Hart Trustees May Close Campuses at Lunchtime : Education: Plan would affect ninth- and 10th-graders at first. Parents’ pressure, board’s conservatism make passage likely.

Most students at the city’s four high schools will be kept on campus during lunchtime starting this fall if a proposal by William S. Hart School District officials gets final approval from the district’s trustees.

Ninth- and 10th-grade students would be kept on campus this fall under the proposal to go before the trustees on Wednesday, and 11th- and 12-grade students would be added at the start of the 1995 school year, said Assistant Supt. Daniel Hanigan.

Seniors could earn the right to leave campus at lunch, although the criteria for earning that right has yet to be determined.

Similar closed-campus proposals have been rejected by the district’s Board of Trustees in recent years, but passage is probable this time due to pressure by parents and because the board has grown more conservative.

“It shows that the view of our community has changed over the 20-some-odd years we’ve had an open campus,” Hanigan said.

All five board members have stated they favor closing campuses to some degree. A telephone survey of 137 parents in May showed that 77% favored closed campuses.

The plan is opposed by many students and some school officials, who say the schools lack adequate dining and restroom facilities to accommodate all of the students, according to a district study. Increased security would also be needed to prevent fights, they say, on the crowded campuses.

To relieve some of the pressure on the cafeteria facilities, the proposal calls for deals to be struck with four fast-food companies to establish food carts or stations, Hanigan said.

Additional restroom facilities, dining areas and security personnel will gradually be added, he said.

But Mat Gonzalez, 16, who will be a junior at Saugus High School this year, still predicts long lines and crowded campuses. And he said he defends the choice to leave campus for lunch.

“Going out to eat is more fun,” he said. “It’s a freedom thing.”

Paying for the improvements necessary for a closed campus won’t be easy, Hanigan said. The Hart district already has a deficit of at least $1.9 million in its $51.1-million general fund budget for the 1994-95 school year and is expected to be in the red again the following year.

He said district officials hope to fund the project through building improvement funds, which are separate from the general fund, and possibly through a bond issue the district hopes to pass this year or next.

The Board of Trustees meets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the district’s administrative headquarters.