By now, videos of fights in the Starbucks parking lot have circulated through the student body several times. Everyone’s heard teachers’ lectures about habitual tardiness following lunch and reports from businesses about student’s behavior. For many, leaving the school for lunch has become the norm, but the possibility of USD497 taking open lunch away has become a non confirmed threat.
While safety and tardiness has always been a concern for the district, recent incidents with substances, violence and vandalism have pushed the conversation of taking away open lunch farther. District employees Denise Johnson, Pantaleon Florez, Julie Henry and Julie Boyle
have confirmed that while it is being discussed, there is no decision on whether or not to revoke open lunch.
“It is a district administration decision, and no timeframe has been determined,” a district official said in an email from Boyle.
Even with open lunch still in place, restrictions have increased in attempts to fix the problems. The school issued a new tardy policy, but off-campus issues, like shoplifting and vandalism, are where law enforcement and businesses take action.
“Continuous reports of vandalism and shoplifting are being reported, particularly at Free State,” a district official said in an email from Boyle.
While right now there are no immediate plans to revoke open lunch, it is still a possibility it could be taken away in the future. Open lunch is a routine for many students such as sophomore Sammi Smith. She said that punishing the entire student body for a small percentage of students is unfair.
“It’s not fair that open lunch is being taken away from everyone just because of the few people who are fighting,” Smith said.
As much as open lunch means to some students, the district’s goal is to keep the students and community safe and well. If that means revoking open lunch, that’s the measure they’ll take.
“Our schools are responsible for keeping students safe. This is significantly more challenging when students leave campus during the school day,” a district official said in an email from Boyle.
