Group discipline is hard enough when you are in your classroom, but when you are at school help is just down the hall in the principal's office. When on a group trip, often the decision on what to do will come down to you as the leader. The best way to protect yourself from the stress of such a decision is to make sure that your school or organization has a very straightforward conduct policy and that it specifies what the consequences are if these rules are broken. It is often not enough just to state this policy verbally. Put it in writing and require that all participants and their parents sign off on it before you leave. The leader should take copies of the signed documents along on the trip.

Once you have the conduct agreements signed, cross your fingers and say a little prayer that you won't need to use them. Without a doubt, if you travel a lot with minors, sooner or later you will have a problem. Hopefully your policy has different levels of consequences for different infractions, but whatever the policy dictates is what you must do. Even if it means hiring a cab and taking the student to the airport at 6am to be sent home for hiding cigarettes in her suitcase. It is when this ultimate scenario plays out that the true group leader is tested. No group leader wants to send home a participant or a student, especially when this will result in additional expense for the student's family or for the sponsoring organization. Failing to follow through and execute the requirements of the conduct policy will literally and completely destroy your reputation as a leader. It might hurt in the short term, but stick to your principals and always follow through with any consequences you present. You will be a stronger and more respected leader as a result.

TRIP CONDUCT POLICIES: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Having a signed conduct agreement between yourself and your minor aged participants while on a trip is a necessity. It should spell out the consequences for breaking the rules (while still bring broadly worded enough to cover things that you may not have thought to put in). Different trips, by their nature, may require subtle changes in the wording of the document.

Overseas vs. Domestic Trips

The ultimate punishment that can be written into a trip conduct code is to send the person home early. I have personally taken students to the airport just hours after finding out that they have broken one of the most significant rules. The ticket home cost the student's family over $600 each, and yes, the family DID pay for it when they got home. It sent a very stong signal to the rest of the group, and since then I have never had another problem on any other trip. In my opinion, this is the ideal way to handle things if the need arises. If you are out of the country, however, this may not be the best option especially if the flight is not a direct flight to your home destination. Also, a one way transcontinental ticket would be much worse than the $600 example stated above. If the family refuses to pay you may not have any viable recourse.

In this case, it might be better to have a couple of options at your disposal. One would be to place the participant on hotel arrest for the remainder of the trip. Unfortunately this would also mean that one of your chaperones would have to stay behind and miss all of the remaining activities on the trip. A second option would be to have a chaperone accompany the student home on the flight if it is determined that there is no other option than to send the student home. In either case you have to have a chaperone that has agreed in advance to be assigned this undesirable duty if the need arises. Usually if this happens, the adult would have at least part of their trip fees refunded once you return home (either paid for by your organization or by the student's family).

Dealing with these issues is never a fun task, however, having a well thought out plan that the participants and their parents agree to limits your liability and your stress.