I’m wondering if this trip is sponsored in any way by OUSD – or is it private?
This is not necessarily a private trip. OUSD and SFUSD both help advertise for the Youth Speaks’ Bay Area Slam in March by having their school Poetry Slams.

Did teachers go as Chaperones?
Teachers did not go as chaperones. Each team was given a coach/mentor and a co-coach/co-mentor.

Did parents go?
A couple parents attended the trip to

How was the trip financed?
The trip was financed by Youth Speaks (and HBO this year).

How many students (if it was a student trip) went, what age ranges and what requirements were met to go, was the trip open to any student with the $?
Everyone that went to D.C. was either a student, volunteer (over the age of 17) or a coach/mentor because the age limit was 13-19 (for the team) but not everyone was from OUSD. A lot of the other students that got to go was in SFUSD and/or a local college. That’s speaking for the Bay Area team, of course. Students with the money could attend the festival (free festival + open to the public) but they were not allowed to participate in the competition. If a student really wanted to get into slamming, writing poetry, or going to next year’s Brave New Voices, they can make their presence known to the organization by attending the free workshops, slamming, volunteering, interning, etc. There are students that get invited for a free trip to Brave New Voices if the organization sees consistent participation in them.

I hoped I answered your questions.

I Googled “Youth Speaks’ Bay Area” (another reference from his first entry), and this doesn’t seem to have any affiliation with OUSD or any other school district.

That doesn’t answer the questions about how Bryant got to go – he does say something about qualifying for a team though – or how the trip was paid for and chaperoned.

But it was awfully easy to answer the first couple of questions, and makes me suspect that if I’d done just a few more Google searches, like “Brave New Voices” or “Hear From The Children Left Behind”, I bet I could have answered more.

But it’s time to go home and pay attention to my own children, so I’m not going to research Bryant’s summer poetry slam any further. I’ll leave that to Nextset (If he’s really curious, now he has some guidelines for finding his own answers.), or to Bryant to answer the remaining questions if he chooses to.

I’m wondering if this trip is sponsored in any way by OUSD – or is it private? Did teachers go as Chaperones? Did parents go? How was the trip financed? How many students (if it was a student trip) went, what age ranges and what requirements were met to go, was the trip open to any student with the $?

Having asked all that I’d go on record as saying that any travel that can be facilitated by schools is a great thing. In State, Out of State, Canada or Europe would be a great thing for students to be able to do.

Chaperones, controls, supervision and financing are such problems I believe these trips are unusual for urban school districts such as OUSD. Too bad. It’s intimidating being responsible for the deportment and safety of a dozen or more of other people’s adolescents. I’d love to hear more about how such a project was conducted.