alexander said he didn't know the details of the situation, but he said he also might have trouble approving a field trip on May 14, the Friday before the WESTEST 2 starts.

"But I really look at every request differently and discuss it with the principals," he said.

Both parents said bringing the issue to the school board was a last-minute decision, after Hanna informed them Monday afternoon that Caldwell had denied their second request.

"(He said) we were denied because it wasn't educational enough," Mankins said. "We could not find anything in the policy, except that field trips must be educational. Our kids really don't understand."

They also said that all 70 fifth-graders would be attending, along with three teachers and about two dozen parents. And, they added, Beverly Hills Middle School students previously went on a multiple-day trip to Williamsburg, Va., and Virginia Beach.

"There needs to be consistency," Mankins said.

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