A closed campus conundrum?

An in-depth examination of the closed campus policy and the reasonings behind it

Mariahna hatfield STAFF WRITER

Students often question and disobey the closed campus rule. However, most of these students don’t know the various reasons behind the rule and why it’s in place.

Many students don’t understand the liability of the school with the closed campus rule.

Principal Michael Willard shared multiple reasons why this rule is in place.

“School lawyers were telling us that it was a liability issue to allow kids to be on campus, then to leave campus and have young people in cars traveling super fast due to their limited time,” said Willard.

There are multiple safety reasons as to why students aren’t allowed to leave campus.

Some of the main problems include students getting in accidents, being injured and not being able to make it back to school, and having their life at risk when they were supposed to be in school and under school supervision.

Even though this rule has been in place for over 10 years, many students don’t abide by it. Holt still has many students, daily, going out to run home, get food, or even just driving around with a friend.

Sophomore Isabella Penrose thinks the high school should have an open campus and shared her reasoning.

“... It gives us more freedom as high schoolers, and the school lunch isn’t always the best,” said Penrose.

Many students say that, if the high school was an open campus, they would use that privilege. Staff, however, are concerned that people wouldn’t take advantage of the real purpose of that privilege.

“I would definitely leave and make sure to come back because I still value my education. As a student, I understand the risk that comes with it and the importance of the rule, that she still sees numerous students a day going in and out all of the doors throughout the school. but it still gives us a little of our own freedom which would be nice,” said Penrose.

“I think we need to be more strict about it. It’s a safety issue for the kids. I don’t think the rule works well at all. Too many kids wander off and they go to McDonald’s or Biggby or Starbucks, and they miss class time. It’s a closed campus. You’re only supposed to go back and forth, not to shop or eat. We’ve had several sets of students getting into car accidents,” said Perry. Administration knows this is happening, and it’s difficult to control. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t care. The school would rather students be safe then sorry.

Junior Alexis Hall is in agreement, wanting the school to be an open campus, but they have different reasoning as to why.

“Yes, I think the school should be an open campus because it gives students a chance to take a break from the school environment during lunch,” said Hall.

Students would like to be able to take a break from being in the same building all day, every day, maybe not even going to get food but just simply to take a break.

Though students know that the campus is closed, there are still many students, who are not traveling to a different campus, who are going out and doing as they please.

Security guard Jackie Perry shared

According to a study done in 2016 by the National Institutes of Health, only 25% of high school’s in the USA are open campus. Schools close their campuses so students are guaranteed to not miss any class time due to being out of the building, and not getting hurt of any kind.

Some schools argue that having an open campus teaches students how to manage their time outside of school and learning how to be more responsible with their time, knowing that they have class that they need to show up too. They argue that students leaving teaches them independence and responsibility.

Research also shows that students being able to leave the building for a short period of time helps with their attitude and the way they look and persevere throughout the school day. It gives the students time to clear their head, get fresh air and a change

Students often let other students in through other doors, so they are able to bypass the securtiy desk in front of the main doors. PC: Mari Hatfield of scenery for a little while, so when they come back in the building they are ready to learn and have a positive attitude just because they had a little break to do as they please and get away from the bunch of students and crowd.

Researchers also say that students’ social and emotional health appear to grow more when they are given that freedom to leave.

Though logically according to a research done by a Junior and Senior high school, it’s safer for students to stay on campus where they are monitored, guaranteed to be safe and not in a car accident or other unwanted things happening to them, not going to miss any class or any instruction and will be where they are meant to be without any issues like coming into class late, haven’t finished your food yet, etc.

Sophomore Tyler Andrews is also in agreement with the other students. “The food is bad and some kids get free lunch while others don’t and there may not be stuff for them at home to bring to school for them to eat,” said Andrews.