Neligh-Oakdale Teachers Opposed To Open Campus Policy

Amid concerns of supervision, security, bullying, tardies, the lunch program and respect for its new principal, four Neligh-Oakdale staff members spoke out against an open campus policy at Monday’s school board meeting.

Several other staff members and teachers wrote letters to the board in opposition of the policy. After much discussion and a failed motion to approve the new policy, the board later voted to table the policy until its December meeting.

Nate Metschke, N-O’s band director, told the board he thinks they have good intentions with the policy but wanted to make sure that the policy isn’t just thrown together quickly.

“I think you have great intentions,” Metschke said. “I just wonder if we should tap the brakes and let the teachers here be a part of this. And the school improvement team.”

Metschke cited several reasons for his opposition to the open campus policy, including security. “I feel we would really compromise our security just leaving that front lobby door open for 50 minutes every day
for kids to get in and out,” he said.

Another concern of Metschke’s was that about 40 percent of students at Neligh-Oakdale are on free and reduced lunches.

“I know that would be a real strain on their families to have to pay for that fast food or wherever they’re going because they’re going to want to do that whether they can afford it or not,” he said, citing peer pressure. “They’re prideful ... some will just skip their healthy meal for the day and just go be with their friends just to get out of the building.”

Another staff member who spoke out against the policy was science teacher Lia Heckert, who told the members she’d only attended one other board meeting in her eight years at the district and had never spoken at one. Heckert said she chose Monday’s meeting to speak because she felt so strongly against the proposed policy.

“I think open campus is a very bad idea, and I think an even worse idea is to discuss and vote upon this matter without asking for input from the people who have to deal with the policy,” she said. “I’ve taught more than 15 years in five different schools, and I have never before seen a school board make a decision like open campus without first having the common courtesy to at least ask the teachers or principals about it.”

Heckert said with the exception of board member Ron Gilg, who is a substitute teacher, none of the members “will be regularly watching students come to class late from lunch, none of you will have your classes interrupted by kids roaming the halls with nothing else to do, none of you will have to wonder if your students have returned to the building drunk or high.”

Heckert said the staff tries its best to make “Neligh-Oakdale a very wonderful, fun, safe, supportive place to be. As a collective group, we know a whole lot about how to work with kids in this school, and that wisdom should be respected instead of ignored.”

Donna Keetle, food manager at Neligh-Oakdale, and Becky Kerkman, elementary guidance counselor, also spoke out against the open campus policy.

Keetle’s main concern about the policy was a decrease in participation in the lunch program and what would happen if the students went out for open campus, did not get what they wanted, and came back to the school expecting to be fed lunch.

Kerkman’s main concern with the policy, other than what had been previously stated, was that the open campus policy doesn’t promote wellness like the school lunch program, which has a fruit and vegetable bar.

Ben Dempsey, Neligh-Oakdale’s new principal, was in attendance during the meeting as well. After explaining his experiences with open campus policies, Dempsey asked if the policy could be tabled until he had a chance to familiarize himself more with the school.

“If we go ahead with this, there’s a lot of things I would like to see set in place,” he said. “If we could table it until we get more information, more input from everybody involved, that would be a great first step, I think.”

Several board members also spoke against moving forward with the policy, which was approved on first reading last month and on the agenda for final approval Monday. Gilg said from a recent experience at a Neligh convenience store, he didn’t believe a 25-minute lunch period was sufficient time for students to walk from school, get lunch and return.

Vice President Ryan Koinzan said he had “put the cart in front of the horse” and was appreciative of the input he had received since voting to approve the policy last month. Cory Furstenau, who made the original motion last month, said he, too, wanted to look into the policy further before moving forward.

However, President David Wright instead moved to approve the second reading of the open campus policy. No board member seconded, and Wright’s motion failed. Ron Gilg then moved to table the policy. This motion was passed unanimously by the board.