By Cecily Barnes
Freshman and sophomores at Saratoga high school will no longer be allowed to walk up the street and blow their allowance or to test out their newly acquired driver's licenses during lunch period.
After carefully weighing input from parents, Saratoga High has decided to implement a partially closed campus policy, which will permit only upperclassmen the privilege of leaving school during the day without specific permission from their parents.
"We have decided to make leaving the campus at lunch a privilege for upperclassmen," Principal Kevin Skelly explained in a letter to parents. "This means that juniors and seniors will be allowed to go off campus for lunch, but freshmen and sophomores must remain on campus throughout the day."
No new plans have been designed to enforce this policy, other than the hiring of a campus supervisor, which Skelly assured would have occurred anyway.
"Our plan is not to change the physical layout of the campus or put up a fence or anything," explained Skelly. "Our expectation is that the vast majority of our students will heed the rules."But not all of the kids are happy about the policy change. For the high school's sophomores, a privilege they had taken for granted last year has now been revoked.
"The main thing I'm upset about is that it includes the sophomores," said 15-year-old Brian Luskey. "We got to leave campus all last year, and now all our friends are driving."
Many students of all grade levels believe the policy is petty and insignificant. "I think it's kind of a frivolous policy," said recent Saratoga High graduate Shayni Blanchard.
"It doesn't make much difference to cut it off at the sophomore level, because most sophomores can't drive."
However, Skelly thinks that the new policy will make plenty of difference, increasing student safety, making better use of the school's lunch facilities and improving the student's school experience.
"The most inexperienced drivers--newly licensed sophomores--will not be able to drive during lunch," Skelly explained in his letter. "We believe that closing the campus, albeit partially, has great potential to improve the quality of life for students...[because] the students who stay on campus have better experiences in high school and are more involved in life on campus."
Regarding Skelly's justifications, lower and upper classmen seem split.
"I kind of agree," hesitated Blanchard, "because the sophomores that can drive usually drive like maniacs."
Sophomore Brian Lusky thinks Skelly's "extracurricular" and "cliquishness" arguments are baloney.
"Last year I was able to participate in, like, five extracurricular activities and still go out to lunch," Lusky argued. "And if anything, [closing campus] will make the cliques stronger. When you stay in for lunch, all of the cliques find their own corner, and people don't go near each other."
Saratoga High's new policy has not yet been etched in stone. Skelly intends to try it out this year and see how things go. Student response will not likely result in the reopening of campus, he said, but one false move could close campus even for the upperclassmen.
"If there are problems, we will be more inclined to close campus for all students," Skelly added.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, August 28, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved