Foreign Exchange Students
School Committee Debates Whether Foreign Exchange Students Will be Allowed
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While students from another country attending local schools can add to the experience of both students from Watertown and the one from abroad, legal liabilities may stand in the way of the Watertown Public Schools accepting foreign exchange students. On April 22, the School Committee discussed the issue of how to accept foreign exchange students, but continue to be stymied by the legal issues. The problem arose when the School Committee looked at updating the policy for foreign exchange students to require them to be living with a legal guardian. School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer, who chairs the Policy Subcommittee, said that poses a problem with the companies running the exchanges. “Under these programs what we found out — many times — the program does not designate the host family as legal guardians, and they (the programs) are not the legal guardian,” Hsu-Balzer said.