N-O Board Of Education Approves Open Campus Policy Trial

Do you know how long it takes to walk from Neligh-Oakdale to the nearest restaurant?

Juniors and seniors will be finding out this fall. The Neligh-Oakdale School board meeting on Monday approved a one-year trial of 25-minute open-campus lunches without the use of vehicles. Board members said the policy may be changed at any time.

When walking, it takes about 7.5 minutes to travel from the 11th and 12th grade lockers to Imperial II’s door. That doesn’t include how long it would take to pick up food.

If 15 minutes are spent walking, that leaves a mere 10 minutes to eat.

Whether or not 25 minutes is an adequate amount of time, what grades should be involved and if vehicles should be allowed were among other many heavily discussed concerns.

Denise Gunderson told board members the open campus policy could hurt the school lunch program and said students won’t have enough time to eat healthily in 25 minutes.

“As Americans, I don’t think we eat very healthy,” Gunderson said. “And with our school lunch program, with the options they have, I think we are teaching good eating habits to our children and they’re adapting to it.”   

Board member Cory Furstenau agreed the lunch period should be longer than 25 minutes. However, the members were uncertain as to where they would find extra time to use.

Scott Svatos said the school is moving away from 20-minute homerooms, but that time is already being added to the end of the day, as well as divvied between the eight 50-minute class periods.

When N-O had open campus in years past, Secretary Ronald Gilg said they had around 45 minutes for the lunch period.

“When I first came here, it was about 45 minutes, so I could walk home, grab a sandwich and walk back and have no problems,” Gilg said.

Kenny Reinke said he had classmates who lived close to school who would just go home for lunch. Reinke said he also has concerns on the impact open campus may have on the lunch program.

“Like clockwork, they’d run home, grab a bite to eat and be right back,” Reinke said. “I could see instances like that, but at the same time, I have some genuine concerns about the lunch program, also. I don’t think we’re going to see a big enough migration.”

The board members decided to leave the lunch period at 25 minutes and said it could be changed after a year if needed.

Some of the board members said they preferred students not use vehicles during open campus. Board President Dave Wright said limiting the lunch period and not allowing students to drive would eliminate other activities.

“If you’re not going to drive, I think the 25 minutes will curtail a lot of activities,” Wright said. “And if you’re not back, you know, you’re going to lose your privilege.”

However, Wright said he opposed limiting the policy to juniors and seniors since there is no vehicle usage. However, the eventual motion included only juniors and seniors.

“If you did it two grades, you know, keeping track of 45 kids is a lot easier than keeping track of 80,” Svatos said.

To ensure the school isn’t responsible for incidents, Svatos said students would first be required to have their parents sign a liability form stating whether or not they can leave the school.   

Another factor discussed involves how teachers will monitor students’ activities, including watching who goes in and out of the building

Ryan Koinzan said there needs to be someone watching the front door, but pointed out that since the doors are locked, staff will have to constantly buzz students in and out.  

“If the doors are locked and all of a sudden you have somebody knock, that’s what they do the whole time is buzzing people back in,” Koinzan said.

To solve this, Wright suggested foregoing the school’s safety policy and leaving the doors unlocked for those 25 minutes of open campus period.

“What if one’s only gone for 10 minutes and then comes back in? He’s going to buzz? So, there’s a teacher there manning that any way right now because somebody’s buzzing to get in and out,” he said.

Regardless of the open campus policy, Furstenau said he thinks the students need to be allowed more freedom and the ability to eat outside of the lunch room, including the gym, classrooms, the football field or lobby.
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In addition to freedom for juniors and seniors, Furstenau said the school should expand to have an in-house open campus for seventh through 10th grade students. Koinzan agreed and said a teacher should be set to monitor gym activity to ensure equipment is properly used.

While they discussed more freedom for junior high students, Svatos said it didn’t need to be included in the policy and that the school would work it out.

Open campus for juniors and seniors passed on 5-1 motion with Wright voting against.