PRESQUE ISLE – McDonald’s and other lunchtime eateries soon may be off-limits to local high school freshmen and sophomores if the SAD 1 board of directors approves a proposed policy.

The board is considering a phased-in implementation of a closed campus for ninth- and 10th-graders at Presque Isle High School, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said Wednesday. The open campus policy allows students to leave school grounds for lunch.

The proposal, which Johnson presented Monday night to the school board, calls for upperclassmen in good standing to be able to maintain the privilege. About 350 of the school’s 600 students would not be allowed off campus during lunch.

Johnson cited four main reasons for the proposed change. The majority of freshmen and sophomore students are not old enough to hold a valid driver’s license, and there are no eateries nearby to which students can walk during lunch without trespassing on private property.

That means most students cannot get lunch and be back to school before the end of their 22-minute lunch period, Johnson said.

The district also has dealt with complaints of students defacing property and littering by discarding wrappers and food containers on their walk back to campus.

Finally, district officials believe they are “tacitly condoning underage smoking … by knowingly allowing underage students to leave campus to smoke, albeit off school grounds and out-of-sight of the faculty and administration,” PIHS Principal Eric Waddell stated in a rationale for the proposal.

A proposal to close the campus was first raised in 1987 and has been revisited at least three times since, Johnson said.

This is the first proposal, however, that calls for the high school campus to be closed just for freshmen and sophomores. It is also the first one that calls for the action to be phased in over the course of two years, the superintendent said.

Under the proposal, the campus would be closed to freshmen beginning the 2004-2005 school year and would include sophomores at the start of the 2005-2006 year.

Underclassmen would not be restricted to the cafeteria; they still would be allowed to visit the library, main lobby, health office lobby, upper gymnasium and the school park, if weather permits, but food would be allowed only in the cafeteria and park, Johnson said.

The SAD 1 board will hold a public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m. May 5, at its regular board meeting. The board may render a decision on the proposal that night.

“This is not one of those easy-answer situations.” Johnson said. “The decision affects a lot of people. But when I look at the big picture, I think it’s best that the board takes a hard look at it at this time.”

For more information on the proposal, contact the superintendent at gehrig@sad1.org or contact a local board member.