Los Gatos Weekly-Times

EDITORIALS

It's time to close the high school campus

With Los Gatos High School opening next week for the new school year, a wave of nostalgia is spreading through the community. That's because a remarkable number of town residents attended LGHS. Many have seen their children and their children's children attend the old alma mater.

It's too bad everyone in the community can't feel warm and fuzzy at the proverbial ringing of the school bell to harken the beginning of the academic year.

But for those who own businesses or homes in the vicinity of the school, the end of summer signals the return of loitering teens who block their doorways and intimidate customers, flick cigarette butts into gutters, and drop paper cups and sandwich wrappers on their sidewalks.

These are just a few of the people in the community who would like to see LGHS return to the closed campus so many alumni remember from their own high school days.

School officials typically respond to calls for a closed campus with two arguments: Local business will suffer without the dollars students pump into the local economy at lunch time; the school's facilities are too small to accommodate all the students at lunch time, so a closed campus would necessitate three lunch periods.

Actually, the "local businesses" that would suffer are the fast-food establishments on Los Gatos Boulevard, where young people head in their cars at lunch time, prompting many complaints to the Police Department about traffic congestion. Most of the businesses close to the campus, quite the contrary, complain that throngs of loitering teens scare business away.

If students have to have their favorite fast food, why not invite those food services onto the campus to dispense their products?

Alumni remember an offering of cafeteria food as well as a separate section devoted to selling milk shakes, sodas, sandwiches, ice cream and chips.

Three separate lunch periods? It wouldn't be the first time. Many alumni remember alternating lunch shifts.

Would a closed campus annoy students and inconvenience school staff? Of course it would.

But would it be better for the community--both the school community and the nearby business and residential community? We think so.

School officials say they worry about students who come to school under the influence of drugs and alcohol, yet the target seems to be those who actually use drugs on campus. What about the students who leave and return to campus under the influence?

Arguably, those who are determined to leave the school to use drugs or alcohol during the school day will do so whether the campus is closed or not. But with the campus open, how many more students will face daily peer pressure to do so?

We've heard complaints from many segments of the community about the school's open campus policy. Many believe a closed campus is a safer, saner alternative. In the end, though, everyone throws their hands up and blames school officials for lack of enthusiasm about making the change.

If closing the campus is as important as many seem to think it is, then the entire community will have to work together to make it happen.

But only if enough people believe the young people are worth the effort.