More than a dozen Lathrop High School seniors went into Friday thinking that they wouldn’t be able to join their classmates for the annual Disneyland Grad Nite trip next week.

But after careful planning and coordination with the travel agency that organizes the trip, it appears that the students will be able to celebrate their milestone in the Happiest Place on Earth.

According to a statement released by the school, administrators at the campus have been working with USA Student Travel over the past several weeks to bring about a happy solution to the troubling problem – that incensed some parents that had paid for their students in full only to find out later that they had been wait-listed for a place, and that they may not have been able to go.

The $300 cost of the trip includes transportation from the school to Anaheim and back and admission into the park – which will host an all-night party for tens of thousands of high school students from the around the state that have been making pilgrimages to the park for more than 50 years for the celebration. In all, 685 seniors from the five Manteca Unified  comprehensive high schools will make the trip next week, and according to the district, it will include the 13 students that originally believed they wouldn’t be able to go.

While the district worked to develop a plan to ensure that everybody that paid could go on the Disneyland trip, the event was not a typical school function – offered only to students and facilitated by an outside company that handles both the transportation and the ticketing for the park.

“This is their last trip in high school and all of the students were looking forward to going – we don’t them to miss it,” said one parent that contacted The Bulletin about the situation before a solution had been worked out.

Students that have paid for the trip must be eligible based on preset school standards and agreed to a contract that said that seating on the buses that transport students will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. To qualify for clearance students be behaviorally eligible, have all fees cleared, and have no unserved Saturday schools on the books by the start of the week of the trip. Those going must also be academically eligible with a grade point average of 2.0 or better with no more than one “F” or one “U” during the current grading cycle.  

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.