LEWISTON — School Superintendent Bill Webster wants to expand the horizons of his students.

He wants them to know their roots, appreciate the surrounding state and region and discover the importance of learning in some of the most unlikely places.

In essence, he wants a third-grade class learning about the ocean to actually see it. Or a class of kindergartners learning about state’s wildlife to experience it first-hand at Maine Wildlife Park.

“The goal is to provide more field trip opportunities for Lewiston students,” Webster said of introducing plans to revamp the district’s field trip policies during Monday’s School Committee meeting. “We would be expanding trips and making sure they have an educational aspect to them.”

And the first step, according to Webster, is rewriting the present policy that limits travel distance for district field trips. At this time, the district’s policy manual states students in kindergarten through third grade are limited to trips within the limits of the Twin Cities. Grades four and five can travel in Maine, but only within 50 miles of Lewiston.

Webster plans to introduce a rewritten policy in September aimed at decreasing restrictions and opening the door for students to travel farther distances for learning experiences. He expects the move to have a positive impact on student learning and cited results seen this summer at Longley Elementary School.

As part of the school’s summer program, Webster said groups would spend a week learning about a specific topic and then go on a field trip correlating with the curriculum. For example, one week was dedicated to learning about the ocean — covering everything from reading to science during classroom lessons. Students then went on a field trip to Reid State Park where they experienced first-hand everything they studied in the days leading up to their trip.

“So many of those kids had never even been to the Maine coast before,” Webster said. “There’s so many trips that combine education with a fun time.”

Webster said another important driver for the move to expand field trip opportunities for Lewiston students relates directly to the district’s mission of ensuring academic and civic success. He said the district will determine what it considers the most important experiences every student should have before they graduate.

These experiences could be local; trips to Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary to explore nature, or going to City Hall to see how government works, or visiting area businesses to learn what skills the next generation needs as it enters the job market. These experiences could also be out of the area: such as the Longley trip this summer to Reid State Park to learn about science first-hand, or students heading to the Maine State Museum in Augusta, or even farther distances or possibly overnights.

“We need to expand student minds to the possibilities of what can be done in the world and give them an appreciation for all the components that make a community a community.”

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