France still within reach for Easton teens, adults
5/28/09 | 15 comments
update

France still within reach for Easton teens, adults


Company, community working to save trip
By Jen Lynds
BDN Staff

EASTON, Maine — Seven students and eight adults who lost the $65,000 they paid for a summer trip to France after the tour company they were working with filed for bankruptcy will head there next month on a “rescue trip” offered by another educational travel company.

Georgette Ireland, principal of Easton Junior-Senior High School, said Wednesday that the group will travel in France for nine days, starting June 22.

The trip is being offered by the National Educational Travel Council, which provides educational tours. Ireland said that the NETC trip will cost $1,200 per person, which she said was a “greatly reduced” price for the 15 people who intend to make the trip.

The agency has offices in Boston and San Francisco, according to its Web site, but company officials were not available for comment Wednesday evening.

Previously, 10 students, one former student and 11 adults intended to take the journey. That group of 22 saved money and conducted fundraisers to meet the $65,000 cost.

“There are a number of students and adults who are not going on the rescue trip for various reasons,” Ireland said. “Certainly finances are a major reason, but others are so heartbroken and discouraged over what happened the first time that they just don’t want to go.”

The story of the trip debacle unfolded earlier this month.

According to school officials, French teacher Mary Ruth Nichols has made the trip to France with students, former students and adults for the past 10 years. The district has worked with Massachusetts-based Voyageur Tours for a number of years to arrange the logistics and accommodations.

Just recently, however, the district’s attorney, Jeffrey T. Piampiano, confirmed that Voyageur Educational Tours had filed for bankruptcy in Massachusetts. Piam-piano is working with the bank-ruptcy trustee in Massachusetts to see if the money will be returned, but has said he is not optimistic.

Those who originally planned to go to France bought trip insurance from the company and reportedly were told the company was bonded and their trip money had been placed in escrow. Ireland wrote in a letter to the community that it ap-pears “this was not the case and that our students’ money cannot be re-covered,”

Since the news was made public, the school has received a number of donations from people who still want the group to take the trip. School and community members will conduct fundraisers to secure as much money as they can for those planning to take the trip.

Superintendent Frank Keenan said Wednesday afternoon the school already has received approximately $1,500 in donations.

“Our plan is to eliminate as much of the new cost to the students as possible,” he said. “If we have money left over, we will use that to help the adults who are going with those students, and to help those who lost their money to Voyageur.”

Ireland said that a spaghetti sup-per will be held 5-6:30 p.m. Thurs-day, May 28, at Easton Elementary School for $6 a plate.

Plans also are under way to sell whoopie pies and other homemade goods.

Ireland said those taking the res-cue trip want to raise as much money as they can before they leave for France next month. The trip will take travelers to the same cities on the same time schedule as the original trip.

Anyone who wants to make donations should send them to “Europe Trip Rescue Fund” at Easton High School, P.O. Box 66, Easton 04740.

Editor’s note: A May 22 story on this subject included a photo of Superintendent of Schools Frank Keenan contributed by the school department that unfortunately did not accurately reflect his feelings and sympathies for the students involved.

jlbdn@ainop.com

538-6567

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Comments
15 comments on this item
On 5/28/09 at 7:01 AM, PabMainer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Wow, great news for these kids and a huge thank you to all who worked and gave to make this trip a reality.....also kudos to the NETC for their help and involvement....have a safe and wonderful trip young people, enjoy!!

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On 5/28/09 at 8:39 AM, pcme2000 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

That is great for the ones that are still going to go. It is to bad that all the rest of the students can't go.

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On 5/28/09 at 8:41 AM, anthoine wrote: Click here to view hidden comment         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
On 5/28/09 at 9:00 AM, donnelly wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I am so glad they are getting the chance to go. Have a great time !

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On 5/28/09 at 10:03 AM, Pozole wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

...last I knew, Easton was still in Aroostook. I guess because it has "East" in it's name then the out of staters working at BDN think it's "DownEast"...

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On 5/28/09 at 10:40 AM, lovetheBDN wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Pozole - where does it mention Downeast in this story??

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On 5/28/09 at 11:07 AM, donnelly wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I would imagine because it is actually posted under the DownEast section.

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On 5/28/09 at 11:27 AM, Online Editor wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Sorry all,

We posted the story under the wrong geographic category. It's fixed now. Thanks for catching it!

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On 5/28/09 at 11:48 AM, listenup wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Anyone who rasied money is allowed to go, it's not a PAID vacation.. READ WILL YA~

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On 5/28/09 at 1:20 PM, mcbell wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

anthoine you obviously are not from Aroostook County and you have a lot of nerve saying "is it really necessary that they go" what kind of comment is

that anyway. The kids work hard and even harder to raise the money to go and for someone like you to even ask that question is an insult. Maybe the adults

are paying their own way and besides that they also worked hard to help raise the money that they all lost. As a single parent of a 13 year old I wish you all

the luck in the world and I plan on making my own donation to help a little with the cost and anthoine I can't really afford it but it's an important thing for me to

do for them. God knows you probably have much more important things to do with your money.

GOOD FOR YOU KIDS AND BEING ABLE TO STILL GO ON YOUR ONCE IN A LIFE TIME TRIP.

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On 5/28/09 at 3:06 PM, cfournNH wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

i was supposed to go to France last year with my son's class. but wouldn't you know it they changed the travel time a mounth before we were to leave. i don't know about the rest of you, but i have to requset vacation time well over 6 months in advance. i called the company(Etours) also from Mass, and was told that they could change the departure date up to within one week before. they claimed that by changing the dates they could get the trip at a lower rate, of course they don't pass the savings on to you. NICE HUH? so then i had to cancel my trip. then they had the Balls to charge me a big chunk of change to cancel my trip. WHAT A RIP OFF!!!!!! i would highly recommend using a travel agent. you might pay alittle more but,in the long run you might be better off. i feel for those kids it's a once in a life time thing. at lest my son had a great time

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On 5/28/09 at 6:44 PM, JJHampden wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

.

Now the rats have been flushed out;

Voyageur Educational Tours

120 Stafford St

Worcester, MA 01603-1435

Phone: 1 508 752 4486

Fax: 1 508 798 9013

Paul C. Colella of Spencer, Owner

and

Joe Cancelmo

Squire White's Restaurant

347 Greenwood Street

Worcester, MA 01607

Tel: 508-752-7544

E-mail: cancelmo@hotmail.com

Others of interest;

Terry Peters - Director of Finance

Priscilla Bilz - Director of Operations

.

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On 5/29/09 at 5:23 PM, matt29 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

It's unbelievable that after being told they had trip insurance, they still lost everything. What kind of trip insurance was this? I would ask to see the terms of the policy and get the state Insurance Commission involved.

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On 5/29/09 at 8:37 PM, flyfishing wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

matt29...they bought the trip insurance from the same company that was furnishing the trip that filed bankruptcy. I don't know why...a sound business company never buys trip insurance from the same trip vendor being used, for that very same reason....You never put all your eggs in the same basket...in case their is a hole in the basket.

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On 5/29/09 at 9:26 PM, JJHampden wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"Voyageur Educational Tours" (the Rats listed above) put the Insurance money in their Pockets instead of buying a policy.

That's another case of Fraud !

Hang 'em !

.

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