Thursday, October 18th, 2012
Volume 34 Issue 1
brianaDILWORTH
opinion editor
As of the 2012-2013 school year a new policy has sprung up: Countryside High School is now a closed campus. This policy includes; not leaving without a PTL as well as not delivering food items to the school for students. The policy not only refers to students, but also teachers. Similar to previous years teachers are required to sign out in the office if they wish to leave campus. The student consequences for going against the policy is very much like all policies at the school; they start off gently and then slowly increase. The first time, they get IC for two days. The second offense is a one day out of school suspension. Third is a two day out of school suspension. If students get caught with food of an outside source it is taken away and brought to the office to receive after school. Teachers also have to adapt to this major change in schedule. Overall the opinion about lunch for the teachers is varied. “Love. Love. Love it!” said Mrs.Dimmer. Some teachers are not in favor of the lunch because it runs into after school time with students, such as clubs and detentions. During lunches, Mrs. Saginario is in the office to discipline students that come in, police officers guard the doors and Mr. Angelo patrolling the parking lot. There were two main changes in the lunch arrangement for this year. One made by the district was to enforce two thirty minute lunches in the middle of the day to Countryside. The second was the decision to make the school a closed campus. “It was made over the summer as a team.” said Mr. Whitaker about the decision. The team made the decision to protect students off
campus. If a student leaves school to go pick up some Taco Bell for lunch, and they get in a wreck, Countryside High School is at fault. They put the new policy in to photo credit Katelyn Wabnum avoid these types of situations. Mr. Whitaker also mentioned the difficulty in patrolling the lunches, because the administrators are not getting time to go to classes and oversee or finish work needed in the office. Rumors around Countryside are that the school called local restaurants to tell them not to deliver here. Many teachers find this new addition to the schedule a hassle because of the after school conflicts. In previous years, teachers were able to hold after school detentions and club meetings. Now, because busses leave directly after school they no longer have this advantage. “I think they changed a lot of rules this year, so we are all just stuck here and it feels like a jail.” said Junior Meaghan Henry. Many students already referred to the school as a jail because of the lack of windows. Students feel even more secluded as a result of there being no outlet now. Countryside is changing year to year. New things are being enforced and old things are getting booted out. This is a never ending cycle that will continue to shape the school. Next year some new and shocking thing will be changed, and yet again the students will roar. The chain will go on and it is our jobs as students to go with the changes and help to decide what new change is to come next.
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