A story from Susan Troller and The Capital Times:
Freshmen at East High School will no longer be spending their lunch hours at Burger King or the local convenience store.
A new closed-campus policy for ninth-graders went into effect today at Madison’s oldest public high school.
“We’re interested in getting our entering freshmen off to a good start,” East Principal Alan Harris said as he explained the sharp departure from a policy that had given freshmen through seniors the ability to come and go at lunch time.
About 430 incoming freshmen will be affected by the change.
“It was a scheduling nightmare to get all our ninth-graders taking first lunch (at 11:15 a.m.), which they will spend here at school,” Bea Bonet, East’s ninth-grade principal, said.
But, she added, “we think it will be well worth it in terms of making sure that the kids are done with lunch in time to get to their afternoon classes.”
Older students at East will still enjoy an open campus.
Bonet said the change in policy is aimed at reducing truancy rates among freshmen. She noted that ninth-graders, who are typically not old enough to drive, found it difficult to walk to McDonald’s or a convenience store and get back to class within 30 minutes for their afternoon classes. Once they realized they would be late, many said they were reluctant to come back to school at all.
East, which has the highest poverty level among the Madison high schools, was rapped in June under the federal No Child Left Behind law for its 74 percent graduation rate, which does not meet the law’s required 80 percent, and also for not meeting requirements in reading proficiency levels for economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.
Harris said he hopes that closing the campus at lunch time for freshmen will be part of an overall effort to keep students engaged and in school, leading down the road to improved test performance and, ultimately, graduation rates.
“As my dad used to say, 80 percent of any success is just showing up,” Harris said.
“We spent quite a bit of time in the spring working on the truancy issue,” he added. “We found that we had our highest truancy rates among freshmen. We heard that they were influenced by older peers, and that it was hard to get back to school after lunch. So we’re excited about this effort.”
He said that East will be looking very closely at its truancy data mid-year to see if the closed lunch policy is having the desired effect.
Lucy Mathiak, an East parent and member of Madison’s School Board, said she was enthusiastic about the change.
“As adults we recognize that students at 13 and 14 may not have the maturity to manage their time and make decisions wisely,” she said. “This takes away one big distraction for kids as they are getting accustomed to high school.”
Pam Nash, assistant superintendent of Madison’s middle and high schools, said that the true open-campus policy that was once widespread had gradually become more restrictive.
“All our high schools are beginning to reconceptualize how we do things. I imagine all three other schools will be watching this experiment very closely,” she said.
E-mail: stroller@madison.com
Published: September 6, 2006
Believe it or not, I have no opinion on whether a closed campus is good or bad for freshmen.
Oh Ed, I don’t believe that for a second;) Seriously, this is a great idea. It takes the pressure off the kids to make a decision that could be bad for their future. After all, idle hands are the devils playground at that age. My guess is that this will reduce the number of freshmen showing up for the afternoon classes stoned or drunk as well:)
I strongly support this move. Closed campus is one of the easy, low-cost changes that can make a big difference in reducing unexcused absences that lead to poor grades (multiple Fs) and dropping out in freshman and sophomore years. Another change that’s more difficult logistically is “front-loading” the required courses for students who may be at risk for absconding after lunch. Putting their favorite courses/electives in the afternoon creates an incentive for students to stick around all day. I think juniors and seniors should earn the right to leave over lunch through good grades and attendance.
Is this a policy that will follow the 9th graders as they become tenth graders, then 11th graders, etc. ? Or is it a policy that is envisioned as applying only to 9th graders in subsequent years, with the rest of the students each year still enjoying open campus?
It applies only to 9th graders. Older kids will continue to have open campus. I have a freshman and a junior at East this year and the lunch set up is great for the freshmen. My junior has started taking her lunch because the lines are so long with all the upper classmen having lunch at the same time. Hopefully they can work out the logistics there. As a parent, I support the move to keep the freshmen together and on campus at lunchtime. I think it will help the younger kids feel better connected to school.
“Closed campus is one of the easy, low-cost changes that can make a big difference in reducing unexcused absences that lead to poor grades (multiple Fs) and dropping out in freshman and sophomore years.”
I thought that kids who drop out in freshman or sophomore years (or junior year, for that matter) didn’t affect our graduation rates in Madison. Or is it the State of Wisconsin that counts “graduation rate” as the percentage of students who start their senior year who also finish school? I thought that was why our graduation rate(s) were so inflated? Hmm, that doesn’t make sense if East’s graduation rate is really only 74%. (74% of seniors finish school? – that would be a very sad thing.)
Anyway, it seems to me that when entire school districts try to claim 95%-plus graduation rates when they have any rural and/or low income students (who struggle to get to school in some circumstances, much less to continue going consistently for years), they are misleading themselves if not lying.
I would love to be corrected. Does anyone know of a district (or even better, a state where the majority of districts is like this) where there are significant SES variations among students, but where 95% or more of high school students actually graduate? (As in, they started high school they finished high school.)