Terror leads schools to cancel trips

SCARBOROUGH – Some Maine schools are canceling school trips because they aren’t confident they can assure students’ safety amid terrorism attacks on the nation.

Performances by a group of Scarborough students called the Gym Dandies, who ride unicycles, juggle and walk on stilts to entertain crowds, are being curtailed.

Students were anticipating a repeat performance at the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C., this summer, but Scarborough school officials canceled that and other out-of-town trips.

“I just didn’t feel I could take those kids down there,” said Jon Cahill, a physical education teacher and founder of the Gym Dandies.

“There’s no way I believe they could guarantee their security on July Fourth of the year right after this happened.”

Scarborough school administrators also canceled two other trips planned for next spring, one to Costa Rica and one to Italy. Saco Middle School has canceled the eighth-graders’ annual spring trip to Washington.

In Brunswick, Assistant Superintendent Greg Bartlett is discouraging travel, although no outright ban has been imposed.