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Pupil exchange program could be suspended
By KENT FISCHER
© St. Petersburg Times, LAND O'LAKES -- A new student exchange program for Pasco and Hernando County high students is on hold and could be canceled over fears of international travel since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Twenty students from Sandhausen, Germany, were to travel to Florida this spring for a two-week stay with the families of local high school students. Then this summer, the local students were to journey to Germany, where they were to stay with the students whom they had hosted. But school administrators in Pasco and Germany have agreed to put the program on hold in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the ongoing military strikes in Afghanistan. Parents in both countries have expressed fear that their children might not be safe traveling abroad, said Bea Palls, the Pasco administrator who helped create the program. Most of the fears are from German families, Palls said. News reports of terrorists living and training in Florida and the recent anthrax scares have many of the German parents leery of sending their kids to the Sunshine State, she said. Parents and school officials will meet Dec. 3 to decide whether the program should continue. "That should give us a couple more months to see what happens," Palls said Monday. "It could go either way at this point. If I had to decide today, I'd cancel the trip." The program is in its second year, and offers students from Gulf, River Ridge, Ridgewood and Land O'Lakes high schools the chance to spend two weeks in Germany for little more the cost of an airline ticket. Host families provide a place to stay, meals and cultural activities, Palls said. Students from Hernando's Springstead High School also can participate. Carla and George Kranz have traveled extensively, and their son, Nelson, participated in the German exchange program last year as a sophomore at Ridgewood. Carla Kranz said she hopes the district doesn't cancel the trip. "We're not overly concerned unless things escalate," she said. "If the kids have to be more cautious and careful, then that's part of the learning experience, too." The program's initial student exchange took place last year. Of the 20 Pasco students who participated, six wanted to do it again this year. "Most of the parents understood that the school district will make decisions to protect their children," she said.
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