Teachers Describe Their Terrible Field Trip Experiences

From Reddit u/meowzapalooza7:

Our bus driver stopped on train tracks as a train was coming.

Our bus full of first graders was approaching train tracks as the lights flashed and the gate started to lower. Our driver decided not to stop at the tracks (like any bus should by law) and thought maybe she could beat the lowering arms? She realized she couldn’t and braked ON THE TRACK (the first of two). The gate arms slammed onto our bus, and a man stopped at a red light got out of his car to lift it off my side of the bus. I panicked from the front seat as the incoming train whistled, and the parent chaperones and I screamed at her to MOVE BACK. She kept saying, “I can’t go in reverse.” She had no panic in her voice at all.

Thankfully, the train came on the second track. I can’t remember if she actually backed up or not; I was absolutely traumatized and spent the beginning of the trip on the phone with transportation. They sent us another driver for the way home, and our original driver sat awkwardly in the front seat. We take the same trip every year, and every year, I cringe when we cross the tracks.

From Reddit u/baldtigger:

I had a child have a massive asthma attack after a visit to a farm and a cotton gin. I ended up giving her mouth-to-mouth on the side of the road and praying for an ambulance.

She was fine after a couple breathing treatments and some steroids, thank goodness. This was before cell phones were common, and we had to use the call box on the side of the highway. 10/10 would not repeat!

From Reddit u/aussielearn:

Was on a week-long camp. About 80% of the students got really sick. Throwing up, fevers, diarrhea, the works. I remember trying to sleep, and every 30 minutes or so, a new student would knock on my cabin door asking for more medication or another sick bag. These were seventh grade students, and this was the longest they had been away from home.

We went to Parliament House and literally had students sleeping and throwing up in little back rooms whilst the few healthy/not-as-sick students completed the tour.

From Reddit u/ellieellieoxenfree:

We went skating, and one of the students fell, smacked her chin off the ice, and somehow got a skate blade to the face... She needed a bunch of stitches, and was able to stick her tongue through the hole in her face.

From Reddit u/EnglishTeachers:

Group trip to take a tour of a college campus. We had a young man jump out of a bus window while it was going down the highway! His long-term girlfriend had broken up with him a few days before, and he later explained that he didn’t see the point of going on the college visit anymore because he didn’t want to go to the same college as her, or even apply to the same ones. Denied up and down that it was a suicide attempt.

His friends circled the wagons and supported his story, and the story/rumors died quickly. He got some gnarly road rash, but avoided being hit by any cars.

I always got the impression that it was, in fact, a suicide attempt. If he didn’t want to go on the tour, why go at all? Why board the bus? He could have stayed at school.

This was several years ago. He is fine!

From Reddit u/rojath:

This happened just the other week. We had left the school about five minutes before on the bus, when a student got my attention and said, "Miss, someone hit a girl in the head with a bottle, and she's crying." I think, "Here we go," and head down the back to settle them down. I get there, students all looking on and crowding on, and sure enough, the girl is in tears and is holding her hand against her head. I ask, "Are you okay?" She pulled her hand away from her head, and it was gushing blood.

We turned the bus around, and she ended up going to hospital.

Long story short, head wounds bleed a lot, 12-year-olds make bad decisions, and everyone was okay in the end. Can't say I felt overly prepared for that, though!