Education Ministry approves high school trip despite weather warnings
A day before the deadly flood that claimed the lives of 10 teenagers, the Education Ministry's situation room allowed a school trip for 10th graders from Rishon LeZion to continue not far from the disaster site despite heavy flooding; 'It's a miracle our children came back,' says one parent.
The Education Ministry's situation room approved a school trip for sophomore students to the same area where ten teenagers were killed in a flash flood on Thursday despite weather warnings, Ynet learned on Sunday.
While the Bnei Zion pre-military academy, where the ten teens were set to start attending in the fall, does not fall under the purview of the Education Ministry, high schools do.
Parents of 10th graders from the Gan Nahum Gymnasium in Rishon LeZion said the ministry's situation room allowed a school trip to continue a day earlier despite heavy flooding in the Small Crater area, mere minutes away from the Zafit Stream, where the disaster struck.
The sophomore students' trip began on Tuesday and included a hike in Zafit Stream, where the ten teenagers were killed only two days later.
While the weather was fair on the trip's first day, weather services issued warnings of flooding in the southern region's streams as a result of heavy rain and hail.
On Wednesday morning, the trip organizers sought the approval of the Education Ministry's situation room to divert the trip to the Small Crater.
Worried parents were not assured and demanded that the trip be canceled and the children be sent home, particularly after they started getting photos, videos and reports from their children that they were in danger. One video showed the students stuck inside the bus on the bank of a flooded stream not far from the Small Crater.
"When we received the videos, we felt helpless," said Osnat Lazarovich, whose daughter went on the trip. "I couldn't do anything. Some of the parents wanted to go there and bring the kids home. How could they send our children there?"
The parents further said the school principal traveled to the area himself to find out what was going on.
"All of the parents were very confused and angry," Lazarovich said. "The writing was on the wall, because the entire southern region was under one giant danger. We have to draw conclusions. Whoever approved this trip needs to answer for it. A huge disaster was prevented, and it's a miracle our children came back."
"The situation room's decision-making was terrible throughout," said Avi Zaraf, the head of the parents' association in Rishon LeZion. "We actually had a good experience with the Education Ministry's situation room in previous trips, but it's unclear what happened this time, and why it approved going on this trip at all. On the national level, we will work to have the chairman of a school's PTA receive all security arrangements for a trip in advance."
"Thanks to luck and the right decisions being made on the ground, the children were saved," said attorney Liel Even-Zohar, a member of the Rishon city council. "We need an investigation of the events, and conclusions must be drawn in the Education Ministry, at schools and at the municipality, so tragedies like the one in Zafit will not happen again."
The Education Ministry said that "the hikes in dangerous paths were canceled or diverted to alternative places."
Concerning the 10th graders' trip, the ministry said it "definitely understands and is aware of the parents' concerns, but the trip in question was diverted to areas that weren't dangerous. The situation room was in constant contact with the tour guides."
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