Open-campus lunch is a privilege McKinley High School should give to students. Many schools in the mainland let students or upperclassmen leave campus for lunch.

“When I had open campus, it was strictly regulated. Since it was the mainland, there was only one way,” teacher Christopher Martin said. The single entrance at Martin’s high school made it easy to track who entered and left the school.

Sometimes the school’s lunch isn’t what the majority wants.. Open-campus lunch could help to meet all students needs.

“I usually don’t eat anything for lunch because I don’t want to spend money on the school’s lunch,” senior Misty Tran said.

With the few local shops that surround McKinley, 40 minutes is more than enough time to purchase food.

Teacher Yvette Lam disagrees. “The reality is the school lunch period does not allow sufficient time to go off campus and purchase food, and then come back in time,” she said.

Another problem with open-campus lunch would be attendance. If a student were to miss class before or after lunch, just to buy food, the student’s name could be reported and the student should be stripped of the right to leave school for open-campus lunch. This will teach the students that they were given this privilege for only one reason and are expected to come back. If security could regulate students leaving campus, open campus lunch could happen.

“It’s a good way for students to learn responsibility,” senior Chanel Alarca said. Having the opportunity to leave campus could teach students “discipline and time management,” she said.

McKinley has 1700 students with five security. Covering that ratio in a 5.5-acre open school is not practical. Security Brandon (Puka) Tatupa said if the school could “create some kind of barrier” the security team might be able regulate the students coming in and out of the school.

For administration, an open-campus lunch policy could be a safety concern.

“Our priority is always insuring that we provide a safe learning environment for our students to succeed,” vice principal Anne Murphy said. Keeping students on school ground is always a big problem in public schools. Liability is a major factor, although contracts/forms that students and parents sign could easily change that.

The purpose of letting students leave campus for lunch is so that students who didn’t bring home lunch or don’t buy school lunch can eat what they want. Most schools in the mainland that allow open-campus lunch give the opportunity to upperclassmen.

Students in Hawai’i should be given the same opportunity to purchase food outside of school. If security and safety issues could be addressed, such a policy could help many students perform in class better. Perhaps this could be the answer to poor attendance or engagement in the last period of the day.