Give Bruins a chance at open campus.

Bear River High School is one of the many high schools in the state that has a closed campus during lunch. But being so close to Placer High School, who happens to have an open campus, causes envy among the student body.

Principal Amy Besler doesn’t want Bear River to be a open campus because of safety issues.

“Bear River, like the majority of high school campuses throughout the United States, does not have an open campus primarily because of the dangers related to having students hurriedly driving on and off campus and in the community during lunch,” said Principal Besler. “Many schools across the country have closed their campuses as a direct result of fatal accidents that have occurred during lunchtime.”

Despite these reservations, The Current still believes that Bear River should be able to have an open campus. Most students drive and most students would rather have an open campus so they don’t have to get the same food at Bear River.

“I would stay local and get Chevron and other places to eat that’s close to the school,” said junior Lukas Brodie.

“I think that the food here can get boring. Like this week, I have had a quesadilla three times, so just for like a couple days to get a open campus would be great,” said Grace Cohenour, a junior.

“If we had a open campus we could get better food and get better drinks, like Round Table is just down the road and it would be better than the food that we have now,” said junior Katie Lugo.

Jessica Bennett, the store manager at Round Table on Combie Road, discussed her thoughts on Bear River having an open campus.

“It depends on how respectful the students are. Students would need to purchase food, to hangout in the store, they would also need to learn respect and be nice to the staff,” said Bennett.

“It would be better for me and my friends if I could go to like Subway or Round Table during lunch, and not have to eat at Bear River,” said Viviana Chavez, a senior.

Students still believe that there are issues with having an open campus.

“Kids could cut classes or leave early to get first in line or to go farther to get like Dutch Bros,” commented Chavez.

“I believe that with too much freedom, students would leave early and cut classes to get better food,” said Brodie.

“The only problems that I would think about is getting in a car accident going to get food,” said Cohenour.

“The problem would be students not coming back [to school],” said Lugo.

But despite concerns, there are a lot of reasons to have an open campus during lunch.

“You could just have a bit of time to yourself and drive and go eat for an hour and come back ready to start school again,” commented Chavez.

“Just some time to leave campus for a while and go eat with your friends or something,” said Lugo.

Principal Besler has a strong opinion erring on the side of safety.

“The school is responsible for keeping students safe from the time they leave home in the morning until the time they return home after school,” said Principal Besler. “We cannot keep our students safe when they are not in our care, which is the case when students leave our campus, even just to run down the street to grab a bite to eat.”

With all that said, students still want to be able to leave school and want to be able to get better food. There are so many ways that the school could control who leaves and where people go.

“You could just have passes in office and write down where you are planning to go and have car checks or something,” said Chavez.

“You could just have the senior or upperclassmen go so the underclassmen have something to look forward to,” said Ryan Tantum, a senior.

Other than safety reasons, Principal Besler has many other reasons why she doesn’t want an open campus.

“We are fortunate to be able to provide home-cooked lunches for our students, making leaving campus to acquire food unnecessary,” said Principal Besler. “Additionally, there are a great many opportunities for students to positively engage in activities and events during lunchtime. Leaving campus creates a disconnection between the students and their school community, which is counter to our goals in uniting our student body and staff and providing meaningful, engaging experiences throughout the school day.”

Despite administration’s aversion to the idea, we at the The Current believe that Bruins are ready to be granted the privilege of having an open campus.

— Alyssa Rice contributed to this report.