opinion story and cartoon by Caroline See
Ring ring…..ring ring. No answer. The secretaries are occupied at the moment but leave a message and they will get back to you as soon as possible. A chaotic office busy with secretaries answering parent after parent calling about minor things is just one of the many problems solved by open campus. About half of the 206 students that responded to an email survey conducted on 10/2/18 reported they call their parents at least once a month to get permission to go home. Opening the high school’s campus would ease the chaos for the office, by filtering the more urgent matters.
Mount Vernon slowly adapted to a closed campus by adding one grade to the policy per year, starting with the class of 2011. The push for a closed campus came from Mount Vernon citizens who were worried about high school students rushing back to school and initiating a collision in the town’s Highway 30 intersection with 10th Street. The city of Mount Vernon has since built a roundabout; however, four years later the high school has not returned the open campus policy.
An open campus would ease office chaos, prevent unnecessary punishments for kids leaving, increase business revenue for Mount Vernon, and increase the effectiveness of the “eighth block” (MTSS), as well as teach kids responsibility.
Whether it’s going home to catch up on sleep, get food, grab something for practice, or even simply visit the pets, MVHS students would enjoy the few moments they could take a break from the long seven-hour school day. As long as students are back for their assigned class ready to learn, the school doesn’t have any reason to punish kids for leaving, other than the closed campus policy. Does a student who left school during a free period and a student who disrespected a teacher deserve the same punishment? School staff could save a lot of time, and unnecessary punishment if MVHS had an open campus.
MVHS adapted to a Thursday and Friday block schedule back in the 2016/2017 school year. The block schedule consists of 85-minute classes which give students 30 extra minutes for lunch; along with two 30 minute periods on Fridays to receive help from teachers and work on homework. If MVHS brought back the open campus policy, businesses all throughout Mount Vernon would have an immense increase in revenue due to the longer lunch periods. In fact, 85 percent of students from MVHS said they would leave during block lunch to buy food somewhere in Mount Vernon. If that many students only spent five dollars on lunch, businesses would still make about 2,025 dollars just from the high school students in one day.
Along with an increase in profit for businesses, an open campus would make MTSS time more effective for students. According to the survey, approximately 70 percent of students use half or less of MTSS to study or get help from teachers. For kids who use the whole block, it can be very distracting or loud to work on homework while other students are talking and hanging out with their friends. If the high school had an open campus, the kids who refuse to work on homework could leave, creating a better studious environment for kids trying to complete assignments, and discuss concerns with their teachers.
Finally, the most long-term effect an open campus would have on an MV student is helping them develop responsibility. Because students as well as parents, don’t want to risk the punishment of going home to grab something, most of the time parents bring things to the school that their kids forgot. This teaches students to fall back on their guardian, instead of enforcing preparedness and responsibility. An open campus would allow students to get things they forgot, but also take away time they could be using to finish homework for other classes. Students would learn the effect of driving home constantly and would be forced to learn how to manage their time as well as develop responsibility for their actions. Teachers claim high school is a way to get kids ready for a college education, but students need more than education when they leave their home. They need to learn to be self-reliant, and an open campus could help with this.
