Open campus lunch revoked for failing students

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Gavin Batley

Principal Bryant Bednarek sets up the Chromebook students will be required to use to sign in if they have had their open campus revoked.

Gavin Batley, Reporter

The administration will put a new policy in place revoking open campus lunch privileges for some students. The new open campus lunch policy regarding students who are failing two or more classes will go into effect as of today. This means that students failing more than two classes, will no longer be allowed to participate in open campus during lunch period.

Students who are failing two or more classes will be expected to eat their lunch in the school cafeteria.

“Students can eat in the commons with all the other students. It isn’t lunch detention, they are just losing their ability to leave the campus during lunch,” Principal Bryant Bednarek said.

The administration has a plan for how they will be enforcing the new lunch policy.

“Students who are failing two or more classes will be notified that they have lost their open campus privileges. Those students will need to complete a quick sign in on a Chromebook that is mounted outside of the office during a set time period in the middle of the lunch period. This will verify their presence on campus during lunch. The Chromebook is monitored by a camera to verify the person filling out the form truly is the person needing to stay on campus,” Bednarek said. “From there, Mr. Schmidt and I will check to make sure that the students who needed to sign in did so. If students did not sign in, they will face further restrictions such as lunch detention and potentially suspension.” 

Junior IvyLynn Friday Hansen feels that it is a bit extreme that students face such consequences.

”It’s not the schools job to discipline students for bad grades, they should instead help get them tutors and extra help,” Friday Hansen said.

On the other hand, history teacher Jared Marshall says that the consequences are fitting and will be effective to help boost students’ grades.

“For certain students, I believe this will serve as a positive motivation to take care of business in the classroom,” Marshall said.

According to Bednarek, most schools in the conference do not give their students an open campus, and those who do require something along the lines of having a 3.0 GPA or higher.

A large number of students will be affected by this change in open campus policy, according to Bednarek.

“I am hoping as few students as possible are affected, but as of our last count we had nearly 100 students who were failing two or more classes. It is important to note that as soon as students get their grades above passing, they will once again regain open campus privileges. For some students, they might be able to remedy their poor grades in just a day or so. That is the hope,” Bednarek said.