What is an 'open campus'?
An open campus means different things to different people. There is a notion with some that an open campus means the buildings are unlocked, and you can freely come and go. The other idea is that it will make the campus more hospitable and parents will get more involved. The truth of the matter is that type of setting is inherently dangerous. The only reason that something terrible doesn't happen to a child in those circumstances is because someone doesn't want to do that type of harm. You can have a very open and inviting campus with good access control. Open campus designs are inherently more dangerous and other things have to be done to offset that inherent danger. There are so many facility designs and entryways that it is hard to generalize, but the bottom line is that there should be an ability to screen and scan visitors. They shouldn't be able to enter your child's campus from any direction without any form of monitoring, and walk in an endless variety of doors. That is a very dangerous situation, and school officials who think that that is ok, have never been visited by the wrong person on the wrong day. I have had people in my classes in the last year that have had children taken from a school and killed, because of a poor quality access control. This is because they naively did not understand their obligation, legally and morally to protect children; they made excuses.
