Closed campus discussion is Monday night

The Vandalia Board of Education will hold a roundtable discussion next Monday about the possibility of moving to a closed-campus lunch hour.

The roundtable, during which the public is invited to discuss the issue with school board members, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Vandalia Community High School cafeteria.

The purpose of the meeting, Superintendent Rich Well said, is to allow for a conversation between administrators, staff, parents and community members.

Currently, high school students are allowed to leave school grounds on foot during the 30-minute lunch break, but arent allowed to drive their cars.

Well said about 70-75 percent of VCHS students eat their lunch on campus.

Were one of just a few schools in the area with an open campus, Well said.

We feel that having a closed campus would limit discipline problems during lunch hour and reduce truancy in the afternoon. Its also a potential school liability issue when students are off campus.

Well said that if the closed campus plan was established, the school would need additional staffing to supervise the students and would need to designate gathering places for students after they finish eating.

Moving to a closed campus is something we discussed five or six years ago, Well said.

But unfortunately, at that time, the district wasnt in a financial position to do it,’ he said. ‘Now, all the pieces have come together and the board wanted to revisit the issue.