“Ever since I was in middle school, I saw that the juniors and seniors could leave for lunch [because] they had an open campus. So it was my sophomore year and I was so excited for open campus and then they closed it on us and I was very upset,” said class of 2018 vice president, Jake French. French is among a majority of juniors who were upset about not receiving open campus this year. “I don’t think it was right to close the campus for juniors, there could have been better ways to deal with the issues at hand,” said French. “I had been looking forward to going home and eating lunch with my dad,” junior Kade Wroot said.

The 2016-2017 school year welcomed the addition of D lunch. Instead of receiving at least 35 minutes to eat like last year, students are now limited to 30 minutes. The lack of time has proved problematic for many students. “I’ll wait in line for 20 minutes before I get food sometimes. The lunches are packed,” said French.

French believes that open campus gives students a sense of freedom and something to look forward to. “Being trapped in a school for seven hours a day is very painful. It would make the day go by better. It puts us in better moods, and I know that I like to learn more when I’m in a better mood,” French said. Junior Allison Brogdon agrees with French. “Seniors who are going to be leaving next year will have a better sense of freedom than being stuck in a lunchroom,” Brogdon said.
North Platte High School principal James Ayres says that closed campus is for student safety. “You have 300 kids going out into the parking lot, and you have scattering. They come back, and it’s a race to get into the parking lot. Most of our accidents and issues that we have are over the lunch hour when kids aren’t paying attention,” Ayres said.

Keeping all the students under one roof makes it easier for the school to remain accountable, as well. From 8:20 to 3:30, the school is responsible for every student’s well-being. “If we know the kids are on campus, then we know where they are and that they’re actually doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” he said. The administration wanted to leave open campus for seniors as a privilege so they could try to teach them about responsibility. Could they leave and make it back on time? Do they even come back? If a student was continually tardy when returning for lunch, they would lose their privilege to leave.

Although most students disagree with the closed campus, they are still able to see the other side of it. “People are more likely to do things they shouldn’t, like drugs. They’re more likely to be late. But, people are going to do bad things anyways,” Brogdon said. “People were leaving when they weren’t supposed to and they just abused their privileges,” junior Ethan Plummer said. “I think if kids are going to try to abuse open campus, then they should get in trouble. [The school] shouldn’t penalize everybody else for their stupid decision,” Wroot said.
According to Ayres, seniors will be allowed to leave for lunch for the 2017-2018 school year. NPHS will remain an open campus school for the time being.