Aspen High School students wish that a closed campus wasn’t something that we have to abide by. Yet, the rules imposed by administrators don’t allow students other than seniors to leave campus at any point in the day as we move towards a fully closed campus in the 2024-2025 school year.
When considering AHS safety regarding students, administrations have decided not to allow students to leave campus for lunch or free periods.
One of the ASD weekly newsletters sent out to the community said, “Our campus is closed for 9th, 10th, and 11th grades as we move towards a fully closed campus. We need to know where students are, minimize students coming & going, and keep everyone behind locked doors”.
This is due to the uprising in school threats, causing school doors to stay locked at all times. Having kids come and go from school makes it hard to account for students, yielding issues for the school.
Clearly, freshmen cannot drive and many sophomores can’t either. However, this doesn’t mean changing campus to be closed for juniors as well is the right thing to do. In previous years, juniors have also been allowed to leave for lunch, but moving to a fully closed campus took those privileges away at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. This year’s juniors continue to be moved to a closed campus, and who knows if they, as seniors, will even be allowed to leave.
Students like being in control and feeling like they have the ability to live their lives. AHS students can begin driving as soon as they turn 16, which is traditionally mid-way through sophomore year. While students can’t park on campus until senior year, there are other areas to park within walking distance from school. If students have the ability to leave school for lunch, then it should be allowed. Students can rely on themselves to be where they need to be when they need to be there.
Because students are not allowed to leave campus, they end up rebelling against the rules. People end up propping doors open, missing the beginning of classes, and more. By propping the doors open, safety becomes a bigger issue. Director of Safety & Security Garrett Seddon started a campaign to ‘Stop the Prop.’ When doors are propped, anyone could find that door and enter at any time, kids will also start missing parts of class because students leave and then get locked out or don’t make it back in time.
Something that can be implemented is a sign-in and out sheet or Google form to track who leaves campus for lunch or a free period. This provides a way to know when students leave and return. This could even be a part of the PowerSchool app. Yes, allowing students to leave campus can be a reliability, but it seems that even if it is not allowed, students will still leave, causing more issues as students are not being accounted for in any way.