High school students have been in discussion over the lack of student freedom as school officials and students across the country debate over the proposition of open campuses.
This conflict has even made its way into the Regional, with students complaining about and requesting open campus studies and lunch periods.
An open campus is the concept where schools allow students to go on and off campus as they please between classes. It is seen mostly in colleges and universities due to the less strict regulations around student safety.
“I think an open campus is a good idea but puts a lot of responsibility on the students to ensure a good education,” said Aiden Mintah (Class of 2025). “It’s nice if you had study or double study between the day you could leave and come back.”
But current laws and regulations, Torts Law and Massachusetts 603 CMR 18.00 laws, make it incredibly difficult for public schools to implement any open campus policies.
The Regional has a senior privilege known as late entry and early dismissal. Similar to an open campus, senior students can leave early from school or come into school late if they don’t have a class.
The way this is achieved without being an open campus has to be through the parent sign off form.
In order to allow a student to leave early or arrive late during studies, they must have a parent or guardian sign off saying they dismiss the student from those periods.
Administrators and school officials cannot allow this during any other study period due to the responsibility it places on the school itself.
A student who goes to public school during the day will have custody transferred to school staff, according to Massachusetts 603 CMR 18.00 laws.
The current public school regulations typically place the responsibility on the school for each student and any incidents that occur, unless stated otherwise by parents.
“Open campus could be a liability if anything happens during their study,” said Jonathan Tanasi (Class of 2025). “People could be using it to skip or not get back to school on time.”
On the other side of the conversation some believe that more open campus style policies could be beneficial to the Regional.
It could help local businesses around the high school during lunch times and especially give students the opportunity to feel more independent.
“I don’t see a problem with an open campus,” said senior Tyler Buckley. “It could give students the opportunity to go home and take a break.”
Despite these positive aspects there’s still negative downsides, such as the chance that students would go out to eat everyday, missing out on proper nutrition required in public school.
Overall, there is much debate surrounding the concept of an open campus. With current laws and boundaries set in place, this desire is one that won’t be filled anytime soon- without the voices of students.
