Safety is our number one priority. Since we began this travel experience in 2008, we’ve worked closely with our travel company, EF Explore America, as well as teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, and students, to create the best possible safety protocols and procedures. Outlined below are a few of the policies we put in place to ensure everyone’s safety.

• Professional overnight security – Each night the group leader meets with our security team to discuss the policies and expectations for our group. We have at least one security guard assigned to our group on each floor of the hotel we occupy. Their shift is typically 10pm-5am.
• Chaperones are Bixby teachers, administrators, counselors, and staff.
• Chaperone groups – Students are divided into smaller chaperone groups to make things more manageable and to ensure students have a go-to chaperone for anything they need.
• Small groups – Students are required to be in small groups at all times while touring.
• Lanyard – Students wear a lanyard with contact information for all chaperones as well as the students and parents on their bus. This is required at all times outside of their hotel room.
• EF Tour Directors – Each bus has their own Tour Director. These folks are EF employees and they serve as our guides throughout the trip. They each have extensive training and experience in our destination cities. They are with us from the time we land in Boston until we depart from Washington, DC.
• Communication – Perhaps our greatest tool to ensure safety is to proactively communicate policies, procedures, and expectations to all travelers. This is done with daily briefing/reminders, remind.com messages, chaperone group texts, and constant in-person reminders and communication.
• Room checks – Each night our chaperones perform room checks for their groups(s) to ensure that all students are in their rooms. Students are instructed not to open their hotel door for anyone other than our chaperones or in the case of an emergency. A piece of tape is applied to the door and door jamb. The following morning chaperones perform another room check to ensure the tape is still sealed and that everyone in the room is up and getting ready for the day.
• Parents and students can ask to be accompanied by a chaperone at any time.
• EF provides a 24-hour emergency phone number.
• Parents can contact any chaperone at any time during the trip.