Field Trip Permission Form: Fill & Download for Free

Sort of.I once had a student who was absent the day I gave out field trip permission slips, so I gave him his the next day. About ten seconds later, I collected the parent-signed forms from all of the students who got their permission slips the day before. As I checked them in later that day, his was in the pile, “signed” by his mother.He was so used to signing things for her that when he saw everyone else turning their slip in, he forged her signature and put his in the pile, forgetting that I literally just gave it to him.

I began teaching the Gifted classes in our school district in 1985. That year, the Ramses II exhibit was sent from Egypt to tour the United States. This was a one time opportunity to experience the authentic statues, sarcophagi, and other relics of ancient Egypt. The tour was having a showing at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville, which was a beautiful, huge new facility able to hold the great monuments. I created a curriculum using research materials provided by the exhibit, plus a study guide with slides from a very prominent group in Jacksonville. This group was offering a course on Ramses and the exhibit, and was giving excellent resources to anyone who took the course. I took advantage of this opportunity to be better able to present the information to my classes. My school district highly approved my curriculum. Many parents were quite excited about the course and the upcoming field trip to the exhibit.I had an 11 year old girl in my class whose mom had grown up next to my grandparents. These neighbors raised their children very thriftily-meaning their diet consisted of items picked from my grandfather’s garden and handed out from Granny’s freezer. When the little girl was born, I was in college, but I remember her running in and out of my grandparents’s house uninvited, stealing cookies and candy, and even hiding under the beds. I installed deadbolt locks on my grandparents’ doors, which prompted Little Daphne to bang on the doors and yell. Years later, when I took over the Gifted program as Director, I was “lucky” to have Little Daphne placed in my class.This child believed she was free to run around in school from room to room as she wished, disrupting learning by her behavior. This had been a problem since she entered school. After many warnings from other teachers and reviewing her records, I began to doubt her qualification for my program as she demonstrated no interest in the enrichment found in my class. In fact, her class work was in her regular class was often incomplete and sloppily done. I met with the principle, teacher, and guidance counselor about my concerns, requesting support for discipline with the girl. They all assured me that they had exhausted many methods.My next step was to contact her mom with each infraction. I would discuss what Daphne had done, then let Mom know how I would handle this after an initial warning. Her mom was fine with having me deal with her child’s behavior and appreciated my attempt to work with her, but she did not follow up. Mainly, the mother only offered a long string of excuses or the genetic history of her daughter’s behavior-“She gets that from her dad!” There was no dad in the picture, so I had no contact with a father.Time came for students to sign up for our field trip to see Ramses II. The promise of this trip was a great motivation for high interest in our study. I was excited to see how well my students’ knowledge applied to the exhibit. The students signed up, took home permission forms, and returned the forms and their $5 payment. We were able to get reduced admission and pay for the school bus for only $5 each. Students and parent chaperones returned permission forms and payments promptly. I called a few with reminders, who took care of this immediately. But of course not Daphne! Her mom was a nurse and was employed then, but I still contacted her with a reminder several times- offering to help with payment if she would send in the permission form. She said she’d get it to me, but never sent anything.The deadline came to pay and I sent our money in to pay for tour tickets. Admission was limited, so tickets had to purchased in advanced. I let Daphne’s mother know the deadline has passed. I could not get her a ticket, so Daphne would remain with her teacher that day. Of course, the day of the trip, I arrived at this school with the bus to pick up the students and there was Daphne in line. I explained again to her for the 100th time that she had not paid nor returned a permission form. Of course, the girl threw a tantrum, so I had her escorted back to her class.The field trip was a great success. Several parents, our Art teacher, and one principal had chaperoned the trip. The principal told me this was the best organized school trip he had ever attended and was impressed with the students’ interest and knowledge. But all didn’t end well! A parent meeting was soon scheduled by Daphne’s mother. At the meeting with myself, the principal, and guidance counselor, the mom requested to withdraw Daphne from my gifted class because, as she claimed, “I was teaching about Ramses- a heathen!” I took the Bible from the bookshelf and asked her to turn to Exodus. I asked,”Who do you think the pharaoh is who Moses went to?” I then pulled out my materials given to me by my Jacksonville class. I asked her to read the author of the booklet. She read, “Written by Dr. Homer Linsey, Jr., and Reverend Jerry Vines of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fl.”After a long, stunned silence, the mom complained I should have told her the source. I showed her signature on acceptance of my curriculum and reminded her that a copy of our reading had been sent home to her. She kept saying,”I didn’t know!” The principal asked her,”If you didn’t know, why did you say Mrs. Hooper was teaching about heathens?”

Thanks for the A2AEh…. sometimes?Generally it comes down to three questions:A) Is the thing plausible? This isn’t just the signature - it’s the note. If I get a note that’s poorly worded, or doesn’t sound like the parent, or lacks something a parent does normally (most of my class parents used Mrs, even though my students used Miss - that one was a good tell), that’s a marker that something’s not right. If it’s something that needs to be signed, we usually ask for a comment or something (like on a homework form) and usually forgeries don’t have those notes (it’s harder to fake more words).B) Do we have a comparative? So, for instance, when I was working with lower grades and we were doing field trips, one of the things the school did was have every parent do an ‘Identification and Contact’ card - we’d ask them to fill out their names, their addresses, their work contact info, cell phones, and then SIGN the cards. We kept them on file in the office. For permission forms, if you were even the SLIGHTEST bit concerned, you could go, pull the card, and check.C) How big is the stake? This is going to sound heartless, but it kind of depends on how big the issue is. If it’s a single homework sheet and the student is otherwise doing well, honestly, I’ll probably let it go - it’s a low-stakes signature. If it’s a field trip - I’m checking. If it’s a ‘get out of class early’, I’m checking - both of those involve our legal liability, and it’s my teacher’s license on the block if I screw it up and something happens. If it involves money, same deal.Truthfully, it’s not nearly as big an issue anymore - we mostly get emails! And while, yes, kids can and do get into their parents’ email, the ‘e trail’ is good enough that most kids aren’t going to risk it…. They do other stuff instead :)