Board Okays Student Visit to Cuba in 2016

May. 14, 2015

Christine Sampson

David Diskin visited China with a friend in 1982, a trip that helped him better understand the world outside the United States. China had just begun a series of economic reforms, and in December of that year, the country’s current constitution was adopted.

“It really opens your eyes . . . when you see folks who have limited opportunities, politically and socially,” Mr. Diskin, a member of the Sag Harbor School Board, said Monday.

The school board recently voted unanimously to approve an international field trip to Cuba for up to 30 Pierson High School students during the 2015-16 school year. Looking back upon his trip to China years ago, Mr. Diskin said he thinks the students will benefit from a trip to Cuba.

“It’s a great opportunity for the kids to see something different. It’s a time in history when they’re going to see Cuba at a point where it’s still not so free,” he said. “The whole board of education is excited about the opportunity for the kids to do something really different. It’s part of the bigger vision to have kids be lifelong learners with a global vision.”

Katy Graves, Sag Harbor’s superintendent, said that while many details still need to be finalized, the three teachers who proposed the trip did a lot of research and presented the school board with a viable plan on April 27. While President Barack Obama and Cuba’s leader, Raul Castro, recently re-established diplomatic ties, travel to Cuba is still very restricted. However, Ms. Graves said educational trips “have the green light.”

Safety on the trip is a high priority, she said. But so are lessons in culture, history, politics, and the Spanish language. She said the teachers hope the group can visit places like schools, hospitals, churches, and museums to be able to compare and contrast Cuba and the U.S.

“It’s going to be like a time capsule, I think, for our children to look at,” she said. “It will evaporate so rapidly once the gates truly open. It’s like when the Berlin Wall first came down. . . . This is a moment in time.”