College freshmen are often overwhelmed by the amount of freedom they are faced with. Oftentimes, this leads to behavior such as skipping class, staying up too late, and not studying for tests. Being an unsupervised adult is a big shift from being a Senior who still has to ask to use the restroom, carry a hall pass, and stay on campus for lunch. This is why my friend Amelia Davenport and I, Katia Gerasimenko, have proposed a bill to create an "Open Lunch" Program for Seniors at Centennial High School, based off the Open Lunch program at Amelia's former school, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. We are open to amendments. Our AP Government teacher will be sending this to our principal, but we hope to further lobby our program with support from fellow students and members of the community. The bill is as follows:

Bill Draft by Katerine Gerasimenko and Amelia Davenport

AN ACT TO: GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS TO PARTICIPATE IN AN OPEN LUNCH PROGRAM

Be it enacted by the Fulton County School System

Section 1. Definitions An “Open Lunch” program shall be defined as an opportunity for Seniors in “good-standing” to leave school during their assigned lunch period. Seniors in “good-standing” shall be defined as 12th graders who have achieved an 80 or above the second semester of their Junior year and continue to maintain an 80 or above numeric grade average. They also will have not received an ISS or OSS within six months prior to applying for the program. “Check-out pass” shall be defined as the document that a student receives each semester that must be presented at time of check out. “Permission slip” shall be defined as the document signed by parents, teachers, and the student that switches liability from the school to whichever adult has been cleared to check them out.

Section 2. Purpose Provides Seniors with the opportunity to practice good decision making, time management skills, independence, and demonstrate responsibility. It shall act as a reward for good behavior as well as academic achievement. College freshmen are often overwhelmed by the new freedom that the experience brings, and then choose to make poor decisions as a result. The "Open Lunch" program would promote college-readiness.

Section 3. Provisions Students in the program must present their check-out pass when they sign out at the attendance window, noting their intended destination. Upon returning, if they sign-in after the time the next period starts, the attendance personnel will add them to the public detention list or ISS list. The sign-out sheet will be a specific log with all “Open Lunch” students names listed on it. To be a participant in the “Open Lunch” program, students must fill out a permission slip form with a parent signature, and signatures of all current teachers who will be instructed to only sign off if they believe the student is responsible enough to participate. The permission form will be due on a specific date, specified by school officials. Any permission form missing necessary signatures, or not turned in on time, will not be accepted. Students must not be tardy to their next class following their designated lunch period. All students will also have to follow any rules put in place by teachers pertaining to food in the classroom. Finally, it should be noted that the permission slip form students must have signed is equivalent to a semester-long “check-out slip”, switching liability from the school to the parents/guardian for the lunch period.

Section 5. Penalty Clause Any Senior who is late to the class following their designated lunch period will receive a public detention. The second time they are late, they will receive an ISS, simultaneously losing “Open Lunch” privileges.

Section 6. Appropriations Clause There is no extra funding needed for this program, as the attendance personnel already check people in as part of their duties.

Section 7. Enactment Clause This bill will become effective for the 2016-2017 school year.

Section 8. Safety Clause The Fulton County School System hereby finds that this Act is necessary for the building of college-readiness skills.

*note: normally, each line of the bill would be numbered, however the limitations of the text box on this website is making it difficult for formatting it correctly.