For a thirty-minute period, there are several activities offered during our lunch, which allow space for students to engage with the MHS community in various entertaining and educational ways. However, one thing that students are strictly prohibited from doing is leaving campus. While this has been a firm policy at MHS, the closed campus policy is more harmful than beneficial to students, as it increases restrictions and limits student freedom.
As per state regulation, MHS has adopted a free lunch policy for all students. While the free lunches are available to all, the increased crowd at the few lunch lines has caused many students to avoid getting lunch from school. Additionally, the vending machines at MHS have a history of being consistently unreliable and tend to run out. Because of these situations, students should have the option of leaving campus to get lunch.
Allowing students to leave campus would permit them to get lunches from nearby businesses, which can be beneficial for several reasons. For example, while the school offers vegetarian and vegan options, some students may find that getting lunch from other places could be more convenient, as they would be able to choose foods that are suited to their diets and tastes. Additionally, an open lunch increases the amount of responsibility that students have in their own lives, which is an imperative skill to be taught in school, even indirectly. By allowing students to leave campus, they are responsible for using the time efficiently and returning to school before class. Giving students adult responsibilities prepares them for the real world, which is beneficial to practice.
While an open-campus lunch policy could raise questions for security, MHS is already capable of handling student safety for such a situation. The school currently has several security guards around campus who are careful to patrol exits, with specific guards posted at the student parking lot during lunch. Additionally, MHS has enforced strict tardy and absence policies that would hold students accountable to return to school after lunch. Off-campus lunch could also be limited to upperclassmen in order to reduce the number of students leaving campus and to ensure that only a controlled population do so. This would be enforced by checking student IDs when leaving and entering campus, so that only students with permission would be leaving and no outsiders would enter.
The student life experience is constantly evolving with time, and restrictive policies should be amended to keep up with these changes. An open-lunch would benefit students in several ways, and it is about time that MHS looks into allowing one.