Pleasantville High School Seniors Make Appeal for Open Campus

Being a high school student during the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been easy. For half of the week students are home and learning online, other days they are in school, juggling classes, study hall and lunch while staying masked and socially distanced.

Now that it’s December, alternative outside spaces for students to eat, study or take a mask break are no longer feasible.

At last Tuesday’s Pleasantville Board of Education meeting, six high school student government representatives called for the board to adopt an open campus policy that would allow seniors to leave school grounds during free periods.

Seniors have previously raised the issue around this time of year with the goal of having the privilege in place by spring. But this year, given the pandemic, students asked for the open campus rule to be instituted as soon as possible.

“We hope you keep in mind it is an unconventional year and an open campus would have benefits for students in an effective way,” senior Julia O’Reilly told the board. “We really do feel we have to approach it in our own unconventional way and this can be an important step and a great way for the seniors in helping with our education.”

More students have been taking free periods such as study hall and lunch in the auditorium, cafeteria or gym as the weather has turned colder.

“There is a study hall area in the auditorium designated to do work, which is great for spacing out, but there are no desks,” said senior Carolyn Lee. “If I have a text book, a laptop and books that I’m spreading out, I have stuff falling all over.”

Lee said study hall is also a place where students talk to their friends and where “there is an echo and it’s noisy and difficult to work.”

Some students said they have consecutive free periods, giving them ample time to leave the campus, find a place to safely eat or study.

“These multiple free periods of not being productive while in the building is time that we would have to go home and study,” said Hayley Piccolino. “The idea that we are going to college next year and will be on our own, having (an) open campus now would be a good transition into our own time management.”

Other seniors speaking in favor of implementing open campus rules were Isabella Pepdjonovic, Katrina Kelly and Ella O’Malley.

Board President Larry Boes said an open campus raises some safety concerns.

“From a health standpoint, I don’t want to have five students walking to one car, getting in and taking their masks off and be in the car for 20 minutes together,” he said.

O’Malley proposed that students could be eligible to participate in an open campus if they have good academic standing.

“They would have to have good attendance, complete assignments and get their work done on time,” O’Malley said.

Other board members worried that students would congregate in one house when parents weren’t home, although many parents are currently working at home.

“I would potentially ask that there be parental permission for students to go to a specific house,” board member Shane McGaffey said.

Legally the school district is responsible for students during the school day, district officials said. Superintendent of Schools Mary Fox-Alter, who complimented the students on their presentation, stressed that parental permission slips are required by the district.

“The permission slip is a technical piece that we need for our own local liability issues for attendance, emergency purposes and drills,” Fox-Alter said.

Board member Emily Persons said previously there were usually no restrictions or stipulations on where students could go within the open campus rules.

A concern for board members and administrators was trusting students to leave and return responsibly. Believing and having confidence in students is a key issue, said board member Jill Grossman.

“The whole point of having an open campus is trusting the students,” she said. “If we start by tightening the limitations and have them sign papers that say you can’t go to this house but you can go to this one, if we decide to do this, where does that trust end and have the policy still make sense?”

High school Principal Joe Palumbo said he favored starting an open campus earlier than usual because outdoor spaces have been used less as the weather has turned colder. He proposed meeting with students to devise a plan to present to the board.

“I’d love to meet with the student government to create an application process that would exercise a level of responsibility and autonomy,” Palumbo said. “This is something we can definitely work on together.”