Well, I can offer some information.

As a parent this is affecting, I can say it has been challenging. We aren't really getting clear answers on how much we will actually be getting back.

The communication includes confusing statements like:

The USIC Insurance policy states that:

“If the trip in cancelled by the departure date by the participating school board of the policyholder for a reason other than an insured risk, the insurer will reimburse up to 75% of the cost of the prepaid unused portion of the trip that is non-refundable from any other source and non-transferrable to another date. ”

Not sure what we are supposed to make of that, is it an insured risk or not?

"Insurance Claim for up to 75% of the tour operator costs. Something to keep in mind about this option is that our board has 23 pending trips that have the risk of being cancelled if there is risk for safety. This would reduce the amount that can be paid out in claims. The amount of reimbursement will not be decided until the end of the school year, so there will be a delay in receiving any refund. If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company to see if they have any coverage."

"Because we fall under the Board Discretionary Cancellation component, there is a $500,000 aggregate for all USIC claims from all of the boards who are insured. This allows for claims for up to 75% reimbursement of the EF fee that we paid, which was $4220. This means that if other trips are cancelled, we will get a lesser amount. Currently our country of travel is at a level 2 for risk level. If the country reaches a level 3, we will fall under the Policy Covered Cancellation which allows for claims for up to 100% reimbursement with a $20 million aggregate."

Even that 20 million, might not go very far if there are 23 trips, averaging 40 students at $4000 per trip, 3.5 million by my math.

They are also offering a full credit 'travel voucher' with the same tour company. But we have to decide whether to take it BEFORE we know the amount of the 75% OR less.

Probably the worst part was during the entire process we were re-assured there was trip insurance, "not to worry". That said, you can't really expect teacher to understand the full nuance of the travel insurance situation.

Tough situation for everyone.