Since the school opened nearly 10 years ago, it has been a closed campus for lunch. However recent discussions between school administrators and student leaders has led to the possibility of off-campus lunch before the end of the school year.  Although nothing has been decided as of yet, the school should do whatever is needed to make this a reality as soon as possible.

When the school was established in 2006 Lucas and Fairview were very different places. The towns were still developing and more isolated than they are now. There were few stores and restaurants within a short drive from the school meaning off-campus lunch was not a realistic possibility. However, now there are at least six fast food restaurants within minutes of campus. It would be more than reasonable for administration to give students, at the very least seniors, the ability to drive off-campus for lunch on occasion.

Even with the current 30 minutes for lunch, students would not miss any class time if they headed to one of the nearby off-campus lunch options. In addition to giving students a sense of freedom, off-campus lunch would alleviate some of the overcrowding seen every day in the cafeteria.

Although there may be some concern regarding liability issues in allowing students to leave school during the school day, that could be easily overcome with written approval from parents. This would allow students to sign themselves out for lunch which is no different from students signing themselves out for appointments. As long as students check out of school properly and drive themselves to and from their destinations, there shouldn’t be any major liability issues.

One of the biggest issues about off-campus is students returning to their 5th period on time. However, this could be addressed with a penalty system. A student that signs out for lunch and is tardy to 5th period could be assigned Thursday Night School. A second tardy due to a late return from off-campus would be the end of off-campus lunch privileges.

The reasons for not allowing off-campus lunch are no longer valid. Just take a look in the cafeteria every day and it’s easy to see it’s already happening on a certain level. Now’s the time to make it official and give it a trial run. If it doesn’t work for whatever reason, at least it will have been tried and students will no longer be able to complain about never having had the chance.