Open Campus, Graduation Requirements and Pledge Omission Before Committee

The School Committee will talk more about open campus and graduation requirements when they meet tonight.

They also hope to release a statement on a student's omission of words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, recited at the 2013 graduation ceremonies on Sunday.

School Committee Chairman Rick Kraft said he noticed the missing words during the Pledge recital at Blocksidge Field and received several phone calls about it.

He said information the School Committee has indicates the student was nervous and made a mistake. He hopes the committee will have more information for tonight's meeting.

He said others, including the superintendent and the town administrator, have received phone calls about the omission, as well.

Also Wednesday, committee members will talk more about a proposal brought forth by school administration to increase high school students' minimum credits from 100 to 120 in order to graduate.

The thought is that by spending more time in class the students will further develop their academic skills.

Under the proposal all students would have to take at least six classes each semester, instead of at least five classes, he said.

Also up for more discussion is open campus at the high school.

At it now stands — to the best of the chairman's knowledge — seniors are free to leave the building if they do not have a class.

At the last committee meeting, two teachers, Joanna Ganci and Michelle Yanofsky, recommended that open campus be discontinued.

At least some faculty believe open campus is difficult to enforce and can lead to some students abusing it by returning late to classes after leaving the building.

In addition, those who favor discontinuing the practice say the students would be better served spending more time at school on studies.

The school principal, Layne Millington, spoke in favor of open campus, saying it teaches students to act responsibly, the committee chairman said.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in Room B208, upstairs at the high school.