Junior Matt Sanders* walks to his car during the passing period, stealthily moving to avoid catching the security guard’s attention. He starts up his car and heads off to Chik-fil-A for lunch, returning five minutes before the bell and avoiding the school security guard. If he does get caught, he has a plan.

“When I get spotted coming back, I always say I had Ben Barber or that I am just getting to school, which is not completely a lie,” Sanders said. “I do have classes at Ben Barber, and I am just getting back to school.”

Students are penalized with a loss of exemptions, AC and removal of their parking privilege for nine weeks when caught leaving or coming back to school.

“I don’t think I’ve been turned in,” Sanders said. “I sure haven’t been punished if they did turn me in.”

Students believe parents should be able to sign a waiver to let them leave campus for lunch and waive the administration of liability if anything happens to off campus students.

“I think we should be allowed to go off [campus] for lunch,” junior Dylan Campbell* said. “I feel like kids go off anyways, so we might as well be allowed to.”

Officer Carol, the security guard, patrols the parking lots outside the school during lunch periods and periodically throughout the rest of the day to ensure no students are leaving without permission.

“I think the seniors should be able to leave,” Officer Carol said. “When I was in high school, juniors and seniors could leave, so I believe at least seniors should be allowed to if their parents sign something.”

According to phaionline, 73.1 percent of the nation’s high schools since 2006 have a closed campus policy, forbidding students from leaving school during lunch. Assistant principal Leonard Cousins likes the rules in MISD and believes they should continue to be enforced.

“It’s a much safer environment when students are not allowed to leave the campus,” Mr. Cousins said. “Our students are doing a really good job overall adhering to this policy.”

Multiple time offenders can get sent to BIC and eventually face suspension from school. Officer Daryle Ryan doesn’t see the rules on off campus lunch changing any time soon.

“It’s not good if we start allowing [seniors] to go off for lunch [and] not all of the other [students],” Ryan said. “Some gray areas start to form, and it’s much easier if it’s black and white [on] whether kids can go or not.”

*Names have been changed.