OPINION: SCHOOL RULES SHOULD BE COMMUNICATED, ENFORCED BETTER

By Jahmi Wright, Opinion Editor

Last month, I left the building to go to lunch on a Monday as I’ve been doing since the start of school. I walked past the security guard in Commons A who said nothing to me. But when I returned to school she said students could only leave on Fridays and that I had to call my parents and go home.

The school needs to communicate with students about the rules they put in place as it makes the school seem unprofessional and irresponsible.

There is a rule that only juniors and seniors are allowed to leave for lunch and can only leave on Fridays. Since the beginning of the school year, many students, including me, have been leaving campus for lunch every day. No staff or security has stopped students to tell them they couldn’t leave so many assumed they were allowed.

Students should not be held accountable for not being able to enter the building and being counted absent from their classes because it is the school’s responsibility to inform students about the lunch rules and to ensure that they are being followed and enforced.

Students get punished for disobeying rules, the school doesn’t even enforce, or the student didn’t know about. Administrators would say that it’s the student’s responsibility to know and follow the rule but how can they expect students to follow the rule when they don’t know about them or it’s not enforced consistently?

The school should instead have a list of students that are able to leave and give them an off-campus lunch pass for their specific lunch.

Jahmi Wright

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