Tualatin High School (TuHS) reintroduced lunch release stickers to students at the beginning of the school year. Students are able to ask for forms in the front office that require parental consent for upperclassmen to eat lunch off-campus.
Release stickers were in place at TuHS prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but because of online school, release stickers didn’t make a comeback until this year. Students have had a mix of reactions, with some students not paying attention to the rule and very few actually getting the form.
Logan Morgan, a junior at TuHS said, “If you have a car and have the ability to drive, I think you should be able to go out to lunch. This should be avoided if you’re leaving class too much, like as a punishment. But, I don’t think it should be mandatory [to stay at school for lunch].”
On the other hand, Blake Smith, a sophomore at TuHS said, “I think it’s pretty effective because people are trying to skip class, and the sticker makes it more difficult.”
The re-establishment of the release sticker seems to have caused some confusion about its actual intentions – whether it is just for parental consent or for keeping track of students coming and going during lunch.
The Wolf interviewed Christie Langer, a school counselor at TuHS, about the new rule.
“[The release sticker] absolutely is about safety for the students,” Langer said. “If we had to lock down for a reason, we have to know where the students are and everyone who is in the building. So this is a way to see who is on and off campus, so we know where students are at any given time.”
According to the school website, TuHS has around 1750+ students. Taking into consideration the ratio of the number of students to the number of staff at TuHS, it is surely difficult to keep track of who is entering and exiting the school during lunches.
All of this begs the question, should students even have the ability to have off-campus lunches? The opportunity can allow students to have something to look forward to during the day and allows students with more freedom a break from being stuck at school all day. Then again, the cons of off-campus lunches could include more tardies for students with poor time-management and decision-making skills.
The release sticker isn’t new, and it is intended for parental consent and the safety of the students.
