Keep Lunchtime Students on Campus

* The William S. Hart Union School District is building a new high school. This new school as well as existing schools in the district--Canyon, Hart and Saugus high schools--should not permit students to leave campus at lunchtime. They should become “closed campuses.”

Sending thousands of teen-age drivers on the road at the same time is stupid. The students are all headed in basically the same direction and back at the same exact time. They all have 40 minutes to leave the classroom, get to their cars, drive to the restaurant, park their cars, order their food, eat and drive back to the school, park and get to their seats before the bell rings. What part of this equation can be speeded up? The drive, of course. These are accidents waiting to happen.

As a teacher at Canyon High School, I know that the drive isn’t the only danger. Off-campus is out of the protection of the school and yet not under the protection of the home. It is no-man’s land. It is when and where our (usually friendly) cross-town rivalry has turned into violence. It is also the time when gang activity and violence has resulted in injury to our students.

The schools say they have a problem, they say that they can’t accommodate the students at lunchtime because the schools have been built without cafeterias. I say fix the problem.

Schools all over the country have entered into contracts with fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell. The chains have built (at their expense) mini satellites on the campuses. It is a win-win situation; a good deal for the restaurant and a great deal for the students and the schools.

There is no reason that the William S. Hart High School District can’t retrofit Hart, Saugus and Canyon with satellites and build new schools with these satellites in mind.

We as parents cannot protect our children in every situation, but we can protect them from 40 minutes of proven danger every school day. We can demand closed campuses.

LINDA STORLI

Valencia