As the 2:30 pm bell rings everyone rushes out of their classrooms. Noticing your friends are staying after school waiting for rides, you decide to join them. When walking to the athletic foyer a friend of yours grabs a basketball. They start messing around as you sit back and watch. As they are fighting for the ball they end up accidentally throwing it through a window. Even though you’re not the one who threw it, being there made you guilty by association. The school now has to pay for the broken window and there are consequences for the culprits.
Recently, staff and administrators have been working extremely hard to get the students to leave the building after the school day ends. It’s difficult for them to tell who is really waiting or who is just there to hang out.
Freshman Mackenzie Vedder’s, who can not drive and her parents work past 2:30 pm, typically sits in the athletic foyer while waiting for her parents to pick her up.
“I was waiting for my ride and the teachers thought I was just hanging out,” Vedders said. “My little sister gets out at 3:30 pm and my ride doesn’t come until then.”
When kids wait for a ride they are expected to wait outside or in the collaboration room. It is hard for staff to realize people are waiting for a ride if they are with their friends and messing around in the athletic foyer while waiting to be picked up.
Assistant Principal Brent Dickerson is figuring out the best and safest place for students to go who must stay after school for no extracurricular reasons.
“We are working on the best spot, there’s not always a perfect solution to where the best spot is, based upon other activities. We are working on the best secure place,” Dickerson said
With how big the high school is, one would be surprised at how little space is available. Some kids sit outside on the benches near the football field, but when it gets to wintertime and it’s freezing outside, they are going to want to wait inside.
“If we didn’t have a policy [where students can’t stay after school unless they have an after-school activity] then the building, frankly, becomes like a mall,” Dickerson said “People like to hang out, and we understand that because kids like to have fun, we don’t have the supervision to maintain a secure setting after school.”
Some kids say they are waiting for a ride when really, they are just at the high school to mess around. When you are a student waiting for a ride it is difficult because staff members might get you confused for a kid just staying after school for the fun of it. Personally, I want to go home after school. School is stressful and going home and getting rest is important. Staying after school for the fun of it isn’t all that fun if you think about it.
Teachers and staff members also want to go home when the school day ends. Teachers don’t stay that long after school, some of them stay an hour or two for academic help or other reasons. But they want to go home as much as we do. They don’t want to spend their time trying to get students to leave the building just so they can go home.
Derek Brooks, the campus security of the building, stays after school until 3:30 pm and has to deal with telling the students to leave.
“The reason that we want to put the kids in a location is because we have had kids wandering and other kids from other schools being in here. We just don’t want anything happening or anything mixing,” Brooks said.
At this point, it becomes a safety issue. As his primary concern is the safety of staff and students, Brooks needs to ensure that students who are waiting after the school day ends are in a location where they can be protected.
“We do not have a full staff after school. Clearly, our teachers are here until [about] 3-3:30 pm,” Dickerson said. “We have one staff member that does oversee the building as a whole. If we didn’t have a policy then the building frankly becomes like a mall.”
