The school board unanimously approved open campus starting next semester for seniors on Monday night at their monthly meeting at the Robert O. Swartzloff Center for Educational Services.

As Gary Kisnoffer read each of the six board member’s names, there was a nervous tension within the room that was relieved with each consecutive “yes,” which resulted in cheers from the small crowd once the sixth and final board member had responded.

The student body at MCHS has been lobbying for open campus lunch privileges for many years to no avail. The most recent push started early last school year when Matt Callahan and Chloe Cuzman approached East Campus Principal Jeff Prickett about their ideas regarding open campus, and later scheduled a meeting with District 156 Superintendent Dr. Ryan Mctague. 

Since refining their ideas with McTague, school administrators have been meeting about it, and brought it before the school board for last night’s meeting.

The official policy and its rules are not final, as they still need to be clarified at an administrative level, but some key details about how open campus will work have been decided. 

Open campus will be a privilege — not a right — for seniors at both East and West Campus. McTague said that there will be a “robust” monitoring system in place for students to scan their student ID’s to leave and re-enter the school. Grades, attendance, and other behavioral standards will be taken into account for open campus eligibility. Lastly, the campus can and will be closed for certain events, such as bad weather, soft lock down, etc.

Though the most specific details are still unknown, McTague spoke about the open campus policy in a very promising way stating that he believes that the school can handle open campus, smiling before the vote was taken and announcing, “We’re gonna go for it!”

Elsewhere during the meeting, the members of MCHS’s Warrior Chef program treated the school board with different snacks.

Every student enrolled in the Warrior Chef class receives their food handler certification, and have been focusing on catering for certain large events within the school such as homecoming, when the students sold pretzels, or Thanksgiving bread, which is being sold next week. These students do more than learn how to cook; they also do all of the budgeting for ingredients, as well as decorating the bags that their snacks are wrapped in.

Later on, CTS division chair Karyn Burmeister showcased her division’s recent successes by spotlighting Project Lead the Way and the digital consumer education course. The overnight concert choir field trip was also approved.