Nyack's Closed Campus Policy Could Become More Strict

About this time last year, began to heat up. Parents, administrators and students spent a handful of summer nights in the high school cafeteria discussing the effectiveness—and fairness—of not allowing underclassmen to leave school grounds during the day.

Now, school officials are considering amending the policy to make it more strict. Come August, the school board will vote on measures that would restrict students in all grades from driving off campus during the school day. Currently, seniors are allowed this privilege.

Further, the new policy would not allow juniors to walk off campus without parental permission. At the moment, freshman are not permitted to leave, and sophomores may leave if they meet merit-based requirements. Additionally, under the proposed policy, seniors would not be allowed to walk off campus in the 2012-13 school year.

The ideas were introduced by .

"My recommendation was based on positive results of the revisions initiated this year, such as reduced class lateness and cutting rates [and] a general improved tone in the building," Montesano wrote in a missive to parents earlier this summer.

Montesano added that the driving ban is based on a set on statistics. "Research indicates that accidents involving teenagers occur with greater frequency at high schools which permit off/on campus driving than those that do not," he said. "Furthermore, according to the AAA, teens represent 7 percent of the licensed population, but are involved in almost 20 percent of all fatal crashes."