Students at Lakenheath Middle School are circulating petitions and talking about a strike after learning they won’t get to go on their traditional “fun” field trips next month.

Jannett Klinke, the school principal, said the trips will not be held and that she had planned to send a letter home to parents Monday to make the reason clear.

The letter explains Department of Defense Dependents Schools policy, which forbids field trips for anything other than a purpose related to the school curriculum, Klinke said in an interview with Stars and Stripes.

“They don’t fund ‘fun’ field trips,” she said.

Therefore, she said, the school cannot take the planned trips. That’s been the policy for a long time, she said, even though students have visited such places as beaches and amusement parks on school time in recent years.

“That was inappropriate and that was my fault,” she said in a telephone interview.

Students learned last week this year’s trips to similar locations would not be held.

“All of us are [disappointed],” said Jessica Beasley, a seventh-grader.

She said a student overheard a conversation between teachers and administrators about the trips and told friends. The students then asked the teachers and were given the bad news.

Petitions began circulating asking the administration to reconsider, she said, and some students talked about a strike.

Jessica’s father, Tech. Sgt. John Beasley, who is stationed at RAF Lakenheath, understood the students’ response.

“They were looking forward to having some fun,” he said Sunday.

Master Sgt. Wendy Easterling was told about the cancellation last week by her daughter, Chelsea, a seventh-grader.

“They work hard all year and were looking forward to it,” said Easterling, also stationed at RAF Lakenheath, when interviewed Sunday.

Chelsea Easterling said the students were disappointed and hoped the petitions being signed by teachers and students would convince the Isles District Superintendent’s Office to allow the trips.

But that’s not going to happen, Klinke said. Also, it is too late in the year to plan other field trips based on the curriculum, such as to a museum.

Klinke took the blame, saying the regulation forbidding the trips has been around for years, but had slipped her notice.

“We shouldn’t have gone on them in the past,” she said. “We won’t be going in the future.”