Photo by Inayat Thukral

In a typical school lunch here some of the items have past their expiration date.

Montgomery County Public Schools’ policy states that students are not permitted to leave high schools at any point during the school day without consent from the school. However some schools within MCPS have implemented open lunches to allow students to leave the campus during their lunch period. Unfortunately, Wootton continues to refuse this concept and
requires students to remain on campus throughout the entire school day.

Those who oppose having open lunch here argue that it is unsafe and irresponsible to allow students to leave the campus during the school day. They believe that students leaving the campus to drive or walk to nearby locations increases the chances of children getting in car accidents. Although it is possible that having students drive off campus may increase risk of injury, there are still safe ways to use an open lunch period to the best of students’ abilities. Students may get on the ride-on bus which can take them to nearby shopping centers, the most common of which is Fallsgrove Village Center. The ride-on bus is completely free for students. If we were to have open lunch, students would also be able to walk anywhere they please to get food or simply clear their head during a stressful school day. Ultimately, there are multiple ways that students can utilize an open lunch period safely so that parents feel comfortable with their children leaving the school campus.

Additionally, some dislike the idea of permitting children to leave the campus because they become unsupervised. This lack of supervision could make it easier for children to participate in dangerous activities such as doing drugs. Simply put, forcing all students to stay on campus does not prevent them from taking part in these activities if they wished to do so. Regardless of the supposed supervision that the school provides, students continue to manage to use products like nicotine on school property, so demanding them to stay on campus does little to solve the problem.

Those who are against open lunch may also feel that letting students vacate the campus at any point during the day may make it harder for students to maintain their schedule. Parents are worried that their children lack the self-responsibility to leave the school and still return in time to attend their classes following lunchtime. The fact that students are not trusted to leave the school and be back in time for classes is ridiculous. Just a couple years away from college, the majority of students are well capable of managing their time, and those who are not must be taught this skill anyway if they expect to become successful in the future.

Moreover, considering the low quality of school food, students deserve the ability to leave in order to buy food from nearby restaurants. Students who are forced to endure school should at least be able to enjoy their lunch with fresh food, instead of have to eat the cold food they packed in the morning or the frozen food provided by the school.

Students’ rights are being violated by prohibiting them from leaving the school during their free periods and lunchtime. For this reason, you must advocate for open lunch by contacting school administrators and spreading the word about the wish for open lunch.