This school year, North Mecklenburg High School began implementing a lockout policy at the beginning of every block for every building on campus. Any students who are late to class are taken directly to in-school suspension, losing class time.
The lockout policy is something that is supposed to stop us from being late to class, or skipping classes. While the idea is great, the execution is not. This is not saying that we need to get rid of it, just have some changes. For starters, the amount of time before teachers start actually closing doors. As soon as the final bell rings, they shut all the doors, and sometimes, students are right outside the door, but they can't get into class because the door was shut in their face. Students also get suspensions on their record because of this, which is a significant adverse impact. It makes getting into some colleges and universities harder, as it will appear on official school records, creating an excessively negative representation of the student.
There is a solution, though: the administration should give us a few minutes extra — two to four — then more people who have to walk further from class to class could actually make it. This would also help people not feel so stressed about being late. While more time would be great, it might also cause problems in schedules, which is not good. Adjusting schedules would be helpful as well, moving times back by just a few minutes. It would be hard to adjust to, but I feel that everyone would get used to it after a while.
Some would argue that having more time would also mean there would be more time to goof around, causing possible fights as well. There are already security personnel present across campus, so this problem is less likely to happen. Overall, a few extra minutes is all we need. It would be more helpful than harmful. 🆅
The opinions expressed within this piece are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of North Mecklenburg High School or the Viking Voice.