Dear German Teacher,
The letter below was designed to provide a “comfort level” to administrators regarding our visitation program.
Our visitation program is divided into two distinct phases:
1. The hosting of Germans in the American schools in the spring and allowing them to observe in the classroom for what amounts to 1-2 weeks. (This is the only phase that involves any American High School, just the granting of “visitation privileges.”)
2. If a U.S. participant, with approval from his/her parent, decides to return the visit in the summer to the German partner whom he/she hosted in the spring, that decision would not involve the American school whatsoever.
School Year 2024-2025
Dear Administrator,
We are grateful for the cooperation and support our program receives from administrators and German teachers throughout the United States. In 2019, before the COVID pandamic, we had nearly 120 high school administrators gave permission for German students on our program to visit their high schools in the spring. We look forward to building that number back up this school year! The three week stay usually occurs over spring break, so the German visitors are usually in the school for no more than 1 – 2 weeks. The German participants will be in the U.S. this year from March 31st – April 23rd, 2025. The participating schools simply grant “visitation privileges” to the Germans in the spring; that is the extent of any school’s involvement in our program!
If parents decide to allow their children to visit Germany in the summer, when the U.S. school is out of session, that is strictly a matter between the participating families and The Friendship Connection, Inc. For legal reasons, some school administrators feel more comfortable when we emphasize this point in writing.
We are extremely proud of the fact that The Friendship Connection has been in existence since 1981 and has had nearly 34,000 participants from Germany and the United States during the last 42 years.
If any administrator has questions concerning our program, please call or email me.
Sincerely,
Krista Winzer-Lee, Coordinator
The Friendship Connection, Inc.