It’s the most intimidating experience, walking the long stretch of the hallway with all eyes on you, all the senior’s eyes that is.  It is an experience every NK student looks forward to, being the eyes watching instead of being watched by the eyes.  Unfortunately this is one of the few “privileges” that students get to look forward to about being a senior.

We look forward to sitting on a bench or on the floor for lunch everyday.  The Current Wave Staff believes that there should be more, or at least there are opportunities for us to have more privileges than a different lunch venue.

Many students think that seniors should be allowed to leave campus as a senior privilege.  According to a survey conducted in 2012 by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nearly 1 in 3 high school campuses across the country allow their students the opportunity to leave campus as an option during lunch period to get lunch somewhere else, or even at home.  Many students have expressed their wishes for this privilege and how they may use it.

We believe that seniors have spent their four years at NK and would enjoy having a little more than senior row.  It it not that we do not appreciate being allowed to sit outside of the cafeteria, we are grateful for being able to sit apart from the rest of the school and we also recognize the attempts to allow us more options, such as the addition of the tables on the second and third floors of the school.  We do not want to sound ungrateful or greedy, because we are not.  We just see this as an opportunity that the senior classes can use to their advantage and that all the senior classes to come will benefit from for years to come

We understand there are restrictions on students leaving campus now, and that students are not allowed to sign out until they turn eighteen years old, as stated in the handbook, but students are allowed to leave school for a doctor’s appointment with a parent’s permission.  We see the possibility for a parent to give the student to sign out during lunch and then sign back in afterwards and it work the same way as being dismissed for a doctor’s appointment.

We also see the possibility that students will abuse this privilege, such as not coming back for class at all or misusing the time they are given away from the classroom and why this would cause hesitations for the administration.  That has led us to believe that being able to leave campus for lunch would also serve as a good incentive program.  Being able to leave could be treated as a reward and used as a punishment.  Instead of getting detention for misusing this privilege, the student could have the program as a whole taken away.

This program would be difficult to regulate and we understand that.  It would require regulation on students and when they are leaving and who actually have permission to leave the school, but we think it is doable.  We also understand that there are certain regulations of instructional minutes per day that are mandated by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE).  According to the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, in regards to regulations governing the school calendar and school day, each school must have a minimum of five and a half (330 minutes) of actual instructional work.  Passing time, advisory, and lunch do not count towards the 330 minute requirement, so allowing the students to leave campus for lunch would not violate the instructional time regulations set by RIDE.

The students who want the privilege of being able to leave will cooperate so that they can have the privilege. The Current Wave Staff believes this is a privilege that should be considered by administration.  We see the potential for a privilege of this type to create motivation for the students to do well and follow rules in order to be able to have the opportunity to have more freedom during their final year at NKHS.