A new Camas High School policy preventing students from being on campus after school hours was announced shortly before Thanksgiving Break.

In a change from previous policy, which did not have restrictions for students being on campus after school hours, CHS now requires students to leave the campus before four p.m. 

“We don’t have supervision. That’s really what it comes down to. There’s no one on campus to supervise the students,” CHS safety director and administrator Owen Sanford said.

While no major issues have occurred, there have been a number of liability and safety concerns over students remaining on campus when most of the staff has left for the day. More students have been wandering the building after hours, which has caused some distress to staff.

“Why are we allowing students to just wander the building and hang out until six p.m., seven p.m.,” Sanford said.

Awareness over the issue has been off-and-on for several years, and after a recent discussion, the CHS admin team decided to put a hard rule into place.

“It’s hard enough to supervise kids waiting around for basketball practice…let alone students who are ‘just chilling’,” Sanford said.

The rule has exceptions for students taking part in extracurricular activities, including club meetings and sports practices, as long as a staff member is present to supervise the students. 

The rule has been mostly well-received, with little backlash from students.

“It doesn’t affect me at all and I don’t care,” CHS senior Alex Thompson said of the rule. Like many students, Thompson leaves school directly after 6th period and will not be affected by the new ruling.

Some students feel a little differently.

“I understand not wanting people to just be loitering around, but I feel that having them leave at four is just a bit too early, because there’s people who their schedules don’t align with the schools and they might need to stay after a little while,” said CHS senior Sterling Angrish.

Concerns have also been raised about students who stay after school to do test retakes or other forms of academic catchup, but generally, most have accepted the rule and offered little resistance. It doesn’t seem like many concerns have reached the CHS administration team at all.

“I haven’t heard anything,” Sanford said when asked if there had been any backlash from students or parents over the new rule.