Toronto schools will no longer allow student trips to US

Canada's largest school board will no longer book any trips to the US amid fears of border troubles due to travel restrictions enacted by US President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Thursday, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) cited the uncertainty of the new travel restrictions for this decision. Director of Education John Malloy said students should not be placed into situations of potentially being turned away at the border. He further said the board remains committed to fairness, equity, and inclusion.

"We strongly believe that our students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border," the board's director of education, John Malloy, said in the statement.

After federal judges blocked Trump’s first executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as Syrian refugees, he issued a second order targeting fewer countries, which a judge in Hawaii blocked as well. However, Trump has said he will fight the latest ruling and called the halt an “unprecedented judicial overreach.” 

The Toronto District School Board consists of 246,000 students in 584 schools throughout Toronto, making this a high-profile move. According to BBC news network, a few other schools have made similar choices, and the Girl Guides of Canada recently said they were canceling all trips to the US.

“We just can't have trips going across the border and a student for no legitimate reason being denied entry to the US. We're obviously not going to leave that student and continue on,” said Ryan Bird, a spokesman for the board.

The TDSB said it was important to note that if the executive order is fully implemented in the future, which could result in any number of students being excluded from trips to the US, the school board would “cancel already-approved trips to the US for the remainder of this school year.”

“The TDSB remains committed to ensuring that fairness, equity, and inclusion are essential principles of our school system and are integrated into all our policies, programs, operations, and practices, including school trips.” Malloy said

He added, “It is my hope that our students, staff and parents will understand and support this difficult decision. We feel it strikes a balance between our equity and inclusion commitments as a school board, while not cancelling already-approved trips for which a financial loss would be incurred.”

Malloy emphasized, “Rest assured, we will continue to monitor this situation very closely and should we receive additional information or clarification with regards to what students could expect at the U.S. border, we may revisit these decisions. However, based on all the information we currently have available to us, we feel this is the right action to take at this time.”

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