Staff Editorial: Open campus for lunch will cause problems
Stillwater Area High School is one of the few schools in the metro that does not have an open campus at lunch, meaning students must stay in the building and cannot leave to eat nearby. Students have been frustrated about this for a while, but there are good reasons for the closed campus.
The first good reason there should be a closed campus is that the school already has an issues with attendance. Last year, SAHS ranked third in the state for absences.
When students are allowed to leave school in the middle of the day, there could be a concern some students will not return after lunch.
One suggestion is to allow only students with good attendance records to leave. However, that would be a logistical nightmare. Patrolling who is allowed to leave or stay would be a challenge.
Another reason closed campus is ideal is because of the parking lot. When school is over in the afternoon, hundreds of students leave at the same time. Some lucky students are able to leave in a couple minutes, but most students sit in the parking lot traffic for between 15 and 20 minutes. Other schools have multiple exits and multiple parking lots to make it easy to come and go.
On the contrary, we have one massive parking lot for staff, students, and visitors that connect to congested roads through low flowing exits.The final reason that any high school is a bad place for an open campus is that businesses may not want crowds of high school students coming all at once. Businesses would have to prepare large amounts of food at one time and create spaces for students that may take away from other lunch customers.
With so many transitions next year, considering open lunch is an obvious choice, however it is not practical. Adding lunch options, additional seating, and another lunch block would better accommodate students.
Katie Freichels • Mar 29, 2017 at 9:37 pm
This article had very good quotes with detailed supports to show how open campus would truly effect students etc. It was a fun read just because I’ve been interested in seeing the pros and cons for open campus lunch and seeing if we would ever eventually be able to accomodate one or not.
Linnea Phillips • Feb 10, 2017 at 10:17 am
Very strong point of view shown, and clear supports to back them up. Great conclusion that really drives your opinion home.
Hailey Willius • Feb 10, 2017 at 8:31 am
The writers conclusion was a perfect way to show readers you can compromise and still be happy with the outcome. Also the choice of using student data over state wide was a brilliant choice for the infographic. It showed the real opinions of our fellow students.
Kaitlyn Launderville • Feb 10, 2017 at 8:09 am
This article made me think of both perspectives. This article is very well written and very informative. I really enjoyed reading it.
Hannah Larson • Feb 10, 2017 at 5:58 am
The article is really well written and it does a great job of showing both viewpoints of the pros and cons of an open campus lunch.
McKenzie Bohlig • Feb 9, 2017 at 8:54 pm
This article has very strong supports and explanation to back up the claims made. It felt a little like reading an argumentative essay then a news article but it was still interesting and enjoyable to read. The Infographic is easy to understand and is a strong representation of students’ opinions on an open campus for lunch.
Jared Taylor • Feb 9, 2017 at 8:03 am
This article easily showed its clear, well researched facts that show the major problems of an open campus. Everything in this article fell into place as the story easily flowed at a nice, even pace. Also, in a well described way shows both sides of the argument, this was a great story.
Kleio Vrohidis • Feb 9, 2017 at 7:53 am
I had always assumed that an open campus would be a great thing, but after reading this I was able to understand the other point of view. The article was very informative and used a lot of information to back up your argument.
Ciana Fragnito • Feb 1, 2017 at 10:53 am
This article is very informative with great interviews showing the other side of the issue that many students do not talk about. Outlining the problems helps readers gather more information and fully understand both sides of the issue.
Elise Luoma • Jan 31, 2017 at 1:02 pm
This article has explanatory information and a strong lead. I like how the infographic includes students’ opinions, and it had a creative layout.