Last week an administrator in Oak Park Elementary School District 97 told parents supporting an eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C. that any trip to D.C. next year will have to be parent sponsored, not district sponsored. The decision comes after months of meetings with parents and discussion at the last two school board meetings where a variety of views were expressed.
“Following an evaluation of participation data, operational considerations, and community feedback, the district will transition to an optional, parent- or family-organized travel model for the Washington, D.C., trip beginning in the 2026–27 school year,” wrote Ebony Loften, the district’s learning and innovation officer, in an email dated June 3. “This timeline reflects the district’s ability to plan thoughtfully and communicate changes in advance, while also recognizing the strong community efforts already underway. Additionally, this decision immediately allows the organizing committee to move forward with planning and fundraising efforts to finalize logistics for the Washington, D.C. trip.”
The school district will, however, sponsor an in-state class trip to a destination still to be chosen.
In a telephone interview with Wednesday Journal Lofton and Amanda Siegfried, district spokesperson, said the district cannot provide any direct cash support to an unofficial trip although it can provide some limited logistical help in helping parent organizers fundraise such as sharing parent directory information.
“We don’t have a viable pathway to provide funds to trips that are not sponsored by the district,” Lofton said. “However, we will support a number of different ways, in terms of what’s allowable.”
That decision disappointed Elise Coleman, the mother of a rising Brooks eighth grader who has been advocating for an eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C. She has been participating in meetings and discussions with Lofton about the eighth-grade class trip.
“They just gave in and threw in the towel when some parents were like ‘we think D.C. is the right way to go’ and they didn’t look at their own data very carefully,” Coleman said.
Prior to 2023 the Gwendolyn Brooks and Percy Julian Middle School PTO’s led the fundraising and organizing of what were popular but unofficial eighth grade trips to Washington, D.C. In 2023 District 97 took over the eighth-grade trips and sponsored trips to D.C. in 2023 and 2024 before pivoting to closer and less expensive trips to Springfield and St. Louis in 2026 and Nashville this year due to equity concerns.
Coleman said the fundraising infrastructure for the trips to D.C. now must be rebuilt.
“All of the (fundraising) infrastructure is now gone and it all needs to be rebuilt,” Coleman said.
The destination of next year’s eighth grade trip has yet to be determined but it will be within Illinois. District officials will narrow the choice this summer and then present a couple of options that eighth graders will vote upon in the fall.
The parents pushing for a D.C. trip were hoping for a district sponsored trip but had begun fundraising to raise extra money for the trip that could be used to provide financial aid for families that found the trip to be prohibitively expensive. A trip to Washington D.C is projected to cost from $1,500 to $2,000 per student. The parent organizers have thus far raised around $5,000 for the trip but say that their fundraising efforts are just getting started.
“We have some bigger fundraising events planned,” Coleman said. “We’re hoping the community comes through.”
Coleman said she and others pushing for a D.C. trip want to make sure that any eighth grader who wants to go on the trip can do so but that will be more difficult without a financial contribution from the district.
The organizers of the trip say that they are committed in inclusivity and say that financial means should not determine who can go to Washington, D.C.
“We want to make sure this is advertised to all,” Coleman said.
None of the eighth-grade class trips over the past four years have met the district’s goal of an 85 percent participation rate. The trip with the greatest participation was the 2024 trip to Washington, D.C. in which 55% of eighth graders signed on. Just 52% of eighth graders went on the 2025 trip to Springfield and St. Louis, 45% went on the 2023 trip to Washington, D.C. and only 35% went on this year’s trip to Nashville.
District data shows that eighth graders from families who qualify for free and reduced lunch were underrepresented on the 2023 trip to D.C. making up 8% of the participants compared to 19% of district students overall but proportionally represented (19%) on the 2024 trip to D.C. and slightly overrepresented (22%) on the trips to Springfield and St. Louis and Nashville.
Lofton urged the parents pushing for a trip to Washington, D.C. to keep equity in mind.
“Our goal has always been, and continues to be, supporting a positive, meaningful, and memorable educational experience for our students,” Lofton wrote in her email. “We believe this pivot provides the necessary flexibility to make the trip a success. As trip organization moves forward, we encourage you to ensure that the district’s equity policy remains central to your planning.”