Feature Photo By: Caroline Smith – There are many places that students can go to lunch near Rangeview including Taco Bell, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and King Soopers.
During the weekly Sunday night phone call on January 6th, everyone was informed that principal passes were being brought back for the third quarter. If students wanted to leave campus for lunch, they would need a pass.
In order to be eligible for a pass, students need to have 93% attendance, no behavioral issues or a 2.75 GPA.
For the first semester, there were no principal passes because there weren’t enough people to stand around and wait for every student leaving for lunch.
They were brought back because of the huge drop in attendance since the beginning of the school year, so additional staff members were found to cover the doors.
Assistant principal Christy Hartford, says, “The attendance went from 94% at the beginning of the year, to hitting an all-time low of 90% in November, which generated the conversation about bringing back the Principal Pass.”
She continues that there are people from the administrative team standing at the front doors every day. Anyone who has a pass must go through the front doors. There are (sometimes) deans or campus monitors standing at the side doors that block the exit and tell you to use the front door.
“4th and 5th period [right around the lunches] were the absolute worst for everybody,” Principal Ron Fay says. “We saw a decline with our freshman class as well.”
When students found out about this change, there were mixed feelings between the students.
Sophomore Adeleen Quiroz said, “I don’t feel any sort of way about them, but I do think they’re necessary to help keeps students in check about their attendance and grades.”
Now that the passes are in place, freshmen aren’t allowed to leave as they could’ve throughout the first semester. If any student is caught leaving the campus or coming back without a pass, they will be punished with lunch detention.
Quiroz adds, “I think it’s better with the passes, but I can’t speak for others who didn’t qualify for them-knowing at first they could leave whenever they wanted without having these restrictions.”
These rules are strictly enforced by staff members. All of the doors are being covered by staff before AND after lunches.
“I hope these rules will be enforced appropriately. There’s a lot of doors, but we have a lot of people to cover them,” Fay says. “It’s just doing it with fidelity. It’s really important that passes are checked both before and at the end of lunch as well.”
It may be hard for students to deal with the sudden change of rules regarding leaving Rangeview. As long as you have your principals pass, you won’t get in trouble and can leave campus.
