Donors Salvage Canceled Class Trips; Bitter Residue Remains

A month after their East Coast trips were jeopardized by a travel agency’s failure, hundreds of San Diego students have made their trips anyway by stringing together car washes, bake sales and phone calls to corporate donors.

Although parents and school officials praise the successful effort to raise nearly $200,000 to salvage the students’ trips, many remain embittered toward the travel agency, which filed for bankruptcy a week after it became public that it no longer had the money the students had paid for the trips.

Some parents believe that officials of the San Diego Unified School District should have been able to identify and warn parents of the crippling financial problems afflicting East/West Travel and Tours.

Generosity Cited

“It’s really amazing how the community, from citizens to businesses to industries, rallied to help our students,” said Donald A. Hennes, principal of Wangenheim Junior High. “I was just shocked at how generous people were and how quickly we were able to raise the money. From donations of $5 to $5,000, everybody helped to raise more than $130,000. And, just a week and a day later than we originally planned, all 152 students scheduled to go, went.”

Wangenheim, along with Bell Junior High, Lewis Junior High and O’Farrell School of Creative and Performing Arts, were the four schools affected when East/West, blaming cash-flow problems, abruptly canceled travel plans for more than 200 students last month.

The donations and a furious, last-minute fund-raising campaign by parents, students and local politicians allowed all the students to go on the educational excursion, which toured cities such as Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

Sought Protection

The San Diego travel agency, which is owned and operated primarily by Leo R. Casias, president, and Anthony D. Casias, vice president, filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on May 18, according to court documents.

A meeting with creditors has been scheduled for Tuesday.

In an interview this week, Anthony Casias said the agency had had no intention to defraud students of their money and the problems were solely the result of mismanagement.

“Misrepresentations of East/West’s financial past made by the San Diego media has created the impression in the community that East/West was in business only to advertise trips for students and not come through, and that East/West’s sole intention was to take the money and run . . . that’s just not true,” said Casias. “There were business losses that go back many years that forced us to take our actions. It was always our intention to operate all of our tours, and we regret what happened.

“East/West is reorganizing under Chapter 11 in order to create a situation where we can conduct tours and pay back all the families that have been affected by our financial problems,” he said.

Angry at Cancellations

The travel agency’s abrupt cancellation of the trips disappointed and angered school officials, parents and students. There was speculation that the San Diego Unifed School District might take legal action against the travel agency, but such notions have been dismissed.

“The district is not pursuing the agency in any legal manner,” said Melanie Petersen, deputy general counsel for the school district. “We really don’t have the standing to sue the agency because the money lost here is not the district’s money, it belongs to the students’ parents.”

Petersen said the school district has sent claim forms to each of the families affected, and to a private attorney representing Wangenheim Junior High students.

Many File Claims

Many parents interviewed Thursday said they are still upset about the travel agency’s actions and have filed claims to recoup their losses, but indicated that they are not planning further legal action.

They also said they will not take legal action against the school board, but continued to blame the district for not thoroughly investigating the travel agency--whose owners pleaded guilty to charges of stealing $421,000 from a National City branch of Bank of America in 1983--before entrusting the agency with their money.

“The parents discussed about suing the school district,” said Leslie Peariso, who helped raise about $14,500 to send 23 students--including her daughter, Natalie, 14--on their East Coast trip. “Because we still believe the school board was negligent for not thoroughly checking out the travel agency.

Thought About Suing

“At first we thought about suing because you’re so mad, you think somebody has got to pay,” she said. “But ultimately we thought, what good would it do to win a lawsuit against the school board? The only thing that would happen is that the taxpayers would end up paying the board’s legal bill.”

Tom Payzant, schools superintendent, said the unexpected problems with the travel agency have spurred the district to re-evaluate guidelines on how to select such agencies.

“I very much understand the parents’ frustration and unhappiness and we plan to take a closer look,” Payzant said. “But you have to understand that, for a dozen years or more the agency provided dozens and dozens of successful trips, the schools were comfortable working with them.

“There was nothing to indicate that problems lay ahead.”