PURPOSE
RAMS, Inc. will host an annual month-long Unity Road Trip with high school age youth. This trip involves travel via busses or vans with daily participation in activities, workshops, and educational experiences. This trip requires youth to sleep overnight in hotel rooms or Airbnb houses for an extended time. This policy provides guidelines governing youth travel including overnight and out-of-state travel.
GUIDELINES
1. Adequate and mature supervision will be provided by RAMS to ensure the safety of participants on the 2024 Unity Road Trip. Adults and students will have separate sleeping arrangements unless the adult and student are related.
2. Chaperones (also called/known as “Mentors” and “Supervisors) are not allowed to bring other family members with them on the trip without prior approval from administration. Any family members approved to come (and not a participant on the trip) must pay for all their own expenses. Mentors are not allowed to bring their own children who are not part of the team or group.
3. Cell phones are permitted on the trip to communicate with friends and family, photographs, and social media. The following cell phone use is not permitted:
a. Cell phone use is not permitted during educational activities (unless taking a picture of the activity for social media or organizational documentation)
b. Cell phone use is not permitted when the mentors have asked that cell phones be put away (for discussions, activities, or situations that include personal information).
c. Do not photograph and/or post to social media photographs of other Road Trekkers to social media without their permission.
d. Do not photograph and/or post inappropriate pictures of Road Trekkers to social media, including nudity, vulgarity, drug use, or inappropriate acts.
4. COVID-19. We will have tests available for Road Trekkers who feel ill or symptomatic. If the test is positive, the Road Trekker will be isolated from the remaining group on the bus and hotel/Airbnb. Once five days have passed, and the Road Trekker is symptom-free, they may either return home or continue along the trip (depending on the parent/guardian's decision).
LIMITS OF TRAVEL
1. The purpose of the trip and all activities associated are educational. There will be time for recreational excursions, but they will be limited in number and only after we have completed the educational activities for the day.
2. RAMS has financially committed to paying for travel, lodging, food (three meals daily), and activity admission expenses. Food in addition to the three meals daily, and expenses outside of scheduled travel, lodging and activity admissions will be paid for by the participant.
SUPERVISION
1. Mentors traveling with the 2024 Unity Road Trip will be provided at a ratio of one (1) Supervisor to three (3) students.
2. Mentors have undergone a background check as part of the RAMS employee/contractor process.
3. Mentors are at least eighteen (18) years of age.
4. Mentors are on duty during the entirety of the trip regardless of locations, time of day or night, or number of mentors present or said to be supervising.
5. Mentors for overnight trips must read and sign the mentor guidelines and responsibility form.
PARENT APPROVAL AND CONSENT
1. Before the trip application is approved, parents must consent to the youth’s participation in the road trip, including overnight stays.
2. The parent will be supplied with the proposed travel itinerary at least two weeks prior to the road trip.