Moncef Arbid was pulled over after speeding back to school to make it back in a reasonable time for class.
“One time my friend and I left at lunch to go get KiKi’s. We were there eating and didn’t realize what time it was until 2:18 [p.m.], so we left as soon as we could, and I was driving a little too fast on Stanford Ranch Road so I got pulled over. We didn’t end up making it back to school until 2:36, so I had to sneak in and make up an excuse that I left my headphones in my car,” Arbid said.
Zara Begic said she sneaks her friends out of school during lunch to take them to Taco Bell, as she has her seventh period off.
“On odd days my friends and I will go off campus for lunch and when I drop them back off for class, they have to go back through the pool so that the attendance ladies won’t see them,” Begic said.
Sneaking off of campus is not the only way students break the closed-campus rule. Some teachers allow their TA’s to leave campus, and since the ban of DoorDash deliveries, students have broken the rules and had people pass them food through separate areas around campus.
“I don’t drive yet, so I had to DoorDash my McDonald’s to the bike locks by the English classes,” Ethan Gregory said. “If I ordered it to the front [office] then they would take it away. I just wanted my chocolate shake and fries.”
Even though these examples make it seem like the campus is open, when students are caught leaving without reason, they get into trouble, which can also affect their extracurriculars.
“My friends and I left campus to get food, and when we came back we went by the attendance windows so they caught us and sent us to talk to Mrs. [Penelope] Shelton. I was a little stressed that we were going to get detention, but didn’t know if it would affect basketball,” Bianca Lilly said.
The Student Handbook states that students may not leave campus under any circumstances unless they are excused and check in with the attendance window before leaving. The school is responsible and liable for students’ safety from the time they enter the parking lot until the student physically returns to their home, which is the reason the campus is closed.
The decision to make the switch from a closed campus to an open campus would be up to the school board members to discuss. The district has deemed it important for students to stay on campus since the opening of Rocklin High School.
Shelton said, “The sole reason we enforce the rule is to protect the kids. Myself and the other administrators really care about their safety and want to prioritize it, even if that means taking away some of their fun.”
by ALEXANDRA BOSANO & NATALIE DEEBLE
