You walk in. Administrators line the hallway. After the last bell rings for the morning the doors are closed. You are locked in.

Throughout the day, FAs and administrators stalk down the hallways hoping to catch kids who are late to class. When the bell rings and you are not in class, you are locked out. When the FA catches you, you get a detention. You can’t even walk down the hallways freely.

U. City is a closed campus. A few schools in the St. Louis area have open campuses, such as Clayton High School and Kirkwood High School. At these schools, students are allowed to leave the building at lunchtime or during free periods.

For many years U. City has been a closed campus, but it had been an open campus at one point. It has been such a long time since U. City has had an open campus that most of the faculty don’t remember it. Some teachers have concluded that there hasn’t been an open campus since the ’80s.
A key reason high schools have an open campus is to transition their students into a college-like atmosphere.

“I think there’s plenty of ways to transition upperclassmen to a college- and career-like atmosphere,” said Mr. Maclin, principal. “Open campus could be one, but I think there’s rigor in the classroom that can do that.”

Maintaining a closed campus but allowing students who have earned a certain GPA and decent attendance to experience an open campus is an option.

Marvin Bullard, senior, feels people who put in the extra effort deserve to be rewarded.

“They’re more responsible because they’ve taken control of their education,” said Bullard. “They’ve put forth an effort to pass so I think they’ll value coming back to school more than someone with a lower GPA or lower attendance.”

On the other hand, this policy could be perceived as unfair, said D’Lija Brown, senior.

“If you let somebody do it, then somebody else is going to want to do it and that’s just unnecessary drama,” said Brown. “I like treating everybody equally.”

All things considered, Maclin does not close the door on the possibility of an open campus in the future.

“I have explored and met with other principals from other high schools who do have open campuses. It is something that has been discussed and has been talked about here for the students here to have that option.”