Board of education calls for a review of the current “leaving school grounds” policy at year-end.

By Timithie NORMAN

The Glendale Unified School District board of education met Tuesday evening to discuss the current policy on students leaving school grounds, an issue that especially pertains to Crescenta Valley High School students and the school’s recent action to come into accordance with the policy. No revisions to the policy were made.

Last time the board met, Crescenta Valley High School was found to be in violation of the district-wide policy by allowing all students to leave campus for lunch with no formal documentation. The policy, last revised in 1998, states that to be eligible to leave campus for lunch, high school students must have a lunch permit with a parent or guardian signature and abide by a set of district-wide conduct guidelines.

Since that Jan.17 meeting, all CVHS parents received a letter from the school explaining the campus open lunch policy and requesting parents to sign a form if they choose to give their child permission to leave the campus for lunch. The school will begin enforcing the new regulation with random checks starting March 1.

Dr. John Garcia, deputy superintendent, said that after many conversations with CVHS students, parents, and the community, one thing was very clear.

“The one thing that became paramount in my mind is that [at CVHS] over time, it shifted from a sense of privilege to a sense of entitlement,” he said before walking the board members through each component of the policy. Brief discussion of each piece of the policy started the conversation about revisions that could go into effect at the end of the year, including adding a clause about the potential for revocation of a lunch permit based on behavior and a clause stating that each school can set additional rules at its’ administration’s discretion.

Board member Nayiri Nahabedian suggested clarifying why one school’s policy would differ from another.

“I would like to understand and be given an explanation that I can share as to why one school is moving a certain direction as opposed to another school,” she said.

Currently, Crescenta Valley is the only school in the district with a completely open campus. Dr. Richard M. Sheehan, superintendent of schools, said that any suggested revisions to the policy would be tabled until after the second semester was complete and  feedback had been gathered as to how adhering to the policy had changed anything on Crescenta Valley’s campus.

  Timithie NORMAN