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Open Campus Policy
What is an open campus? An open campus is one which allows students
to go off campus for lunch. Just by reading that sentence, you,
without a doubt, have already realized that El Segundo High School
is definitely not an open campus.
Many students, as most people know, already go off
campus for lunch, and with this new policy of allowing seniors to go
home after fifth period, many may ask why we should even bother
becoming an open campus. The truth is, however, that an open campus
could be a benefit to students and administration alike. Having an
open campus may prevent so many students ditching from school
everyday. Ditching is definitely a problem our school has, as anyone
who has ever seen the stack of pink slips written every morning will
attest to.
Why is this? Perhaps students who attend closed
campuses, such as our own, feel somewhat trapped by the long school
day, and therefore feel compelled to somehow rebel and “free”
themselves at lunch (or another time). Yes, El Segundo High is
beautiful, but it is not all students want to look at.
Understandably, the administration has qualms about
letting students off-campus. The safety of the students, lost
revenues, and tardiness are all perfectly valid concerns regarding
this policy.
In order for an off-campus policy to work or even be
considered, all parties involved must reach a compromise. For
example, the school could allow only juniors and seniors with at
least a certain grade point average to go off campus by giving them
an off-campus lunch sticker on their student identification cards,
much like aquatic sports athletes have. This would motivate students
to keep their grades up, and would therefore benefit the school and
administration as well as the students. Another choice for the
school could be to only allow students to go off campus, lets say,
two days a week, which would still allow the school to still make
money through the cafeteria. Also, in order to assure that there are
not an abundance of sixth period tardies, the school could put a cap
of three sixth period tardies allowed before the student’s
off-campus privilege is taken away. Also, the city of El Segundo
currently has a daytime curfew, which prevents students from being
out of school until 1:30 PM. In order for an open campus policy to
work, the daytime curfew would need to be until 1:00 PM, with the
condition that students are back in school by sixth period.
An open campus policy could be, if instated with the
proper rules, beneficial for both parties involved: students and
administration. Students will be motivated to keep up grades, and in
return they may gain half an hour of freedom. The school could gain
some money due to dropped ditching rates, and more motivated
students.
WE ENCOURAGE BOTH STUDENTS AND FACULTY
MEMBERS TO WRITE TO US ON THIS TOPIC.
ALL LETTERS MUST BE SIGNED,
BUT YOU CAN REQUEST TO BE PUBLISHED ANONYMUSLY.
LETTERS CAN BE EMAILED TO
THEBAYEAGLE@GMAIL.COM OR CAN BE DROPPED OFF IN ROOM K202.
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